One of my favorite things about helping my daughter learn important skills is changING up the themes whenever I can. I try to make them relevant to seasons and holidays. Fun themes help to encourage children to learn important skills and concepts. It’s wintertime and snow globes are inherently magical, which makes them the perfect encouragement to help children practice counting.
This simple snow globe counting printable is incredibly simple to prep and perfect for preschoolers and toddlers. With just a few supplies, your little one will be counting in no time.
You’ll need:
- Free Printable Snow Globe Counting Pages
- Lamination or Sheet Protector
- Dry Erase Marker
- White Pom Poms (see below for other manipulative ideas)
How to Use the Snow Globe Printable Counting Pages
- Print out the free printable.
- You can either laminate the mat or put it in a sheet protector. Doing one of these will allow you to use dry erase markers with them.
- Grab a handful of pom-poms. This will help your children count.
- Start by putting a number in the circle of the snowglobe. You can start with 1 and go up or mix up the numbers.
- Have the child place the correct number of pom-poms inside the snowglobe. Using the pom poms on the snowglobe can help children strengthen 1:1 correspondence. The motion of picking up the pom-poms and placing them on the mat will also strengthen fine motor skills.
- When this is done, if they are ready for the writing number skill, they can write the number word on the dotted line under the snow globe.
Other Ways to Use the Printable Counting Pages
This mat can also be used for children who have mastered counting, 1:1 correspondence and numbers.
For children that are on a higher level of skill, this mat can be used as an addition or subtraction mat as well. Use the various parts of the snow globe to hold the numbers and math signs (plus or minus). The equation can be written on the dotted line.
Other Ideas for Counting Manipulatives
If you don’t have white pom-poms, you can also use a variety of other manipulatives:
- Playdough: form balls with the playdough and use these as the snowflakes. Forming the balls will help strengthen fine motor skills also.
- Mini Erasers
- Beads
- Buttons
- I included printable snowflakes with the counting mat as well. These can be cut out and used with the snow globe.
These snow globe counting practice pages are not only super cute and relevant for the winter, but they are perfect for helping children master skills that they need to learn.
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