Math combo game

I have been reading like a mad woman this week trying to catch up with the rest of you ladies participating in the book study for Debbie Diller's book Math Work Stations!  I'm still in the heart of Ch. 5 but just had one of those light bulb type moments!  After reading about Combo Games I got to thinking about a better way, well more sturdier way, for kids to place clothespins.  Having the kids match the correct number of clothespins to the correct number of dots is a great way to for them to grasp an understanding of number value and one-to-one correspondence.  While this is going to be a great station for the beginning of the year with my kids using a laminated piece of card stock will just not last in my room!  For whatever reason putting clothespins on a piece of paper has proven to be quite an obstacle for most of my firsties.  So, I'm going to use paint sticks!!!  I grabbed a large bag full from my local Home Depot last year and was going to use most of them in literacy centers but thought this would be a great use for this math station as well. 

While I do not have a picture of them {sorry} they're quite easy to make!  I just painted the paint stick a solid color {since there's writing already on them} and then placed the dots across the top.  I'm excited because now I know I'll NEVER have to worry about them getting ruined after a couple of uses/years!  YAY!!!  Any other amazing tips?!