Letter S: s is for snowman: playdough mats

Free to download resources from prekinders.  The file contains pages to laminate (or place in a page protector for a cheaper alternative).  There is one set with numbers already printed (image shown above) and another set with the numbers missing.  Although the blog suggests the numberless files are for younger children who are not ready to count yet I think our personal preference will be to print one of the numberless pages and use number "tiles" instead - this way I can use dots, numerals and words to match with the manipulatives and save on printer ink at the same time.

Supply plain white playdough or add glitter to the mix to give a fine motor workout, or for just counting use cotton wool balls, "snowflakes" cut from doilies or white bottle tops.
Good for any winter theme maths centre as well as our S for snowman letter practise.

Playdough Mats - resources for download master list (last update 15 Jan 2012)

Playdough mats are perfect for combining learning with fine motor skills.  A is the kind of learner that these would have appealed to when he was B's age - hates writing, loves fiddling with clay/dough or anything mucky; if only I had known then what I know now etc. etc. etc.  Before I head off to make my own I thought I would do a general round-up of those already out there, If I can avoid doing the work myself it makes sense right?  For my playdough recipe I'm going to stick with the one from Prekinders (the link is included in this post).
Of course since the simplest playdough mats are images with circular spaces for balls of playdough you could also use any of the magnet pages or bingo marker pages out there as well.
Just a word about making these re-usable.  Most of the ones I've seen images of are laminated.  If you choose to go down this route and your little one really likes these kind of activities then it could get very expensive; I'm paying 20 Eurocents per pouch myself (plus of course the cost of inks).  Instead of laminating I'm using document pockets- the kind of page protectors that you can pop into a ring binder, it is faster than making a laminated sheet, can be reused and can also be filed away easier.
Anyway onto the master list (I'll be updating this post as I find new resources):

Numbers and counting
1-10 by Tired Need Sleep (autumn theme - scroll down for link)
11-20 by Tired Need Sleep (no particular theme)
Counting playdough mats on a food theme from sparklebox
Rocket playdough mats 1-10 and 11-20 from sparklebox - make the playdough stars to go round the rocket
Christmas counting mats from sparklebox
Winter counting from sparklebox
snowman counting
Number words to 10 from sparklebox
Ladybird numbers 1-10 from TES Resources

Simple addition
crocodile dice game from sparklebox - roll the dice and make playdough teeth to add to the croc's mouth
flower petal addition from sparklebox

Alphabet and letters
playdough snake letters from Make Learning Fun
our own a is for astronaut magnet page
our own a is for apple magnet page
our own b is for balloon magnet page
our own c is for cat magnet page
our own c is for car magnet page
our own d is for dinosaur magnet page
our own f is for frog magnet page
our own l is for ladybird page
our own p is for panda
our own r is for rabbit magnet page

spelling and words
Brown bear mats from Make Learning Fun

Misc
Make a face from Sparklebox
Cherry Pie (part of Thanksgiving theme ) from Prekinders - playdough mat is halfway down the page
Transport themed playdough mats from Sparklebox