I made puppy roll and cover mats for early math development and fine motor skills. I printed the color mats on cardstock paper and laminated them. I also made black and white versions that can be printed on regular paper.

Children roll the dice and count and cover the same number of circles on the mat that is on the dice. You can use bingo daubers ... crayons ... and colored pencils to fill in the circles. If you are using playdough ... buttons or pom poms that children can also roll the dice and then remove the same number of cover-ups from the mats.

In addition to the blank mats I  made mats with numbers 1-6 and 2-12. Children would roll the dice and then cover up the same number on the mat that is displayed on the dice. For the mat with numbers 2-12 children would roll two dice and add the numbers together. They would then cover up the same number on the mat. You can download the puppy roll and cover mats below.

puppy roll and cover patterns

I made a  puppy match and munch for letter and number recognition. I printed the puppy and bone patterns on cardstock paper and the recording sheets on regular paper. I have included both letter and number bones and recording sheets.

I created two puppy patterns in four different colors so you have a choice of what to use. There is a pattern with a rectangle shape on the puppy that you can cut out or you can use the pattern without the rectangle shape to make your own opening where you want it. I do recommend laminating the puppies and bones for durability.

I used an exacto knife to cut out the rectangle from the puppy's body. I placed cardboard under the puppy to protect my work surface. I then took an empty box of tissues (I used the long box) and cut the opening to the width of the puppy rectangle.​

​I then put self-adhesive velcro dots on the back of the puppy and then put the other half of the velcro set on top of the first set making sure the sticky side was facing up. I then pressed the puppy on the box where it aligned with the opening.

In this activity children pick a letter or number bone and cover up the same letter or number on the recording sheet and then place the bone in the puppy box. If you are not using the recording sheet children would just pick a bone and verbally say the letter or number on the bone before putting it into the puppy box.

This activity is currently located in the member's section which is where I have also added puppy color match and clip.

During the first week of school we make "all about me" books and read them at circle time so the children can get to know each other a bit better. 

The book includes the following pages:

cover page - child colors person to look like them

my name Is - write and decorate name

this Is my picture - glue picture of child

this Is my handprint - trace around and color or paint and press

my favorite colors - color in the three circles

I know these letters - cut and glue letters child can identify

I know these numbers - cut and glue numbers child can identify

I know these shapes -cut and glue shapes child can identify

I know these colors - cut and glue colors child can identify

this Is my family - draw and color a picture of family

my favorite foods - cut and glue images (magazine or internet search)

my favorite animals -  cut and glue images (magazine or internet search)

You do not need to complete all of the pages of the book especially with younger children.  I intentionally left out a page for the child's phone number as well as an address page to protect the child's identity in case the book gets lost. You can grab the book pattern below:

all about me book

I made baby animal number tracing mats for number recognition and fine motor skills development. I made 13 different animal mats in both black and white as well as color.

Depending on how you will use the mats they can either be printed on cardstock paper or regular paper. If you are using markers you can laminate the sheets or put them and page protectors so they can be re-used. We use both markers and color pencils for tracing.

In this activity children say the number and then trace it. You can also call out a specific number and have the children trace that number. We work on these in class and I also send some sheets home with the students. These are great for summer work packets.

This activity is currently located in the member's section which is also where I have also added animal letter tracing mats.

I made Space Number Match Cards for number recognition and fine motor skills. I have created astronaut and spaceship cards with numbers 0-30. You can do an astronaut to astronaut ... a spaceship to space ship ... and an astronaut to spaceship match.

You can print the patterns on cardstock paper and laminate them after cutting them out. We do a few different activities with the cards. The first is a match and clip where the children find the two cards with the same numbers and then clip them together with mini clothespins.

You can also use these cards in pocket charts or do a memory match game with them. For younger children I recommend putting few cards for the children to pick from when first starting memory matches. 

Another activity we do is an even an odd number sort as well as putting the cards in numerical order. Another favorite activity is ring books which are super easy to make. Just punch a hole in the upper left corner of each card and attach a metal book ring. Children then flip through the cards and identify the number on each card.

You can see a video of this activity by clicking the image below. This activity is currently located in the member's section which is also where I have added space letter matching cards.

I made a set of eight cute spring puzzles that the children really loved putting together and I wanted to share them with you. The puzzles all come in black and white as well as color and each puzzle also has a greyscale puzzle guide. I have also included a blank puzzle guide.

I printed the puzzles on cardstock paper and then cut along the lines on each puzzle (there are eight pieces per puzzle). I then laminate the pieces for durability and attach a self-adhesive magnet to the back of each piece so that we could use them on a metal tray or cookie sheet.

You can also attach velcro to the back of the pieces and to the puzzle guide. You want to make sure the velcro on the pieces aligns with the vecro on the guide. Using velcro or magnets helps the puzzle pieces stay in place while the children are putting the puzzles together.

I set the puzzle guides out along with the puzzle pieces and the children picked a piece and placed it on the correct spot on the mat. I store the puzzle guides in a file folder along with the loose pieces that I put in zip lock sandwich bags.

You can see a video of the spring puzzles by clicking the image below and you can also download the puzzle patterns here.