I love to incorporate playdough into our classroom learning time because it is such a fun and engaging way for students to practice academic skills while also working on their fine motor skills. Playdough mats are the perfect way to blend fun and learning for your students. Any time I can combine skills practice with fine motor practice, I call it a win. Today I’m diving into my favorite playdough mats for the classroom.
Why Playdough?
In my classroom, we love all things playdough. It is such a great tool for students to use while learning. Playdough is so much more than something for students to play with. Besides being loads of fun to build, mold, and squish, playdough has many other benefits.
While students are manipulating their playdough they are actually building fine motor skills in their tiny hands. With our young primary students, including activities that are designed to help strengthen those hand muscles is vitally important. Playdough is a great activity because with all the squishing, rolling, tearing, and molding movements, students are getting a real hand workout!
Playdough is also a great tool to help students build hand-eye coordination. As students build with playdough they are practicing this important skill without even knowing it. All that building is sending a plethora of information to the brain to help students learn to connect their vision with their actions.
Playdough can also be calming and comforting to play with, much like a stress ball! It also allows students to be creative, use different colors, and build different things. You can even make homemade playdough that includes essential oils to add an additional calming effect.
Playdough is an all-around awesome tool and perfect for our young students. And. . . since it is so versatile, it can be used with so many academic concepts. With all these benefits, I love to incorporate playdough into learning whenever possible.
Playdough Alphabet Mats
These alphabet playdough mats are a great way for students to practice letters independently. On each mat, students will work on letter identification and letter formation, two important foundational skills for kindergarten.
Students will use the playdough mats to work on both lowercase and uppercase letters. They begin by building the letter with the playdough. As they build, they are making connections to the lines and curves used for proper letter formation. Then they get to practice writing the letter three different times on the activity mat. They will also search for the letter, improving their letter recognition skills. This is a great alphabet activity for a word work center, morning tub, or early finisher activity!
This pack of Alphabet Playdough Mats includes all 26 uppercase and lowercase letters. It is a great resource for practicing the alphabet in a fun and interactive way. Let the students pick their favorite color of playdough and get to work molding it into letters!
Playdough Number Mats
Playdough Number Mats are a fun, interactive way for students to practice number identification, number formation, and basic number sense! They are a fun and engaging way for students to get a variety of skills practiced on one page.
Students will begin by molding their playdough into the shape of the number. Like with the alphabet mats, this reinforces number formation. Then students will practice writing the number, identifying the number when mixed in with other numbers, and building their understanding of what the number represents using a ten frame.
These mats, like the letter mats, offer a creative way for students to work with numbers. Since students are usually familiar with playdough before entering the classroom, these playdough mats are a great activity for the beginning of the school year. With a little guidance on playdough use expectations, you can quickly get students working on academic skills practice.
Playdough Sight Word Mats
Another thing I love about playdough mats is their versatility. We don’t have to stop using them after mastering letters and numbers. Using playdough as a hands-on learning activity grows with us as our skills grow.
For example, as students learn sight words or high-frequency words, they can use playdough mats to help them learn to read and spell these important words. It’s the same engaging activity that students love, just at a higher level! Similar to the alphabet mats, these mats help students practice important sight words. Students will work on word recognition, spelling, and writing as they complete these interactive sight word activities.
Using playdough, students will mold and manipulate to make each high-frequency word on the mat. They will have multiple opportunities to practice writing and reading it. The kids love working with the playdough so much that they don’t realize just how much reading and spelling practice they are getting.
In my TPT store, you can find two sets of playdough mats for sight words. The Pre-Primer Sight Word Mats features the 40 words from the Dolch pre-primer sight word list. The Primer Sight Word Mats features the 52 sight words from the Dolch primer list. I love that by having these on hand I can have a consistent sight word center to use all year long that students can complete independently.
Build & Write Playdough Mats
The final set of playdough mats that I really love is the Build & Write Playdough Mats. These take our writing center to the next level! Each mat features a picture of a noun that students can build. Then they have a space to trace the word that corresponds with the picture. Not only does this help with handwriting practice, but they are improving their vocabulary too. The bottom of the mat features blank lines where students can write.
These mats are not only fun, but they easily grow with your students as their skills grow. At the beginning of the year, I have students write the word three more times. But as they begin learning basic sentence patterns, they transition into writing a sentence about the picture. You can also use them to work on adjectives by having them choose a describing word that matches their playdough build.
These mats are a great addition to the writing center, but can also be used as a literacy center, in a morning tub, or as an early finisher activity.
Fill your Centers with Playdough!
You can’t go wrong with adding playdough mats to your classroom. With immediate engagement and other benefits, your students will be focused on practicing and reviewing important skills. You can find all of these playdough mats in my TPT store.
Save These Playdough Mats
Save these fun, interactive playdough mat activities to your favorite classroom Pinterest board so you can quickly and easily find them later!
