My kids used to think playdoh mats were the coolest! I love to create them, too. It keeps toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten learners busy with fine motor skills and helps them with recognizing different facial expressions.

It’s not always easy to teach this concept of different social-emotional skills, so many moons ago, I thought it might be beneficial for my children to express their feelings through hands on play with these free emotions play dough mats. It really was a game changer for my own children when they were learning about their different emotions.

What are the benefits of playdough mats

• Fine Motor Skills

  Molding, squishing, and pulling playdoh is an excellent way to build those fine motor skills. Children need to develop strong and proper finger control before they can begin to write their letters.

• Creativity

Creating items from scratch encourages your kids to enhance their imaginations and to think in new and innovative ways. Kids basically have   a blank canvas to create what ever comes to mind. Whether it’s dramatic play for simply creating items that comes in the little minds of the       young.

• Hand Strengthening

Squishing, twisting, twisting, smashing, and , cutting all the part of the fun of playdough. Using different tools such as a pencil or scissors all     help build hand  coordination and strength.

• Literacy and Math Skills

FREE printable playdough mats are such a fun way to use playdough as manipulitatives. I have created free number playdo mats and  free abc playdough mats.

• Learning the Five Senses

When using these playdough mats, students get to use all their five senses by feeling, looking, smelling (make sure you click on the resources below for the playdough recipes), hearing the squishy sounds, and some playdough recipes are even edible.

• Therapeutic Value

The very nature of the substance makes it calming and relaxing to play with. Most adults would agree that playdo is simply calming too. Playdough  is simply relaxing and highly therapeutic. It can reduce stress and works works wonders for students who are anxious, shy, angry, or simply sad.

• Tactile Awareness

Watching their little hands move and working their hand muscles makes my heart happy. It allows students to explore  different textures to consistencies from the toys and items used along with the playdough printables. Playdough activities are all about the hands-on exploration.

I love making homemade playdough because it less expensive and it last a very long time as long as you store it in a closed ziplock bag. Of course, I love to make festive seasonal playdough activities for each holiday (see the list towards the end of the post)

There are over 20 facial features  to choose from in the playdough emotions pdf file. .I printed out the mats on cardstock and laminated them. I was able to laminate 2 together to use less laminating sheets.

How to get these FREE Printable Emotions Playdough Mats

I created these free printable face mats for my email subscriber. Fill out in the form below and you will receive the number playdough mats instantly via email. I create new freebies weekly for my email subscribers.

 I hope your kiddos enjoy these Make a Face playdough mats as much as mine do! Please share this post for others to enjoy.