Easter play dough mats let preschoolers roll and press dough into spring pictures! With the Fine Motor Mats for Easter | Play Dough, preschool and kindergarten children roll, press and shape play dough to fill Easter pictures like a rabbit, a patterned egg and an egg-filled basket.

Fine motor skills help children learn to control the hand, fingers and thumb. Activities like these help children develop the skills they need not only to hold a crayon and write with a pencil but to handle everyday tasks. Each mat also adds early learning: children match colors, find the pictures that match and use beginning writing skills by tracing letters and words.

With these Easter play dough mats, you get

• Easter pictures to fill, such as a rabbit, an egg and a basket
• Hand strengthening with every roll, press and squish
• Picture matching for visual discrimination
• Letter and word tracing for pre-writing practice

Print, laminate and set out the play dough for an easy Easter center.

What's Included

• Easter play dough mats with pictures such as a rabbit, an egg and an egg-filled basket
• A picture to fill with play dough on each mat
• Picture choices for finding a matching pair
• Uppercase and lowercase letters to trace, such as Rr for rabbit and Ee for egg
• Traceable words for early writing practice

Why Teachers Love It

• Builds writing readiness: Rolling, pressing and shaping play dough strengthens the index finger and thumb.
• Hands-on and sensory: Squishy, colorful play dough keeps children engaged from start to finish.
• Easy to prep and reuse: Laminate the mats once and use them every spring.
• Literacy built in: Letter tracing, word tracing and picture matching sit right beside the fine motor work.
• Flexible: Use the mats for morning work, fine motor activities, literacy centers or rainy day activities.

Skills Students Practice

Primary Academic Skills

• Fine motor strength: Rolling, pressing and shaping play dough builds grip strength and finger dexterity.
• Color matching: Children choose play dough colors to match the picture.
• Visual discrimination: Children look closely at the pictures to find the matching pair.
• Pre-writing skills: Tracing letters and words builds hand control.
• Letter recognition: Children trace uppercase and lowercase letters such as Rr and Ee.

Secondary Life & Learning Skills

• Following directions
• Maintaining attention
• Working independently
• Communicating choices
• Building confidence during group participation

How to Use It

Step 1: Print the Easter play dough mats and laminate them so they can be used again and again.

Step 2: Set out play dough in the colors children need. Model how to roll, press and shape the dough onto the mat.

Step 3: Children fill the Easter picture, find the matching pictures and trace the letters or words.

Materials You'll Need

• Play dough

Easy Differentiation

Children come to fine motor centers with different hand strength and letter knowledge. These mats are easy to adjust for each of them.

For Children Who Need More Support

• Use softer play dough that is easier to roll and press
• Roll a few balls of dough ahead of time for children to place
• Trace the letters together with a finger before using a marker
• Talk through what is the same and different before choosing the matching pictures

For On-Level Practice

• Shape each picture independently with matching colors
• Find the matching pictures on each mat
• Trace the letters and words on each mat
• Say the beginning sound of each Easter picture

For an Extra Challenge

• Roll thin snakes of dough to form the letters
• Explain how the matching pictures are the same
• Name another word that starts with the same sound
• Invite children to shape their own Easter picture and tell about it

For Speech, OT, ELL or Special Education Support

• Use the mats in OT sessions for grip strength and finger isolation
• Practice Easter vocabulary such as rabbit, egg and basket
• Practice target sounds with the letters on each mat
• Add tools such as rollers or plastic scissors to match each child's goals
• Give extra processing time and model each step

Perfect For

• Spring and Easter fine motor centers
• Morning work and morning tubs
• Literacy and pre-writing centers
• Small groups
• OT sessions
• Special education classrooms
• Homeschool learning
• Rainy day activities

Standards

These Easter play dough mats support the 2022 Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and Virginia's Early Learning and Development Standards (2021), and they build toward kindergarten skills in Common Core, the TEKS (ELAR, adopted 2017) and the Virginia English SOL (2024):

Common Core State Standards

• CCSS RF.K.1.d: Recognize and name uppercase and lowercase letters.

Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines

• Texas Pre-K Guidelines PK4.IX.B.1: Show control in tasks that take small-muscle strength, such as rolling, pressing and shaping play dough.
• Texas Pre-K Guidelines PK4.IX.B.2: Show growing control in tasks that need eye-hand coordination while tracing letters and words.
• Texas Pre-K Guidelines PK4.III.C.1: Recognize and name letters while tracing them on each mat.
• Texas Pre-K Guidelines PK4.V.E.1: Sort objects that are the same and different, such as finding the matching pictures.

Texas TEKS

• TEKS ELAR K.2.D.v: Identify uppercase and lowercase letters.

Virginia Early Learning and Development Standards

• Virginia ELDS HPD3.2: Develop small muscle control while shaping and pressing play dough.
• Virginia ELDS CLLD2.4: Learn how letters work by tracing uppercase and lowercase letters.
• Virginia ELDS CLLD3.3: Handle writing tools while tracing letters and words.

Virginia SOL

• VA SOL English K.FFR.3.A: Identify capital and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Kids will love learning with the Easter Fine Motor Play Dough Mats while they build literacy skills, fine motor skills and have a LOT of fun! Add them to your cart today and have your Easter centers ready in minutes.

The Easter Fine Motor Play Dough Mats are also included in the Fine Motor Mega Pack.

Download Details

Please note: This is a digital download that will be available to you directly after purchase. Nothing will be mailed to you.

You will receive a link to the download in three places

1. On the 'thank you' page after checkout
2. In your email
3. Login on the site here: https://lifeovercsstore.com/account