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Shape Play Dough Mats

By Karen Cox | Affiliate Disclosure | Filed Under: Play Dough Math Mats, Shapes

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I have a growing collection of play dough counting mats, and thought Shape Play Dough Mats would be a nice addition to the Math Play Dough Mats sets. I have an old set of shape mats made years ago with construction paper, a marker, and some clear contact paper, but after years of use, it’s time for something new.

Shapes Play Dough Mats

These shape mats include the basic shapes:

  • Circle
  • Triangle
  • Square
  • Rectangle
  • Diamond/Rhombus
  • Oval

Shape Play Dough Mats

To use them, children will roll out the play dough like a “snake”, then form the snake into a shape by placing it on the outline of the shape on the mat.

I wanted to add a little fun to these mats to catch children’s interests and imagination as they practice making shapes.  Each shape has an extra something to add after children have made the shape. The right hand corner of each mat has a little picture to remind children of what they can add to the shape if they use these mats independently. This also introduces them to shapes in the environment.

Shape Play Dough Mats

Circle: The circle mat says, “Make a circle. Pretend it’s a cookie and add some chocolate chips.” Children can pinch off some play dough and roll it into tiny chocolate chips to decorate their cookie.

Triangle: “Pretend it’s a pizza and add some pepperoni.” Children can form little pepperoni out of extra play dough to make the triangle look like a slice of pizza.

Square: “Pretend it’s a window and add some flowers or trees outside.” Children can use play dough to make either some flowers to place outside the window or some trees.

Rectangle: “Pretend it’s a table and put some food on it.”

Diamond/Rhombus: “Pretend it’s a kite and add a kite tail.” Children can roll out some more dough to make a kite string. I have included mats for both “diamond” and “rhombus” so you can choose the one you prefer.

Oval: “Pretend it’s a racetrack and add some cars.” Cars might not be easy to make with play dough, but show children how to make a very simple representation of a car with play dough (no details).

Download: Shape Play Dough Mats

Hope your students enjoy these mats!

Shape Play Dough Mats

Available In My Shop:

Shape Mini Books: printable packet
Dot Marker Shapes Game: printables to use with dot markers

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29 Comments Tagged With: Math Printables

About Karen Cox

Karen is the founder of PreKinders.com. She also works as a full-time Pre-K teacher in Georgia. Read more...

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. eainteithu says

    January 14, 2014 at 7:09 pm

    Thank you

    Reply
    • YOLANDA SARAVIA says

      January 15, 2014 at 5:45 pm

      Muy lindas las propuestas!!

      Reply
  2. Yolanda says

    January 15, 2014 at 5:29 am

    These are alway fun , thank you .

    Reply
  3. Barbara Parker says

    January 15, 2014 at 6:21 am

    Thank you for the wonderful ideas and creative projects that you share, they have greatly help with lesson plans and ideas for my class. The dots are a hit with the children and staff.

    Thank you,
    Barbara

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 15, 2014 at 8:46 pm

      Thanks, Barbara! Glad to hear they are enjoyed!

      Reply
  4. Annie E. says

    January 15, 2014 at 11:43 am

    Love the play dough mats! We use play dough play in our early childhood programs at the library, and these are excellent!

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 15, 2014 at 8:46 pm

      Thanks! Play dough is one of the best tools for Pre-K!

      Reply
  5. LINDA says

    January 15, 2014 at 12:50 pm

    Thank you for these mats, they will be of great use in the classroom!

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 15, 2014 at 8:47 pm

      Thanks! Hope your students enjoy them!

      Reply
  6. Bonnie Munn says

    January 15, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    Thanks for all your hard work- and for having them available for free. That is so nice for poor teachers like me!

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 15, 2014 at 8:47 pm

      Thanks, Bonnie! I hope you enjoy them!

      Reply
  7. Zulkufli Mahayudin says

    January 16, 2014 at 9:10 am

    Hi, Karen.

    Thanks for everything. It’s really amazing job. Actually I’m a Head of Education Department, and at this moment I’ll share what I get from you with my preschool teacher. So far the ideas from you are very meaningful. Thanks again.

    Reply
  8. Melissa says

    January 18, 2014 at 3:46 am

    Thank you so much for sharing your playdough mats! I can’t wait to use them đŸ™‚

    Reply
  9. Donna says

    January 19, 2014 at 12:50 pm

    The children will love these. Thank you.

    Reply
  10. Jenny says

    January 19, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    Thank you! So, do we print and put in page protectors? Newbie to preschool. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 20, 2014 at 2:02 pm

      Hi Jenny, I do put mine in page protectors and connect the pages with binder rings. That way the children can make a shape, then flip to the next page. I do this with all of my play dough mats. However, some people may prefer to laminate them instead.

      Reply
  11. Julie says

    January 19, 2014 at 9:17 pm

    Karen,

    I use so many of your ideas and printables. Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing your wonderful ideas. I

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 20, 2014 at 2:00 pm

      Thanks, Julie!

      Reply
  12. Siria Caloca says

    January 20, 2014 at 1:17 pm

    Muy creativas las ideas para enseñar lad figuras geométricas. Great ideas.

    Reply
  13. April says

    January 29, 2014 at 11:48 am

    Thank you – these are great – will be well used

    Reply
  14. Lisa says

    February 26, 2014 at 10:08 am

    A huge Thank you!!!!!!! I really love them for my class. God bless.

    Reply
  15. Marwa says

    April 8, 2014 at 11:13 pm

    V nice thank you all the ideas are very helpful

    Reply
  16. Carol says

    October 8, 2014 at 1:55 pm

    We have really enjoyed your play mats. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing ideas.

    Reply
  17. nahri says

    November 17, 2014 at 1:25 am

    Thank you for the templates, my child is going to love it (for our long haul flight ~ it will be a lifesaver!). I’m trying to have it printed at Staples and they’re saying that the pdf is locked and it is asking for a password?

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      November 17, 2014 at 7:24 pm

      They shouldn’t have any problem just printing it. The PDF is locked only to changes being made to it, but it is not locked to printing.

      Reply
  18. rachel88 says

    July 9, 2015 at 11:28 pm

    Thanks for sharing

    Reply
  19. Shawna says

    January 27, 2016 at 1:50 am

    These are SO cute! I know my grandson will LOVE these!

    Reply
  20. jessica says

    March 1, 2016 at 3:55 pm

    Thanks karen for sharing those templates! Kids will surely love it. Im so excited to use it for my students. God bless you ☺

    Reply
  21. Hala says

    July 28, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    Thank you for those shape mats, I love it and so does my children đŸ™‚

    Reply

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Glad you're here! You'll find hands-on learning activities, themes, and printables for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten kids. I'm Karen Cox, a Pre-K teacher in Georgia. I have taught 4-5 year olds for 20+ years! Read More…

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Welcome!
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We collect, use, and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!
Welcome!
Would you like to join my FREE weekly update newsletter? Join 85,000+ subscribers!
We collect, use, and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!