Mama Loves Plastic Placemats

(This is not the one we have, but a similar one sold by Amazon.)

Sam and Anna have been in booster chairs for a while now.  For a long time, I used our cloth placemats under their plastic plates at the table for meals, and it was amazing how quickly I'd have to turn around and wash them again because they were caked with food.  (My duo love their pasta with red sauce and tomato soup, which have got to be the two messiest foods for toddlers to eat.)  When I cleaned and organized my classroom at the end of the school year, I came upon a few plastic mats that I never used with the kindergartners in my room so I brought them home with me.  Two of the plastic mats have numbers to 20, while the other two have the letters of the alphabet in order with upper and lower case letters together. 

I cannot believe it didn't cross my mind to use something like this at mealtimes with Sam and Anna sooner!  Not only are they 1.) way easier to clean and 2.) a lot more protective for our wood table (sometimes Sam and Anna are a little rough with their forks and have left marks on the wood in the past) but 3.) they give them daily exposure (3 times a day now that I'm a SAHM for the summer and most meals are at home) to visually see numbers 1-20 and all the letters of the alphabet.

I usually ask my two at breakfast, lunch and dinner if they would like numbers or letters/the alphabet that time to give them a choice.  Doing that also has the added advantage that I'm reinforcing what goes into the catergories of letters and numbers.  I can't tell you how many kindergartners I've had over the years that don't know the difference when the school year begins.  I've definitely noticed a difference with Sam and Anna in the less-than-a-month since we made the switch.  They consistently use the labels "letters" and "numbers" correctly to describe them when we see either where ever they come up throughout our day.

Once they get their mats at mealtime, we do a quick practice of counting to 20 or singing the alphabet song while pointing, usually while finishing the food prep.  This practices one-to-one correspondence too; an important precursor-to-reading skill.  It doesn't take long, but the quick practice for a minute ensures that they are getting daily exposure to all the letters or numbers visually every day. 

Sam and Anna like them a whole lot more than our boring blue cloth ones too.

I am so glad we started using these simple mats a few weeks ago!

(Check out the mat under Sam's plate.)