Free Printable Back to School Play Dough Mats

These free printable back to school themed play dough mats are a no-prep fine motor activity for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. They're perfect for your back to school lesson plans or any time you want to teach a school theme. I hope you enjoy!

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This set of school themed play dough mats includes 12 images in both color and black and white.

Each page features a school themed image play and the matching vocabulary word in a dotted font to trace. If your child or students aren't ready to practice writing their letters, you can skip the word tracing section.

My daughter loves play dough and has a Play Doh ice cream maker that tells you to mix colors. Instead of buying lots of Play Doh that will get mixed up, I bought a bag of Costco flour and some food coloring to make my own.

I have a no-fail recipe for homemade play dough that stays soft for a long time (and doesn't get moldy!). Discover the diy play dough recipe here.

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Materials needed for back to school play dough mats

You don't need much to use these play dough mats. Here's a look at the supplies you'll need:

• Your free printable (look for the row of purple arrows lower down in the post)
• Printer access & paper or card stock
• Laminator or page protectors/dry erase pockets
  • Page protectors are easier to keep organized, dry erase pockets are more durable
• Play dough! Stock up with a multipack or make your own
• A dry or wet erase marker or, our favorite Stabilo Woodies

We love using our Stabilo Woodies. They are a large dry erase crayon that you can use to write, color, and draw. They also have a little more friction than a marker, which makes them better for improving fine motor strength.

How to use play dough activity mats

Play dough mats are very easy to use.

First, print out your pages. To make them reusable, slide each page into a dry erase pocket before use.

Your child, or student, makes play dough "snakes" and lays them out to cover each image. The images are large, so it's okay if the snake is a bit skinnier than the drawing on the activity mat.

Each page has the matching vocabulary word in a tracing font for your child to trace.

Back to school vocabulary play dough mats previews

This set of school themed play dough mats has 12 different images. Each image is in both color and black and white. Only color versions are shown below, but both versions are included in your PDF file.

Free printable play dough mats PDF file download area

These play dough activity mats are licensed for personal use and single classroom use. This includes use with therapy clients, library activities, etc.

You are not licensed to sell or redistribute the files or print outs, even for free. Please refer friends and colleagues to this post so they can download their own copies.

I hope you enjoy these back to school play dough mats! Be sure to check out the additional free printables for your fall themes below: