Learning Placemats

I discovered these number playdough mats at Homeschool Creations and was inspired to make some learning placemats to keep on the table for meals, snacks, and playdough time.

My first one includes Trip's name, the numbers 1-5, and five sports balls (his favorite). I used a self-sealing laminating pouch that my husband had left over from a project he had done some time ago to protect my creation. These are pricey, but durable and super simple to use. They are available from Amazon or at most office supply stores (and possibly even at Wal Mart or Target). Clear adhesive laminate would work just fine as well. Of course if you have access to a heated laminator, that's even better. Doing projects like this makes me miss the laminators I had access to when I was a teacher creating things for my classroom!

The next one has the numbers 0-5 and is designed to use with snacks and playdough. So far, I have been the one to put snacks on each dot, but eventually Trip will be able to do that himself. The numbers are large enough that in the future, we will be able to use them as a pattern for playdough numbers as well.


Since I didn't want to waste half of a laminating sheet, I made an alphabet to go on the back of Trip's name placemat and shapes for the back of the number grid.


The number grid, alphabet, and shapes are available as a PDF here. Feel free to print and make these for your own personal use. If you write about them in a blog post, please link back to Teach Love Grow- I would love to hear about it!