Grouchy Ladybug Life Cycles and Telling Time Games

A fun activity that I do every year is we make our own analog clock faces from red cardstock or construction paper. It is fun to make them look like ladybugs! 

Here is a link for a telling time worksheet HERE at ABC teach.

CLOCK MATH
Every day for a few weeks call out different times and have them put the hands on their clocks. Be sure to also introduce half past, quarter past, quarter till. These are really difficult concepts for young children to get so I introduce it in first grade. I also have a magnetic clock I keep on my white board. I draw 4 lines on the fact to “cut” the clock into “quarters” or fourths. I point out that 3 and 9 are the quarter past and quarter till numbers.

We also like to paint ladybugs and do the Ladybug Life Cycle or a Ladybug report

Fun Game: Find a partner and use both of your ladybug clocks. Decide to do “o’clock” or “thirty” for doing elapsed time. Then decide how many hours difference there is going to be and make up a sentence. Example:  3:00 is 2 hours later than 1:00. 12:30 is 3 hours later than 9:30 etc. Elapsed time is another very hard concept for young kids to get. This is higher level but some of your high kids will get it and you will be differentiating for those who can do it.

ART: Paint a ladybug on art paper. When dry use black markers to make the line down the middle and dots on his back were traced using the top circle and bottom circle of a dixie paper cup. Add 2 wiggly eyes. Paint yellow, orange and red. Wait for color to dry.

LADYBUG SONGS TO SING! 
(We put these songs on the back of our ladybug painted art)
Ladybug Song (Tune: If You’re Happy and you Know it, Clap Your Hands)
Oh I wish I were a little ladybug,
Oh I wish I were a little ladybug,
I’d be shiny red and black,
I’d eat aphids for my snack,
Oh I wish I were a little ladybug!

Ladybugs    (Tune: Oh My Darlin’ Clementine
I’m an insect, not a spider
I’ve got 6 legs instead of 8
I have 4 parts to my life cycle
I eat bugs that farmers hate

We put the 2 songs above on the back of our painted ladybug art projects and sang it together.
SHARED READING

“Five Little Ladybugs”

Five little ladybugs climbing up a door, One flew away and then there were four.

Four little ladybugs sitting on a tree, One flew away and then there were three.

I copied this free printable to go on the upper inside flap of each page from Enchanted Learning.

Three little ladybugs landing on a shoe, One flew away and then there were two.

Two little ladybugs looking for some fun, One flew away and then there was one.

One little ladybug sitting in the sun, She flew away and then there were none.

MUSIC: I found a cute song called Ladybug in my Soda on the website K-8 Kidstunes and got a copy for 99 cents in an MP3 download. The link is HERE but you do have to sign up a “kid” to get the cheap version. I have kids and grandkids so it’s easy now that I have signed up. It’s a funny song with a real catchy beat and easy to learn.

Cute Ladybug Life Cycle we did earlier in the year when we wrote insect reports…..This is a flap book where we write the 4 stages underneath each flap.

Here is our finished Ladybug Life Cycle bulletin board!

MATH:
A fun printable with black dots on individual ladybugs to print out can be found HERE at A Kids Math. You can print off a dozen of these to place in a center with a key. Kids write down their answers on an answer sheet and then check with the key.

This CUTE game from Posh Lil Divas was a great idea to add to a math telling time center. Check it out HERE!

My kids are working on telling time to the minute, and this online game helps! It’s fun to try some new ones in the computer lab! 

• Stop the Clock (Half Hour)
• Stop the Clock (Quarter Hour)
• Stop the Clock (Five Minutes)
• Stop the Clock (Minute)