Tooth Counting Mats for a Fun Dental Health Unit
Practice math and good dental health with these adorable tooth counting mats. Count, add, compare, and more with these free printables!
There’s nothing quite as quite as a smiling tooth when you’re practicing math, am I right? You can even pretend to brush these happy teeth with the toothbrush on the mat! How cute is that?
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It is Dental Health month, although we focus on dental health quite often. I did not luck out in the dental genetics area. And to make things worse, I do not have great dental habits. I do not want my kids to deal with the same problems I have so we often talk about teeth, taking care of teeth, what not to eat, etc.
How to Set Up the Toothy Counting Mats
We use these mats in two different ways so I print them differently. Sometimes we write on them. We might write the numbers on the 10 frame or write addition problems. For those, I laminate the mats first.
If we are just simply counting or doing math in our heads, I will just print on regular printer paper. No need to go all out for something simple. Except for the numbered teeth. Those are always on cardstock and/or laminated.
How to Use the Tooth Counting Mats
When we first started using counting mats we just used them for 1:1 counting and reading numbers. The mats are also great for learning to count up to a number and then stop. I still remember when my kids would try to count to any number between 1 and 9 but would inevitably count all the way to 10. Learning to stop at the right point is important!
As my kids get older, we’re using the mats more to practice ways to add to a number. So we may use a 5 mat and find we can add 0+5, 1+4, 2+3, 3+2, 4+1, and 5+0.
Download the Toothy Counting Mats
