Thanksgiving play dough mats are a hands-on way to strengthen little hands this November! The Fine Motor Mats for Thanksgiving | Play Dough include 19 festive mats where preschool and kindergarten children roll, pinch and press play dough to make Thanksgiving foods like mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and green beans.

Rolling, squishing and shaping play dough is more than fun. It builds the hand strength, finger dexterity and coordination children need for writing, cutting and everyday tasks. Each mat also adds early learning: children match colors, place one piece of dough in each space, trace letters and words, match pictures and listen for beginning sounds.

With these Thanksgiving play dough mats, you get

• 19 Thanksgiving play dough mats
• Hand strengthening with every roll, pinch and press
• Letter and word tracing for pre-writing practice
• Beginning sounds, picture matching and shape identification

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

What's Included

• 19 Thanksgiving-themed play dough mats
• Thanksgiving foods to shape, such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and green beans
• Color matching and one-to-one correspondence on the mats
• Letter tracing, such as Mm for mashed potatoes and Gg for green beans
• Traceable words for early writing practice
• Picture matching and beginning sound practice
• 2D shape identification

Why Teachers Love It

• Builds writing readiness: Rolling, pinching and pressing play dough strengthens the hand muscles children use to hold a pencil.
• 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 November.
• Literacy built in: Letter tracing, word tracing and beginning sounds sit right beside the fine motor work.
• Adaptable for every learner: The mats work for preschool, pre-K, kindergarten and special education classrooms.

Skills Students Practice

Primary Academic Skills

• Fine motor strength: Rolling, pinching and pressing play dough builds grip strength and finger dexterity.
• Color matching: Children choose play dough colors to match the picture.
• One-to-one correspondence: Children place one piece of dough in each space on the mat.
• Pre-writing skills: Tracing letters and words builds hand control.
• Letter recognition and beginning sounds: Children trace letters such as Mm and Gg and connect them to the first sound in each Thanksgiving food.
• Shape identification and visual discrimination: Children name 2D shapes and match pictures.

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 Thanksgiving 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, pinch and press the dough onto the mat.

Step 3: Children shape the Thanksgiving picture, then trace the letters or words and say the beginning sound.

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
• Work on one mat at a time in a small group

For On-Level Practice

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

For an Extra Challenge

• Roll thin snakes of dough to form the letters
• Name another word that starts with the same sound
• Count how many pieces of dough each picture uses
• Invite children to shape their own Thanksgiving food 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 Thanksgiving food vocabulary such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and green beans
• Practice target sounds with the beginning 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

• November fine motor centers
• Morning work
• Literacy and pre-writing centers
• Small groups
• OT sessions
• Special education classrooms
• Homeschool learning
• Rainy day activities and a station before Thanksgiving break

Standards

These Thanksgiving 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.
• CCSS RF.K.2.d: Isolate and say the first sound in simple spoken words, such as the names of Thanksgiving foods.

Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines

• Texas Pre-K Guidelines PK4.IX.B.1: Show control in tasks that take small-muscle strength, such as rolling, pinching and pressing 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.III.C.2: Recognize letter-sound correspondences, such as M for mashed potatoes.

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.
• VA SOL English K.FFR.3.B: Identify common letter-sound correspondences.

Check out what other educators are saying:

★★★★★ Jillian S. wrote, "My students had a lot of fun with this! It was great to do as a station right before Thanksgiving break."

★★★★★ East Brew Inspired wrote, "I love this engaging and fun fine motor activity for my fine motor bins!"

Make fine motor learning exciting this Thanksgiving with these hands-on play dough mats. Add the Fine Motor Mats for Thanksgiving | Play Dough to your cart today and have 19 festive mats ready for your November centers!

These mats are also included in the Fine Motor Mega Pack: Check out the Fine Motor Mega Pack here

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