Preschoolers love hands on math activities and need many opportunities to try out and practice new skills. That’s why busy bag activities for preschoolers are so effective, they give kids a chance to play and have fun with math concepts. This ladybug math busy bag lets kids work on number identification, counting and more.
Ladybug Math Busy Bag Supplies
- 10 oval rocks
- red and black acrylic paint
- black Sharpie marker
- Mod Podge acrylic sealer
- hot glue
- googly eyes
- green cardstock
How to Make the Ladybug Math Busy Bag
1. Paint the rocks with the red acrylic paint and let dry.
2. Add black dots onto each rocks representing the numbers 1-10.
3. Seal the rocks with the Mod Podge.
4. Hot glue on the googly eyes when dry.
5. Cut out 10 leaves and write the numbers 1-10 on each one. Laminate if possible to make them more durable.
How to Play with the Ladybug Busy Bag
Count the dots on the ladybugs.
Match the dots to the corresponding number on the leaf.
Put the numbers in order.
Compare ladybugs to see which one has more.
Add or subtract the ladybugs’ spots.
Kids can even help you paint the ladybugs which is helpful if you want to make this busy bag for a Busy Bag Swap and Moms’ Night Out.
What a great idea! I think that my kids would love this. : )
Thanks Bethany! 🙂
Those ladybugs are so cute!!!
Thanks Lorie! My 3 year old loved them!
Great math idea! I’m going to do this with my son. He will love making the bugs – and then he’ll have so much fun playing (and learning!!) with them.
We made ladybugs because she was obsessed with the 10 Little Ladybugs book. You can do any kind of rock bugs or even a bunch of different ones!
For those of us with boys who might toss the rock bugs :). Any suggestion for an alternative bug? Love this idea!
What about stink bugs or fireflies? Or even just a generic bug that they create themselves? You could even make toads or something similar too!
I think she was looking for an alternative to the rock. Maybe using some old milk jug caps- mine are already red so it makes it a little less work to put together!
These are so adorable. I happen to be working on some right now. Hope they come out as cute as yours! Love that you did them with googly eyes. Pinning.
Thanks Sam! Have you seen the googly eyes with eye lashes? They would be even more adorable!
Yes! The eyelashes would be awesome!
Testing to see if the plugin has been fixed…:)
Matching dots to the correct numeral is a hard skill for little ones. You might add the correct dots to the back of the leaves to make the activity self-checking. That would add a matching game too (Matching dots to dots can be an equal game). I like when games can be self checking.
That’s a great idea! Thanks Pat!
Wanted to let you know how much I loved this idea. We made our own and I just posted it to my blog. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
YAY!!!! How wonderful! Thanks for letting me know!
Yay! I’m glad you liked it! It’s a fun one!