Do you do an arctic or polar unit in your classroom? These adorable arctic math story mats and penguin counters are a great way to add some hands-on learning and fun to your math time. Be sure to scroll to the bottom for the free download!

Ways to Play:

Once you cut out the penguin counters, there are so many ways you can use them!

• Read the book Tenpin Penguins together and practice counting penguins with your math mats! You can find the book here on Amazon!

• Make up some simple addition story problems (ex: Three penguins were having an igloo party, and one more came to join them. How many penguins in all?)

• Make up some simple subtraction story problems (ex: Five penguins were sitting on the iceberg, and one swam away. How many penguins are left?)

• Practice counting! Have your preschool roll a dice and put that many penguins onto the igloo. When the igloo is full, roll the dice again and take that many penguins away.

• Use two dice and have your preschooler add the dots together and put that many penguins on the iceberg.

• Play a “how many are hiding?” subtraction game. Start with 10 penguins. Have your preschooler close their eyes while you hide some penguins under the mat. Have them open their eyes and count how many penguins are left on the mat, and try to figure out how many are hiding!

• Pull out some other fun counters and make penguin patterns on the story mats.

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Free Download

As you can see, there are so many fun ways to use this free resource. Download it here!

Video

Here’s a quick video to give you more ideas!