Kids will feel extra lucky on St. Patrick’s Day with this shamrock roll and cover printable! This fun activity is low-prep and a great way for kids to practice a variety of early math skills.

Roll and cover printables are such a fun way for kids to practice so many different math skills, and even social skills! This is a great activity to use at a math center with a partner to practice taking turns and communication.

With just the printable, a die, and some counters, this math activity is low-prep and also a fun way to get in some math practice at home. Kids will be working on lots of early math number sense skills, such as number recognition, one to one correspondence, and subitizing.

What is subitizing?

Subitizing is the ability to recognize a small group of objects without needing to count each one individually. For example, when you roll a die, and you see four dots, you quickly know it is four without having to count.

There are two types of subitizing, perpetual and conceptual. Perpetual is instantly recognizing a small group of objects, usually up to 4 or 5. Whereas conceptual is seeing parts of a set and putting them together. For example, you see a group of three dots and three dots on the die. You know 3 and 3 is 6, so you can quickly figure out how many are in the set without counting.

SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR ROLL & COVER ACTIVITIES

• printable roll and cover mat
• dice or number cube
• counters, gold coins, pom poms, gem rocks, or cotton balls
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If you have kiddos that are just starting out with these skills or need a little extra support, here are some ways to differentiate the activity:

• create your own die that has written numbers rather than dots
• use number cards that have both the numeral and dots

You could also laminate the mats or place them in a Write and Wipe Pocket to use in centers or as independent work activities. There are so many great ways to use these roll and cover mats to make learning math fun!

This math activity is also great for adding in a little fine motor skills practice. Using tweezers, kids can pick up a pom pom from a cup and place it on the number that they rolled. A sensory element could also be added by hiding the pom poms in rainbow rice, or even number cards.

Learning and practicing different math skills can be fun and engaging with roll and cover mats. This printable is perfect for at-home practice, math centers in the classroom, and independent work.