Valentine’s Bears Counting Mats for Preschoolers

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I can’t believe it’s February already, and Valentine’s Day is approaching. If you have read any of my posts, you will know that I love to switch things around in the classroom and change the routine according to the season or theme. I wanted to offer you these FREE Valentine’s Bears Counting Mats so you can also take advantage of this celebration.

These Valentine’s Bear Counting Mats are the perfect hands-on activity for preschoolers because it is fun, engaging, and effective in teaching numbers and counting! The pack includes mats for the numbers 1 to 10, which you can find at the end of this post.

Valentine’s Bear Counting Mats

This hands-on activity is very easy to prepare, using only a handful of materials. You need to print the mats using white cardstock and laminate them if you want them for multiple uses. If not, just use regular paper. When you are done using the activity, store it on sheet protectors and place it in a binder to keep the mats safe.

These Valentine’s Bears Counting Mats can be used in the Math center as a small group activity or Quiet area option. You can also place them in the Writing Center or send them home. You can also combine them with my other Valentine’s activities to create interest and encourage preschoolers to use them, allowing them to do different activities when they rotate for the different centers.

Click on the links below to take the rest of Valentine’s Day activities. They all come with FREE printables. These are:

It is important to remember that before you place a new activity in a center, you should introduce it to your kid. A good moment to do this is during circle time. That way, they will have a better idea of what to do with the activity, facilitate their learning process, and take full advantage of it.

With this particular activity, a good way to introduce it is by:

Showing the mats to the children and talking about each number and the different characteristics of the shape of the numbers.
Talking about small and large numbers, such as number 2 has fewer hearts than number 5 because it is smaller.
Explain that they had to point and count out loud each heart on the counting mats and place the same number of manipulatives on the counting squares.
After that, the next step is to trace the number word and copy it next to it.

Some of the manipulatives they can use are Valentine’s candy, mini erasers, felt stickers, gems, buttons, bingo chips, and any other type of small object.

They need to use dry-erase markers to trace and copy the numbers in words. If you don’t want to laminate the mats but use them as an individual activity, the children must copy the number words using pencils, markers, or crayons.

Benefits of this Activity

This hands-on 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).

Valentine’s Day Story Books

As usual, I recommend you use storybooks related to each theme or season you are working on multiple times a day. Reading to your children is one of the most important activities you can do because listening to stories allows them to expand their vocabulary, work on their pre-reading and pre-writing skills, become more familiar with and interested in the theme, and more.

These are some fun Valentine’s books you can use. You can find them at your local library and used books store, but if you want to keep them for future use, you can purchase them easily on Amazon through my links. Just click on the titles to get them.

How to Catch a Loveosaurus by Alice Walstead blends exciting traps and STEAM concepts with hilarity and chaos to encourage reading, learning, and imagination.

The Night Before Valentine’s Day by Nathasha Wing invites you to join in on of the colorful fun and then come to school the next morning for a day of parties and games!

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose! by Lucille Colandro. With rhyming text and hilarious illustrations, this wacky version of the classic song will appeal to young readers as they follow the Old Lady on a wild Valentine’s Day adventure.

Groggle’s Monster Valentine by Diana Murray. Follow Groggle Monster on his Valentine’s Day card-making for Snarlina, his best friend worldwide.

The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond. One day starts raining hearts, perfect for making Valentine’s Day cards, and Cornelia Augusta catches them to send cards to her animal friends.

I Love You More, Babysaur by Rose Russner. Filled with cute dinosaur puns, beautiful illustrations, full names and pronunciations, and a heartwarming message, this story is perfect for sharing with someone you love.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff is a board book with sturdy pages perfect for preschoolers who will enjoy the simple introduction to the fun of Valentine’s Day.

Little Critter: Happy Valentine’s Day, Little Critter! by Mercer Meyer has gatefold flaps readers can pull back to discover all the fun Valentine’s Day surprises.

I Love You Like No Otter by Rose Russner. This book combines a warm message of love with beautifully illustrated animals.

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 Valentine’s Pinterest boards to have it available when you need it.

I hope that you and your students enjoy this Valentine’s Bears Counting Mats activity, and help to learn or review their numbers and work on their counting abilities!

Remember to grab your FREE printable by clicking on the link below and typing your information.

Are you looking for more Valentine’s ideas and activities similar to this one at home or in the classroom? If so, check out the ones below or all of our ideas on our site’s Holidays page. They all come with FREE printables.

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 don’t like anything better than to post something that you might find helpful. Also, if you came up with different ideas and want to share them, I would love to post them as well.