Nature Play Dough Mat - Free Printable

Good morning all!

Well, we're officially in winter here now in Australia, and it's been getting colder and colder! This means lots more inside time with Master J.

This week I whipped up a new playdough mat set for Master J, and I have to say, he just loves it!

Not only is this a great set for play dough, but it is also perfect for dry erase markers AND for some outside play. That's right, because these are laminated you can take them outside! Master J had a blast sticking leaves on the tree and picking flowers from the lawn to put on the stalks. A quick wipe when we were done and the mats are good as new!

This set has a rainbow, flower stalks and 2 trees, one with leaves and one without.

New to play dough mats? It's easy as can be! Download the file, print it, laminate the sheets and BAM! That's it, you are done.  Grab the PDF below!

Insect Play Dough Mats

Good morning lovelies!

Wow, we're ending out the second week in March already! Is it just me, or does it feel like this year is really flying? We're gearing up for both Mr Mamma, and Miss C's birthdays at the end of this month, busy busy!

Today I have for you, some super adorable insect play dough mats! Master J loves bugs. He loves to watch snails, chase grass hoppers and squeals with delight at butterflies as they fly past.

This set of mats incorporates some simple instructions, but as always, can absolutely be used for free play. We've also been using them for counting practice and colour recognition. What colour are the caterpillars stripes? How many spots are on the butterflies wings? Oodles of educational fun!

I've gone with A5 for these ones, like I did with the Monster Mats, instead of A4. I think I'll do that for all future ones as well. They just seem to work better that way. Because the sheets are laminated, you could also use them with a dry erase marker for even more usability!

This set has a lady bug, a butterfly, a bee and a caterpillar.

New to play dough mats? It's easy as can be! Download the file at the bottom of this post, print it, laminate the sheets and BAM! That's it, you are done.

Monster Play Dough Mats

Good morning lovelies!

It's play-dough day! Yup, a new set of printable, laminatable, play-dough mats!

These ones are smaller than the Gumball Machine Set from last month, being a half an A4 page each. Much more manageable for small hands. Master J has been loving this set. He puts faces, limbs and hair on the monsters, telling me each one as he goes. He'll spend a good 30 minutes playing with these before looking for something else to add to the game, and so that's pretty good in my book!

If you havn't tried them already, play-dough mats are really simple to make! Simply print, cut and laminate! Being laminated means they can be used again and again, making them budget friendly.

I can't wait to get some more of these done! Oodles of fun. I've even caught my teens playing along side Master J with them. Something about play-dough, just brings out the kid in everyone!

Play Dough Mats - Gumball Machine

Good morning lovelies!

If there's one thing Master J loves to do more than any other messy activity, it's play dough! He loves to squash it, smash it, pull it, poke it, roll it and jab it! He will happily spend a good 30 minutes totally engrossed in a blob of play dough and a few cookie cutters.

I decided to extent his play with a little educational aspect to it. He might be a little too little yet for a lot of numbers, but it never hurts to start introducing them into his play.

The idea for the gumball machines actually came from Miss L, who helped me design them in Photoshop, and picked out the colours! She has some more ideas, and so do I, so you can expect to see some more throughout the year.

Play dough mats are a fantastic resource for kids. They encourage learning while having fun, and add extra play aspects to their activities. The mats are laminated too, so they can be re-used again and again! Right now, he just has fun putting play dough blobs onto the shadows in the gumball machines, and doesn't seem too concerned about the numbers. He is, after all, only just (as in last week!) 3. But eventually we'll swap them out for a set without the shadows. The set has numbers 1-5, we'll eventually add to 10, but 5 seemed like a good starting point for his age.

We're also going to use them for placing pompoms on with a pair of tweezers, to help with his motor skills!

You can download the set of 5 with shadows and without in PDF format at the bottom of this post.

Simply save, print, laminate and play!