Welcome to the Bright Idea Zone!
One toy, many ways to play.
Discover a multitude of bright ideas for each placemat and keep the fun fresh. Designed by educational experts and sorted by age and ability, these activities help keep little minds engaged and growing.
For offline play, click to download the printer-friendly version of this page, as well as your bonus printable tools, and begin your learning adventure today!
For offline play, click to download the printer-friendly version of this page, as well as your bonus printable tools, and begin your learning adventure today!
And the crowd goes wild! We at Domino & Juliette have a love for sports and we also believe the best way to capture a child's attention is by highlighting their interests! We are so glad to be a part of your learning journey with this sports-themed counting placemat.
For the Rookie Athletes
- Encourage your child to count objects, their favorite toys, or snacks onto the placemat.
- Match D&J 123 Find & Fit puzzle pieces over the correct numbers.
- Ask your child to find the same number on the trim of the placemat.
- More or less: Pick one number at a time. Count out that number of a particular object/snack. Eg. “Here are 6 bingo chips.” Find the number that is one more and count. “Here are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and one more is 7! Look, this pile for 7 has one more than 6 because 7 is one more than 6!” Repeat with one less.
- Using playdough, washable paint or fingerpaint, have your child paint or dot the correct number in each box. Alternatively, stick the corresponding amount of playdough blobs or balls in each box.
- Match your D&J number or sports ball printable to the correct number on the placemat
- Have the child draw a specific number of objects (eg. three circles, or four hearts, etc.) on a Post-it and place on the mat in the corresponding numbered box.
Full Count, Pressure’s On
- Comparing quantities: Pick two numbers on the placemat and fill them with the corresponding number of D&J bingo chips or snack pieces. Ask your child which pile looks larger/smaller. If your child seems ready, discuss how many more or less there are and use phrases like “greater than,” “less than,” or “equal to.”
- Encourage children to practice writing numbers on a post-it note in the space next to the number.
- Counting backwards along the edges: Together with your child count backwards from a chosen number.
- Let’s talk about the number ten. Using your ten frame printable, have your child illustrate each number from the placemat and then identify how many more are needed to make ten.
- Line up your D&J bingo chips on each number and encourage the child to find the pairs that make ten and physically add the quantities together to check their work.
- Using your D&J Find and Fit 123 puzzle, encourage the child to match the number puzzle piece to the number on the placemat that together makes ten.
Advancing to All-Star Status
- Number words: Match the number word printable to the correct value on the placemat.
- Sort dominoes onto their respective numbered box on the placemat.
- Odd and Even numbers: Have your child write “odd” and “even” on post-it notes and apply correctly to each numbered box. Then challenge them to identify the odd and even numbers on the trim of the mat. Alternatively, point to a number on the trim of the mat and ask them to identify if that number is odd or even. How do they know?
- Make the number: Using Post-it notes encourage your child to write as many number sentences as they can in each numbered box. For example 6+2= 8 and 4+4=8 for the number 8. If your child is more advanced in math, use this exercise to practice whatever it is they are working on. From addition, we progress to using subtraction, multiplication or division.
- Roll two die and add them together: Place one of your D&J colored bingo chips in the box with the corresponding number. If the sum is more than 10, lose your turn. First person to fill each of the court boxes with one of their colored bingo chips wins!
- Skip counting: Pick a number on the trim of the placemat and ask the child to count forward or backwards by a specific increment. For example, start at 8 and move 10 forward to 18 (from 8) and then add another group of ten to bring you to 28…
Keep Score as you play!
Have conversations about the scoreboard with your child as you are learning and playing. Using your D&J 123 Find & Fit puzzle pieces, keep track of the score of your games on the placemat scoreboard.
