We have been working hard not only on learning to count, but on developing an understanding of numbers, what they mean, and the variety of ways to represent them. Since our 1-10 number activity mats were such a help in practicing these skills, I knew that we were ready to pull out our teen number activity mats and work on those tricky teens.
The mats are a perfect compliment to our Number Formation Pack!
This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Preparing the activity mats was fairly quick and easy. I simply printed out the download (below) and laminated each page so that we could use them multiple times.
You could also slide each page into a sheet protector instead, which would work just as well.
Teen Number Activity Mats
Once the mats were ready to go and we had the supplies on hand, my small group was ready to dive in. I had several of these copies prepped for my small group so that we could each work on the same mat to start.
Teen numbers can be tricky to grasp at first, but these mats gave us an in depth look at the numbers and hands-on ways to work with them.
We started with the number 12, as students often confuse it with the number 20. Twelve also doesn’t have that “teen” sound on the end of it, making it a little trickier to grasp than numbers 13-19.
First, we wrote the number with a dry erase marker. Kids always love using dry erase markers and are motivated to write with them.
Next, we built our number with play dough. This is typically their favorite part!
Finally, we counted the counting bears by placing our own on top for one to one correspondence.
For the twenty frames and tally marks, I chose to have them dot over them and trace over them as we counted for practice. This was especially helpful for learning how to make tally marks and cross the sets of five.
After completing the number 12, we worked on the number 20 to compare the two. Then I put all 11-20 mats in a math center for more independent practice throughout the week.
One mat after the next, the kids worked their way through the stack.
Grab Your Set
Ready to get hands on with numbers 11-20? Grab your free copy of the number activity mats below and then snag a copy of the 1-10 set of activity mats too!