Learn Spanish with Ladybugs // The Ladybugs and Their Spots {FREE Printable}

If you have been hanging out around here lately, you have seen that we are learning Spanish with ladybugs!  It all started with the Virtual Book Club for kids Summer Camp when we read The Grouchy Ladybug (La Mariquita Malhumorada).  From there we started checking out more books from the library about ladybugs, doing ladybug crafts, learning ladybug facts, and even finding some ladybug books in Spanish!  Here is a look at our Learning Spanish with Ladybugs series so far:

1. Make a Ladybug
2. Spanish Prepositions with Ladybug

And today…

We had so much fun practicing our Spanish counting with this ladybug story I made.  Each page has a ladybug that has lost its manchas (spots)!  Have your kids or students help the ladybugs get their spots back by coloring them in.  I did this activity with my almost two-year-old, so we chose to use stickers for spots as that is easier for him right now than drawing.  It was also much easier to practice one-to-one correspondence.  As I peeled off each sticker to hand him we counted, “uno…dos…tres…”  When we got to cuatro he pulled the sticker off my finger and said without any prompts from me, “kah-koh!” (his attempt at saying cuatro.)  It made me so happy and thrilled to see that our Spanish learning is actually sinking in!  Yay!  He lost interest after a while and Jefe helped me finish it.  Here is a look at how we put it all together.  (The photos have the instruction in Spanish; the captions have the pronunciation in italics and the translation under that.)

eem-PREE-may ehl KWEHN-toh Print the story

KOHR-tah lahs OH-hahs Cut the sheets

ahs oohn FOH-roh Make a cover

MAY-tay lahs OH-hahs ee GRAH-pah-lahs Insert the sheets and staple them

KOHR-tah ehl KWAH-droh kohn ehl TEE-tooh-loh ee PAY-gah-loh ehn lah PAHR-tay day-lahn-TEHR-ah Cut the frame with the title and tape it on the front.

Obviously these steps are pretty self-explanatory.  I did all these steps myself, and then brought the book to the boys all put together.  If you are teaching a Spanish class with older students that are practicing mandatos in Spanish, or reading in Spanish, you could present them with the papers and supplies and give them the list of instructions to read and figure out.  I think I might try that idea with my junior high class that starts in September–might be a fun group project to get them working together and talking out loud in Spanish.  If you are making this book with your kiddos (a little older than my one- and three-year-old, you could give these instructions out loud as you do the steps together.  For example, read one step, look at the picture (or explain what it means), then do the step together and repeat!