I have a growing collection of play dough counting mats, and thought Shape Play Dough Mats would be a nice addition to the Math Play Dough Mats sets. I have an old set of shape mats made years ago with construction paper, a marker, and some clear contact paper, but after years of use, it’s time for something new.
These shape mats include the basic shapes:
To use them, children will roll out the play dough like a “snake”, then form the snake into a shape by placing it on the outline of the shape on the mat.
I wanted to add a little fun to these mats to catch children’s interests and imagination as they practice making shapes. Each shape has an extra something to add after children have made the shape. The right hand corner of each mat has a little picture to remind children of what they can add to the shape if they use these mats independently. This also introduces them to shapes in the environment.
Circle: The circle mat says, “Make a circle. Pretend it’s a cookie and add some chocolate chips.” Children can pinch off some play dough and roll it into tiny chocolate chips to decorate their cookie.
Triangle: “Pretend it’s a pizza and add some pepperoni.” Children can form little pepperoni out of extra play dough to make the triangle look like a slice of pizza.
Square: “Pretend it’s a window and add some flowers or trees outside.” Children can use play dough to make either some flowers to place outside the window or some trees.
Rectangle: “Pretend it’s a table and put some food on it.”
Diamond/Rhombus: “Pretend it’s a kite and add a kite tail.” Children can roll out some more dough to make a kite string. I have included mats for both “diamond” and “rhombus” so you can choose the one you prefer.
Oval: “Pretend it’s a racetrack and add some cars.” Cars might not be easy to make with play dough, but show children how to make a very simple representation of a car with play dough (no details).
Hope your students enjoy these mats! Often mats like this come about because a reader requested them. I’m currently making a list of requests for the site for 2014. If you would like to add a request, please see my 2014 Reader’s Survey (it’s very, very short, I promise — probably 5 minutes).