Friendly Ghosts Counting Mats

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Halloween is fast approaching, and, as usual, I like to create FREE printables for you to use in your preschool classroom and at home. These Friendly Ghosts Counting Mats are the perfect hands-on activity for your preschoolers. They are also fun, engaging, and effective in learning numbers and counting! You can get this FREE activity at the end of this post.

How to Prepare The Friendly Ghosts Counting Mats

Print each page using white cardstock. Cut out and laminate the mats to keep them available for years to come. When you are done using the activity, store it in sheet protectors placed in a binder to keep the mats safe.

I always recommend printing out multiple copies and placing them in different centers. That way, you will encourage more preschoolers to use them when they rotate to the other centers.

How to Use These Mats

These Friendly Ghosts Counting Mats can be used in many ways, such as:

Small group activity
Math center option
Writing center
Take home game
Quiet area option

Before you place the mats in the different centers, it is recommended that you introduce them to your preschoolers first. Circle time might be the perfect time to do this. There is no point in placing them in centers if they don’t know how to use them first.

A good way to do this is by:

Introducing the mats to the children and talking about each number and its different characteristics, such as its shape.
Talking about small and large numbers, such as number 2, has fewer pictures than number 5 because it is smaller.
Explaining that they had to point and count out loud each ghost on the counting mats and place the same number of manipulatives on the counting squares.
Tracing the number word and copy it next to it.

Some of the manipulatives they can use are mini erasers, bottoms, bingo chips, mini pom-poms, and any other type of small object.

To trace and copy the names of the numbers, they need to use dry-erase markers. If they want to copy the word on a sheet of paper, they need to use pencils, markers, or crayons.

This printable comes with ten mats with the numbers 1 to 10.

Benefits of this Activity

This activity will allow preschoolers to practice their:

Number recognition (identifying the number on the mat before counting).
Counting abilities (counting the ghosts).
Fine motor development (tracing and writing number words).
Hand-eye coordination and control (placing the manipulatives in the squares).
Concentration skills (focusing on the different tasks).
One-to-one correspondence (counting the manipulatives to be added).
Language development (counting out loud number sequence).

Halloween Storybooks

We must never forget to read to our children every day. It is also good practice to use storybooks related to each theme you are working on. This allows them to get involved in the theme, expand their vocabulary, work on their pre-reading and pre-writing skills, and enjoy other benefits. These are some fun Halloween books you can use.

These are some of the books you can use during this time. You can find them at your local library, in a used bookstore, or on Amazon. If you click on the titles, my affiliate links will take you directly to the Amazon page, where you can purchase your favorites.

Noelle and the Haunted House: A Children’s Halloween Book by Mikaela Wilson is the perfect book to showcase children using their creative thinking and ingenuity to design and implement their own Halloween fun. It encourages creativity and mental development, fosters resourcefulness and imagination, and promotes ownership and follow-through of a project.

The Spooky Wheels on the Bus by J. Elizabeth Mills. Count from One Spooky Bus up to Ten Goofy Ghosts as this Halloween ride races through town picking up a few unsuspecting passengers along the way! Eye-catching art and a bouncy, countdown rhyme is sure to make this a read-aloud favorite!

The Night Before Halloween by Natasha Wing. Little monsters and goofy goblins take center stage in this silly, spooky spin on Clement C. Moore’s beloved poem. But what will happen on Halloween when the monsters come face to face with human trick-or-treaters in this fun-filled book?

Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell. This gentle story and beautifully detailed illustrations give an intimate look at the life cycle as a pumpkin named Jack begins to rot when Halloween is over. Tim set it out in the garden and watched it change.

Corduroy’s Best Halloween Ever! by Don Freeman. Halloween is almost here, and Corduroy is going to have a party. He and his friends will carve a jack-o’-lantern, bob for apples, and go trick-or-treating! But there is one problem: Corduroy needs to choose a costume. What will he wear?

Pin It for Later

If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable but want to save it for later, pin it to your Math and Halloween Pinterest boards to have it available when needed.

I hope you and your students enjoy this Friendly Ghosts Counting Mats printable and help learn or review their numbers and counting abilities!

Don’t forget to grab your FREE printable by clicking the link below.

Are you looking for more Halloween ideas and activities, similar to those for at home or in the classroom? If so, check out some more of our favorites below or all the ideas I have on the site’s Holidays page.

Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.

Love,

P.D. Please let me know if these mats worked for you or if you think I need to add or replace something. My goal is to help you in any way I can, and I’m not too fond of anything better than posting something that you might find useful. Also, if you come up with different ideas and want to share them, I would love to post them as well.