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This post has been co-written with Ben Wolfson, a full-time educator and assistant principal in the USA.
You’ll be amazed at how many of your kindergarten students know about the importance of bees in your garden, and how many of them are big honey fans! Like with any group wide fascination and interest, you can get more engagement for your literacy and math centers by creating themes for your classroom based on what your students are into. This cute spring math center for kindergarten will get your students to solve addition problems while also giving you the chance to talk about pollinators, the life cycle of a plant, and the importance of bees to just about everything they eat!
Why Practice Addition Facts?
Once your students have mastered their skills of being able to say the number words in order (starting at non zero numbers), and being able to accurately count a group of objects (also known as one to one correspondence), your next task is to introduce them to addition and to complete simple equations.
While many students will start off needing tools like a number line or physical manipulatives to demonstrate what happens when we add, you also need to help them build math fact fluency to help them solve addition problems in the future.
This fun bumblebee addition game gives them plenty of opportunities to practice addition facts using single digits so they become core math knowledge for students to use in later grades as they tackle the standard algorithms for math and multiplication.
Spring Math Center for Kindergarten
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Extension Activities to Practice Addition Facts
It’s likely that your students will master this spring math center for kindergarten quickly. They need to take each of the honeycombs and match it to the flower that shows the other side of the equation. To beef up this bumblebee addition game, try some of these activities:
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Find all the answers – you can push your students to higher level math understanding by having them start with the flowers and find all the possible combinations of whole number addition facts that result in that answer. They’ll find that some answers aren’t shown on the honeycomb cards, but you can make your own to help them solve addition problems independently.
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Add a time challenge – kindergarteners always love a timed challenge (think about how they respond when you ask them to pick up the classroom in under a minute!). You can bring a timed component to this spring math center for kindergarten by seeing how quickly each student can match all the honeycombs to the right flower. Keep a record for each student so they can see their own progress as they practice addition facts.
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Set up a scoot – finally, you’ll always get better engagement when you can add movement to your learning centers. In this case, you need to print out and cut out the flowers and post them around the room. Students then take a stack of honeycomb cards and “buzz” around the room, writing down the correct answers on the back of the bumblebee addition game. You’ll get to see which facts students are most confident with, and which ones you want them to practice further to build automaticity.
Like this? Then you’ll love my 10 Bugs and Butterflies Themed Literacy and Math Centers. These easy-prep games will get your students working on letters, phonics, numbers and more!
Games included:
1) Bugs Playdough Counting Mats – Blank ten frame to count out playdough ball ‘insects’ + playdough number formation
2) Butterfly Spots Counting Clipcards to 20
3) Bugs Arrange By Size – 5 different bugs, 6 sizes each
4) Bumblebee Match By Math – Match the bee to the correct flower by solving the simple addition sums to 10
5) Caterpillar Complete The Pattern Strips – Use pompoms, dot markers, dot stickers, or other colored manipulatives to complete the patterns. Includes ABAB, AABB, ABCABC and ABCB patterns.
6) Butterfly Alphabet Match – Upper and lowercase matching cards. Single color and multicolor letter cards included
7) Catching Butterfly Beginning Sounds – Match objects to the correct letters.
8) Caterpillar Order Alphabet Strips – Look at the set of 5 letters and decide if they’re in the correct order then choose thumbs up or down.
9) Ladybug Tracing Lines – Fine motor pre-writing practice, 4 mats included.
10) Leaves for Lunch Ants Alphabet Sort – Divide up letter cards into vowels and consonants.
Check it out for more ready-to-go fun!
Books About Insects That We Love:
Other Free Insect Printables You’ll Love:
1) Counting 1 to 20 Ladybugs – Include this free printable in your insect learning unit to combine math and fine motor strengthening this Spring.
2) Firefly Counting – This math activity is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, and homeschooling or for busy parents looking for something their little one can do independently.
3) Bugs Graphing – Kids will love using this hands-on math printable graphing the number of bugs they can find outdoors or, if you don’t have a garden, indoors in a sensory tub.
4) Counting Colorful Bugs Book – Printable bug-themed counting and coloring book from 1 to 10, great for spring!
5) Honey Bee Life Cycle – hands-on printable about the life cycle of bumblebees.
6) Count The Worms 1-10 – Practice early math skills while strengthening fine motor muscles with this set of clip cards that are perfect for Spring.
7) Insects Sort By Quantity – Help preschoolers develop number sense with this insect-themed activity
8) Bumblebee Addition Game – Colorful bee-themed math game for kids to practice simple sums to 10.
9) Count The Bees 1-10 – Bee-themed activities are always a hit at our house and this set of 1-10 counting clip cards is no exception!
10) Count The Fireflies 1-10 – Count up to 10 fireflies caught in the jar.
Educational Tools For Your Classroom:
Other Spring Printables You’ll Love:
1) May Spring Printable Worksheets Pack – 50 pages of free printable worksheets including a variety of literacy, math, and fine motor activities.
2) Spring Flowers Draw and Count – Students will need to draw the number of flowers stated on the page.
3) Spring Code Words – Solve the coded puzzle to find out the Spring themed vocabulary words.
4) Spring Counting Clipcards – This activity is perfect for preschool number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and counting skills.
5) Spring Color By Number Pack – There are 6 spring-themed color-by-number pages included in this pack.
6) Bird Theme 3 Part Cards – Set up this free printable as proper 3 part cards for a spring literacy activity or as a preschool science center to help your students learn the names of different birds.
7) Weather Math Worksheets Pack – 9 different math worksheets inside this weather-themed activity pack for working on number order, shapes, counting etc.
8) Count The Kites 1-10 – Practice counting while strengthening their little hand muscles at the same time with this set of counting clip cards.
9) Raindrops Counting Frames – Keep your kids busy indoors with this rain-themed counting activity.
10) Missing Number Eggs – Practice counting from 1-20 with this cut and paste activity.
Browse Other Popular Math Printables:
1) Parking Cars Tracing Lines – More than 10 different tracing line patterns to choose from, all of which help with pencil control.
2) Scarecrow Arrange By Size – 3 different scarecrow-themed image sets that they will arrange from smallest to biggest.
3) Bumblebee Addition Game – Solve the sum and help the bee land on the correct flower!
4) Farm Shapes Mats – Use playdough, pompoms, stickers etc to learn 2D shapes.
5) Popsicle Stick Number Formation – Kids will love forming the numbers 1 to 10 when ice cream and popsicles are involved!
6) Valentines Printable Worksheets Pack – 50 pages of mixed literacy and math activities.
7) Zoo Animals Number Puzzle Strips – Complete these cute puzzles and learn the numbers 1 to 20.
8) Counting Colorful Bugs – This printable book will help kids count to 10 while also learning about color words.
9) Humpty Dumpty Numbers – In this printable game, your students will practice number recognition using 1 dice or simple addition when using 2 dice.
10) Build A Number Santa – Match the number to the correct number word, tally mark and domino to form a Santa Claus
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