Here are two sets of Pet play dough mats for a Pets Theme: one with dogs and one with cats. These will help children with fine motor skills as they practice counting and numeral identification.
Play dough math mats are a great way to combine fine motor skills, counting skills, and play!
Pet Play Dough Mats
To prepare the mats, print and either laminate or slip them into clear page protectors. You can put them in page protectors and hook them together with metal binder rings.
The top of each mat says “Put [#] pieces of food in the dog’s bowl.” Or, for the cat, “Put [#] pieces of food in the cat’s bowl.”
Children will identify the numeral, and count out that amount of dog or cat food pieces to put in the bowl.
Children can create the dog and cat food by rolling pieces of brown play dough into a ball. As an alternative to play dough, you can use pom poms, flat floral marbles, or other manipulatives.
I also made a mat that does not have a number, but simply says, “Put some food in the dog’s/cat’s bowl.” This mat is for toddlers who are not ready for counting yet, but need to practice fine motor skills with play dough. You can also use this mat for higher numbers, such as 11-20.
Click to Download the Pet Play Dough Mats:
Note: These mats are free printables. Just click to download!
More Pet Resources You’ll Love:
Pet Math & Literacy Printables
This set includes 20 Pet Theme math and literacy activities for small group or center time.
All activities are hands-on learning and designed especially for Pre-K and Preschool.
Originally published September 2011. Updated September 2021.
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Hey,
I do this for Clifford week. I buy a box of small dog bones and use those as the counters.
We then use the large jumbo size as paint brushes and paint with them on a dog bone shape.
Thanks for sharing, Hether!
I give my kids the toddler mat in a plastic sleeve and a dice. They have to count out that many “treats” that they roll. Then they write the numeral with a dry erase marker. Older/more advanced kids can add numbers together.
Thank you so much for sharing your ideas and art work. It keeps teaching fresh and exciting for me which makes my students excited also. You save me so much time by just being able to print it off instead of making my own. Love you!
Thank you so much for sharing! I love giving my students new and exciting ways to build skills!!!
Thanks SO much! God bless you!!!
we shared on our facebook page–cute!
We currently purchased a game very similar to this that I will be using in small group this week. I love the idea of the kids feeding an animal making that real life connection while learning numbers and building motor skills.