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This post has been co-written with Ben Wolfson, a full-time educator and assistant principal in the USA.
Learning to count accurately is a hard concept to master. Most students will come into your preschool classroom with some knowledge of the number words, and some will even be able to say the number words to 10 accurately without prompting. One of your biggest tasks is to teach them how to count a set of objects accurately (also known as developing their one to one correspondence skills). Having a theme for your counting always helps, and this bug theme counting printable will have your students counting colorful bugs in no time. Bugs are great to count because they are familiar objects to your students, but they also come in many different shapes and varieties. This handy pack will also help with learning color words to incorporate some early literacy skills.
Teaching One To One Correspondence
The key to success when you’re teaching your students about counting insects 1 to 10 is repetition and feedback. You should start by making sure that they know the counting words, and can say them in order without help or prompting. The next step is to model counting different sets of insects, touching each one as you say a counting word. It helps at this stage to mark the ones you’ve already counted, either by covering them with a counter, or making a pencil mark next to it. Students should be encouraged to completely lift their finger from the page in between each bug so they don’t miscount. As they master this skill, you can have them count with a partner to provide immediate feedback.
Preparing Counting Colorful Bugs Books
For this activity you will need:
Paper
Printer
Colored pencils or crayons
Optional: laminator and dry erase markers
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Moving Beyond Counting Colorful Bugs
Your students will quickly master the skills needed to successfully complete this bug theme counting printable. To take their learning to the next step, try one of these extension activities:
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Arrange the cards – as part of counting insects 1 to 10, your students should also have a handle on the magnitude and meaning of these counting words. After they’ve finished counting colorful bugs, give them all 9 pages and have them put them in numerical order, and describe the patterns they see to you.
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Change the colors – while there is a black and white printable to help with learning color words, you could put a sticker over the color words and have students color in the bugs in different colors. They can then describe their pictures to a partner (e.g. “I see two orange spiders and four red spiders”). This activity works as a great precursor to early addition as well as rehearsing their color words.
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Make it real – finally, you can turn counting colorful bugs into a movement activity by buying small plastic versions of each insect shown on the bug theme counting printable. You can then have your students explore the classroom on their very own bug hunt, complete with small fishing nets!
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:
Browse My Most 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
