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Free Printable Alphabet Play Dough Mats: a no-prep way to teach the ABCs

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These free printable play dough mats are a fun and easy way to teach your child (or students) their abc’s while they work on important fine motor skills. Download your printable letter play dough mats today with no email address required!

Play dough mats are the perfect way to familiarize your toddler or preschoolers with the alphabet. Children can play with play dough and form play dough letters long before they can write, or even trace, the alphabet.

My daughter, who is almost 3 at the time of first publishing this post, is interested in letters but unable to draw or trace them for herself. She loves making the letters she knows with these play dough mats and I’m sure your older toddler or preschooler will love them, too.

A preview of four printable play dough alphabet mats - letters a, b, c, and d. each mat has the letter in uppercase and lowercase large bubble letters to fill in with play dough and a picture representing the phonetic sound of the letter.

Each mat features an uppercase and lowercase letter, text with sounding out the letter, and black and white clip art of an item to match the sound. For example: “A is for a, a, a, ant” with a picture of an ant.

All vowel sounds in the example images for these abc mats are short. Short vowels are commonly taught first because they are more consistent.

Reading the phrase aloud to my daughter, I would say “Ah is for ah, ah, ah, ant.” (In phonetic notion, the short a is written as /a/.) It can be tricky as an adult to say the short vowel sound instead of the letter name, but I am firmly in camp “teach letter sounds before letter names.”

If you want more resources for teaching your little learner the alphabet, be sure to check out these alphabet coloring pages and, once they’ve mastered these play dough mats, alphabet tracing pages.

A top down view of a young child with a pink floral shirt on and a blue bracelet placing a piece of green play dough on a letter mat with large bubble letters M and m

Table of Contents

  • Why teach letter sounds instead of names?
  • Benefits of playing with play dough
  • Homemade play-doh recipe
  • Free printable ABC play dough mats

Why teach letter sounds instead of names?

Although mainstream American education typically teaches letter names before sounds, some philosophies of education, such as Montessori, emphasize teaching letter sounds first.

One study compared young students from the US, who received instruction on letter names first, with students from the UK, where letter sounds are taught first. Children who received instruction on letter sounds had fewer vowel spelling errors.

If you’re wondering what your preschooler should know by when, make sure to get your free school readiness checklist:

Benefits of playing with play dough

Play dough is a wonderful toy and teaching tool. In fact, a study conducted by Temple University found that classic, basic toys like blocks and clay are more beneficial for development than electronic “educational” toys!

Playing with play dough has many benefits including:

  • Improves fine motor skills
  • Strengthens hand and wrist muscles
  • Improves hand-eye coordination
  • Improves pre-writing skills
  • Encourages creativity and imagination
a top down shot of a toddler's hands rolling out green play dough on a white table. Next to her hands is a piece of paper with Mm written in big bubble letters to fill with play dough

Homemade play-doh recipe

This post includes affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission on purchases made through links at no additional cost to you.

I haven’t purchased Play-Doh in years because it’s so easy to make your own.

There are a zillion play dough recipes available online, but I believe this one is the best because it has staying power. Because it is cooked and has cream of tartar, I’ve never had any mold problems and this play dough has stayed soft for over a year (when stored in a ziplock bag).

I’ve thrown batches away because they became physically dirty, but never because they became moldy or dried out if stored correctly.

This batch is a great size, too. It’s large enough for plenty of fun but small enough to fit in a single quart sized ziplock bag.

Cooked play-doh ingredients:

  • 1 cup of water
  • Food coloring – I use gel food coloring
  • 1 cup of flour
  • 1.5 teaspoons of oil (vegetable oil or canola oil)
  • .5 teaspoons of cream of tartar
  • .5 cup of salt

You will also need a cooking pot and a sturdy spoon. A small bowl and a whisk are optional, but helpful.

6 Color Cake Food Coloring Liqua-Gel Decorating Baking Primary Colors Set -...
Amazon Brand - Happy Belly Cream of Tartar, 5 Ounces
Good Cook 3-Piece Mixing Spoons Set
6 Color Cake Food Coloring Liqua-Gel Decorating Baking Primary Colors Set -...
Amazon Brand - Happy Belly Cream of Tartar, 5 Ounces
Good Cook 3-Piece Mixing Spoons Set
6 Color Cake Food Coloring Liqua-Gel Decorating Baking Primary Colors Set -...
6 Color Cake Food Coloring Liqua-Gel Decorating Baking Primary Colors Set -...
Amazon Brand - Happy Belly Cream of Tartar, 5 Ounces
Amazon Brand - Happy Belly Cream of Tartar, 5 Ounces
Good Cook 3-Piece Mixing Spoons Set
Good Cook 3-Piece Mixing Spoons Set

Cream of tartar is important to this recipe as a preservative and is part of why this play dough lasts so long. It’s cheap and easy to find in most grocery store baking/spice aisles. Bonus: baking powder is baking soda with cream of tartar so you can mix up your own baking powder the next time you need it for a recipe!

Cooked play-doh recipe:

  • Stir together flour, cream of tartar, salt, and oil in a bowl
  • Add water and 10 drops of food coloring to a cooking pot
  • Whisk flour mixture into water
  • Add more food coloring, if desired
  • Cook over medium-high heat and stir with a wood spoon or sturdy plastic spoon. Use a mixing spoon, not a serving spoon, whisk, or spatula. They are too flimsy.
  • Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the mixture becomes thicker and play dough-y. It will continue to harden as it cools, so remove from the stove when it’s still a bit softer than what you want.
  • Allow play dough to cool fully before allowing your child to play with it. It will be HOT!
  • Store in an air tight container, like a ziplock bag, once it’s fully cooled

One the play dough is completely cool, you’re ready to print your play dough mats and start making some “snakes” to fill the letters with!

Watch the video clip below for a quick demonstration of how nice and soft this play dough can be and see it in action with these abc mats:

Free printable ABC play dough mats

Alright, let’s get to the printables.

To make the most of your printables, I recommend laminating them for repeated use. We have successfully used un-laminated play dough mats a couple of times, but it’s far better to laminate them. At home laminating machines are inexpensive. If you get one, it will pay for itself (compared to the cost of getting your pages laminated at a copy shop) if you print and laminate the entire alphabet.

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Like all printables on The Artisan Life, these alphabet mats are for personal and single classroom use.

You are not licensed to use the files commercially or redistribute them to other adults for their personal use. You are welcome to use these pages with paid therapy clients as long as you are not charging specifically to play with them.

A lot of teachers have asked if they can share PDFs with their digital classroom. Please, if at all possible, send parents to this blog post to download the PDFs for themselves if you want to make this part of your digital lesson plan.

Individual download links are located below each preview image. When you click the link, it should open in a new window and begin downloading automatically.

If a dialogue box pops up asking for download permission from DropBox, please accept in order to receive your download. I recommend using a computer, not a phone, to download the files. They can be downloaded to your phone, but you’ll have to go hunting for them in your file folder.

Your time is valuable – get the entire alphabet plus 8 more pages with long a, e, i, o, & u; soft c & g; and an alternative x in one convenient file for the very low price of $1.79.

Keep scrolling a tiny bit more for the individual freebie links with short vowels.

Don’t worry – the purple watermarks are not on the PDF downloads. I just don’t want you to print the preview images because they are low resolution and will look terrible if printed. Any blurriness or off colors are a result of image compression so this page can load more quickly for you.

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Aa in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter a play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Bb in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter b play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Cc in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter c play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Dd in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter d play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Ee in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter e play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Ff in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter f play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Gg in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter g play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Hh in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter h play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Ii in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter i play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Jj in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter j play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Kk in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter k play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Ll in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter l play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Mm in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter m play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Nn in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter n play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Oo in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter o play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Pp in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter p play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Qq in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter q play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Rr in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter r play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Ss in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter s play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Tt in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter t play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Uu in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter u play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Vv in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter v play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Ww in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter w play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Xx in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter x play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Yy in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter y play dough mat

Alphabet letter play dough mat with the letters Zz in large bubble letters to fill with play dough

letter z play dough mat

It’s not too late to get the whole alphabet plus 8 additional pages with more letter sounds for just $1.79:

While you’re here, make sure to get your free preschool learning checklist to ensure your child is learning everything they need to know:

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text "free printable alphabet play dough mats with short vowels" Below the text is a preview of four printable letter mats with large bubble uppercase and lowercase letters to fill with play dough. Pictures pages include O with an octopus, I with an iguana, A with an ant, and U with an umbrella
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Filed Under: Alphabet Tracing Worksheets, Preschool worksheets, Printable

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natashalh - the artisan life

Hi, I’m Natasha! I’m so glad you’re here.

I’m a former classroom teacher with a Masters of the Arts in Teaching turned homeschooler & gardener. I share educational & planner printables and tips for making gardening with kids successful and affordable.

I also publish printed coloring & activity books. You can also find me on YouTube.

Let's be friends!

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