Make math fun, and it won’t feel intimidating. That has been my mantra forever. I am teaching a multi-age virtual class this year, and the way it works is that we send home asynchronous activities for parents to do with their children and have synchronous lessons twice a week over zoom. This is one of our send-home activities, which means it needs to be easy to adjust for our wide range of learning levels in this multi-age class. As you know, any preschool class will have a wide spectrum of development. Using materials that allow you to differentiate easily is key to a smooth day and to make sure you can help all your students learn at their level. This preschool math activity is a cinch to differentiate.
Gather your materials. You will need a ladybug outline ( you can use mine by downloading it here), dice, buttons, or a black crayon. A tray always helps to keep the dice from getting too far from little hands.
Roll the die and add the dots!
Pretty simple right? Count up all the dots each time to add more. How many dots can you fit on the ladybug?
Now it’s time to play.
For an asynchronous home activity, I ask my students to draw the dots on with a black crayon. While this makes it harder to re-use ( though not impossible), there is a reason for this choice. I want my students to practice their tripod grip, and giving them more opportunity to hold crayons, pencils, and markers for tasks like this helps achieve this.
Another great option is small dot stickers. Peeling off stickers is another wonderful exercise for fine motor skills.
Start with one die, but if your child needs a challenge, add a second one.
At preschool, I would use buttons or paper circles to re-use this game board repeatedly. I also like giving my students the fine motor challenge of small buttons if they are ready. If not, use larger ones. Alternatively, you could laminate the game board and use dry erase markers to make the dots as well. Do what will work well for your classroom.
Again like with the at-home activity, I would start with one die but add a second or even a third if needed.
Roll, count, and add!
