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Insect Lori's Painted Lady Butterfly Count & Sort


Counting & Sorting Ideas for Learning and Play

Set Up: Give students small piles of Butterfly Count & Sort pieces for free play. Pieces can be placed in bags, tubs or on desktops.

Count! Have students count all the pieces in their piles. Have students count only pieces of a particular color, or type. Add a piece to someone’s pile – now how many does he have?

Sort! Students divide their piles by color or by lifecycle stage.

What’s Next? Have students find the stage that comes next in the butterfly’s life cycle. For example, if you hold up an egg, they should sort and find a caterpillar.
For a bit more difficulty, assemble some pieces in a line, and remove a stage from the order. If you place egg, caterpillar, (blank), and butterfly, students should be able to sort out a chrysalid to fill in the blank.

Butterfly Stew? Give students a pot and enough pieces to complete the “recipe,” which you read to them:

• Begin by putting 4 leaves into your pot
• Stir in 3 eggs
• Sprinkle in 5 chrysalids
• Add a pinch of salt!
• If you have any yellow or blue butterflies, add them now
• Put in 1 flower for aroma

Always allow children a “free play” time with each encounter.

Attributes - characteristics of pieces
o Orally identify attributes together
o Colors (red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple)
o Stages (egg, caterpillar, chrysalid, butterfly, leaf , flower)

Sorts - Sorts are games where children categorize/identify for a specific reason.
o Sort by color (all groups of one color)
o Sort by size (all small, all medium, all large)
o Sort by shape/type/stage (all eggs, all caterpillars, all chrysalides, all butterflies)
o Any sort your child can identify for attributes

Patterning - Patterning is when children determine a specific arrangement.
o Pattern by color (red, blue, yellow, etc)
o Pattern by size (small to large/large to small)
o Pattern by life cycle (egg to butterfly)
o Start a pattern-let child finish it-identify pattern (AB/ABBA/ABCBA)

“I Spy A Missing Bug”
o After setting up a pattern study the pattern
o Pattern can be an array (5 rows of 4) as large or small as needed
o Child closes/hides eyes
o 1 piece is removed
o Identify the missing piece by attributes (color, size, shape, stage)
o Say “I spy a missing (color) (name of bug)!

“Catch Me If You Can”
o To reinforce attributes of bugs using sense of touch only
o After child is familiar with the bugs
o Place all bugs in a cloth bag
o Have one child give a specific bug “Find a butterfly”
o Other child places hand in bag (no peeking) and pulls out bug using only the sense of touch to identify
o Continue until all bugs are caught

“Bug! Bug! Who's Got The Bug?”
o To gather all the bugs of one color group
o Gather a group of children in a circle
o Pass out all the bugs in random order
o Have children line up bugs behind a screen
o Begin with 1 child saying “Bug! Bug! Who's Got A (Name of Bug)”
“(Name a child) do you have a red butterfly?”
o Child either gives first child the bug or says “No - Buggy on!”
o Play continues until 1 child has all the bugs of that color.

“Bug Spin”
o Gather a group of children in a circle
o Place all the bugs in a pile in the center of the circle
o First child spins the spinner
o Child selects 1 bug (color spun) from center
o Play continues until one child completes the life cycle of one color

Make up your own variations!