Age Group

Preschool
Kindergarten

Supplies

math mats (see PDF), clear contact  paper or laminating sheets, playdough, seeds or other small manipulatives

Description

Preschoolers can practice counting and shape building with these easy to make math mats! 

You can make up your own mat on colored paper (or print ours - see PDF link below).  Laminate the mats with clear contact paper or laminating sheets. 

Then give children playdough to build outlines of the shapes and numbers.  Roll pieces of playdough into balls and place playdough balls next to the numbers and count them - or have them see how many playdough balls it takes to fill each shape.

You can also vary the activity using other materials (ie. pom poms, pipe cleaners, seeds or other small manipulatives).  In the pictures to the right, the children used sunflower and pumpkin seeds to outlines the shapes (click on photos to enlarge).

-- Adapted from an idea on www.mailboxcompanion.com

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