Christmas Addition and Subtraction Math Mats

Deck the halls with Christmas Addition and Subtraction Math Mats! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la! Okay, so maybe you won’t decorate your classroom with these awesome Christmas tree printable math mats, but perhaps you’ll add them to your Christmas activity collection for your math centers. Your students will enjoy solving equations by decorating these addition and subtraction math mats with red and green math manipulatives.

*Pair with our Christmas Centers & Activities for Pre-K/Kindergarten

Christmas Addition and Subtraction Math Mats

These Christmas printable math mats are suitable for kindergarten and 1st grade. You can use them in your homeschool or traditional classroom.

I like to put them in my math center. You could also use them in small groups or send them home for students to use at home for extra practice.

Supplies

To get started, first gather your materials.

• Print and laminate the printable math mats (at the end of the post)
• Dice
• Dry erase marker and eraser
• Manipulatives for counting ( I used red and green pom poms)

I like to laminate my math mats for use year after year. It also makes this activity more effective when the children can use dry erase markers to write in the math equations.

If you don’t have access to a laminator then you might try slipping the printables inside of a sheet protector. I’ve used them this way as well!

Teacher Tip: I grabbed a variety of Christmas themed counters as my math manipulatives at the dollar store – you may be able to find some fun things there as well! 

Addition

Students will start by rolling one die and then writing the number in the first box of the equation at the bottom of the addition math mat printable.

They will then build their equation with math manipulatives that match the corresponding number.

Students will roll a second die, or the same die twice, to find the second number in the addition math equation.

He or she will write the number in the second box and then place the corresponding math manipulatives on the Christmas tree math mat.

Lastly students will solve the addition problem by counting all the manipulatives that are on the Christmas tree math mat.

Using a dry erase marker, students will write that number in the 3rd box of the addition equation.

What I like about using two different colors of pom poms is it shows the 2 parts of the addition problem.

Part one is the red pom poms represented by the number 2 in the first box and part two is the green pom poms represented by the number 4 in the second box.

RELATED RESOURCE: Word Problems for Kindergarten – December Edition

Subtraction

Students will start by rolling one die to find their starting point. They will then place that many number of counters on the Christmas tree math mat. Students will then write the number rolled on the die, in the first box of the equation.

Students will then roll a second die (or one die, twice) to find the second part of the equation.

The second number rolled is how many pom poms that will be removed from the Christmas tree to show what is being “taken away.”

Children will write the number rolled in the 2nd box of the subtraction equation.

Students will now “take away” pom poms from the Christmas tree. The number taken away is the second number that was rolled, found in the second box of the equation.

Lastly, students will then count and write how many pom poms are left on the Christmas tree, in the 3rd box of the equation to get their answer!

Grab Your Free Copy

Ready to work on addition and subtraction? Grab your copy of the Christmas addition and subtraction printable math mats by clicking the large, yellow button below!

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