Mermaid Alphabet Play Dough Mats
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There is something purely magical about a mermaid. My favorite movie as a child was about a mermaid and my 6 year old daughter hasn’t lost her fascination with them either. Do you have any mermaid lovers in your classroom? These free Mermaid Alphabet Play Dough Mats are perfect for any mermaid lover and will help strengthen letter recognition skills!
*Pair this with our Alphabet Centers and Activities for more ABC practice!
Mermaid Alphabet Play Dough Mats
These Mermaid Alphabet Play Dough Mats come in a full alphabet set! They’re perfect for toddlers through kindergarten.
These alphabet mats are ideal for children who are just beginning to explore the alphabet or children who are learning beginning sounds or even sight words.
The best part is these play dough mats can be used any time of the year and fit into various themes!
Features
One of my favorite things about these play dough mats is that they are not only helpful tools for teaching but are extremely fun for kids. These mats, combined with play dough, are a fantastic sensory activity, help with pre-writing skills, as well as encourage proper alphabet formation.
Each page is filled with fun mermaid and under the sea objects like plants, starfish and more. The colors are bold and bright all at the same time but any color of play dough will work perfectly with this set!
This set also includes each letter in both upper and lowercase.
Preparing the Play Dough Mats
If you haven’t brought printable play dough mats into your home or classroom before, you and your kids are in for a special treat. Kids will be so excited to play with play dough, they will likely miss the fact that they are actually learning as well. It is also fantastic that once the mats are prepared the first time, there is literally no prep for future set ups!
Once each page is printed, I like to laminate them. The purpose of the lamination is to ensure that this set can be used over and over. Play dough easily becomes sticky and can ruin plain paper.
I have laminated them a single page at a time but I have also turned two pages, backs together, to laminate two in one laminating sleeve. Tip: If you are setting this activity up for an entire classroom, laminating single pages might work better. If you are laminating at home or for smaller groups, it might make more sense to laminate two at a time.
How To Use With Play Dough:
- The letters can be filled in completely with play dough.
- Use different colors of play dough in each letter.
- Children can create balls of play dough to make dotted lines through the letter.
- Create snakes with the play dough to ‘write’ the letters.
- Play dough tools are also fantastic for this activity.
Alternative Play Ideas:
These ABC Mats are not limited to only play dough. You can also use other objects to fill the letters. For instance:
- Pom Poms
- Dry Erase Markers
- Pipe Cleaners
- Gems
Benefits of Alphabet Play Dough Mats
There are some kids that absolutely need a factor of fun to encourage them to do learning activities. This is so common and there is nothing wrong with it. Play dough alone is a fun activity that most children enjoy, especially when mermaids are included!
This set is perfect for a literacy center in the classroom or an ABC activity at home!
More Benefits of Play Dough in the Classroom:
- Play dough is a fantastic way to strengthen fine motor skills, which helps with pre-writing skills.
- Play dough can be calming and stress relieving.
- Encourages development of hand-eye coordination.
- Excellent sensory play activity.
- Increases creativity and imagination.
- Will help with letter recognition and letter formation.
- Is a fun way to introduce beginning sounds.
Grab Your FREE Copy
Ready to play and learn? Grab some play dough and print your free copy of the Mermaid Alphabet Play Dough Mats by clicking the large, yellow download button at the end of the post!
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Thank you for the mats. I know they will get used in my class.