Make a math activity that uses ladybugs to illustrate simple addition and subtraction concepts to preschoolers. Draw a line down the center of a poster-size sheet of cardstock. On one half, draw and color bricks to represent a wall. Color or paint the other half green to represent grass. To make ladybug counters, cut 10 4-inch-long oval shapes from red cardstock. Color black, semi-circle heads on the top of the ovals. Draw a line with a black marker down each ladybug's back, then add spots. Use the poster and ladybugs on the rug with children seated in a circle. Place five ladybugs on the grass, then ask the children to count them. Move two ladybugs to the wall to demonstrate that five minus two equals three. Continue with different combinations of ladybugs.
Before the art activity, ask each child to bring a smooth, flat stone no longer than 3 inches to school to make a ladybug. When all the children have their stones, fill a plastic washing basin with soapy water and take it to the playground. Let the children wash their stones, then lay them in the sun to dry. In the classroom, place dry stones on newspaper-covered tables. Pass cups of red tempera paint and brushes so the children can paint the stones red. When the red paint is dry, give the preschoolers black tempera to paint the ladybug's head and spots.
Teach preschoolers the children's rhyme, "Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home." The words to the rhyme are available on the Dltk Teach website. Copy the poem onto your classroom chalkboard or a poster-size sheet of chart-paper. In circle-time, read the poem to your students. Point to each word as you pronounce it. Encourage the children to recite the words with you. Practice reciting the poem daily. During your study of the rhyme, point to various words in the poem and challenge your preschoolers to read the words. Ask children who recognize and want to read a word to the class to borrow your pointer, place it on the word they wish to read, then say the word.
Make uppercase "L" shapes from sheets of red 9-by-12-inch construction paper. Pass one to each child in your preschool class. Ask the children to trace the shape and say the name of the letter. Explain that the word "ladybug" begins with "L." Pass each child 20 peel and stick, black dot stickers. Ask the children to place the stickers on the red letter "L" as a reminder that the word ladybug begins with the letter "L."