Autumn Playdough Ideas for Preschool

Fall is full of inspiration for the best autumn playdough ideas for preschool. It is a season of warm spices and vibrant colors, and what better way to celebrate it than through fall scented playdough? Be sure to check out all our tips and tricks for how to make playdough, too.

This is a playdough recipe that’s not only soft and moldable but infused with the warm scents of the season. You’ll also get a list of autumn playdough mats and easy fall playdough activities that are sure to keep your preschoolers working their fine motor skills all season long.

With its warm spices like cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and cardamom, this season sets the stage for sensory-rich fall playdough ideas. Dive into our fall-scented playdough recipe, ensuring it’s not just soft and moldable but also infused with the delightful aromas of autumn.

Plus, we’ve curated a collection of autumn playdough mats and easy fall playdough activities that promise to engage your little ones’ fine motor skills and their creativity.

Get ready for some creative, fragrant, and hands-on learning with our autumn playdough ideas for preschoolers.

This is our favorite playdough recipe to use with our Printable Autumn Preschool Centers.

Fall Playdough Recipe

Our fall playdough recipe isn’t just about soft, moldable dough; it’s infused with the familiar scents of the season, thanks to aromatic spices like cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and cardamom.

To make our playdough, we relied on our trusty, fool-proof, easy, perfect every time, classic cooked playdough recipe.

How to Make Fall Scented Playdough

It is super easy to make playdough that smells like all the familiar and comforting scents of fall. In this case, we used various kitchen spices. Here’s how to do it:

1. Make a playdough base, like our classic cooked playdough recipe.
2. Allow to cool.
3. Knead in a few teaspoons of spices to each batch.

Spices to Use

This time of year, cinnamon is always the first spice that comes to mind. But don’t forget about these other fall spices!

• cinnamon
• allspice
• cloves
• cardamon
• ginger
• nutmeg

And of course, blends like apple pie spice of pumpkin spice makes amazing scented playdough for fall, too!

For this recipe, we used cinnamon (orange playdough), allspice (brown playdough), and cardamon (yellow playdough). We also added a little food dye to create bright fall colors.

Fall Playdough Invitation to Play

Using playdough is a daily staple in my preschool classroom. We are huge advocates for using playdough to develop hand strength and fine motor skills. Whenever I make a new batch of homemade playdough, like this fall scented playdough recipe, we start with an invitation to play.

In our preschool class, kids really enjoy using different types of tools and gadgets with their playdough.

One of their top activities involves using special rolling pins that create cool patterns on the dough. Some kids like squishing and shaping the dough with their hands, while others prefer using small tools like mini rolling pins, cookie cutters, and spatulas.

We also have these neat stamps designed just for playdough. They have fun shapes and pictures that you can press into the dough, leaving cool imprints.

Besides being lots of fun, these tools also help us get better at using our fingers and hands for more precise tasks.

Of course, to make our fall playdough session even more exciting, we add some wonderful autumn-themed items to the mix!

During our playtime, the preschoolers often reach for acrylic leaves to press into the soft playdough. They eagerly examine the imprints these leaves create, and some enjoy going a step further by sticking the plastic leaves upright in the dough, creating their mini autumn forest.

Fall Playdough Manipulatives

Our favorite playdough manipulatives are acrylic table scatter. These are some examples of what I have in my fall theme preschool box.

Autumn Playdough Activities

Fall-scented playdough opens up a so many fun fall activities!

They can practice forming letters and numbers, enhancing their early literacy and numeracy skills.

Plus, rolling, squeezing, and pinching the dough helps build those essential fine motor skills, setting a strong foundation for future writing. Here are some amazing autumn playdough ideas to add to your fall preschool lesson plans.

• Fall Playdough Invitation to Play
• Textured Playdough for Fall
• Fall Leaf Impressions
• Pumpkin Jello Pudding Playdough
• Apple Playdough Activities

Autumn Playdough Mats

In our preschool class, using fall-themed playdough mats in our fine motor skills center is a real treat.

These mats not only make learning fun with their seasonal designs, but they also help preschoolers develop important skills.

When we press, squeeze, and mold playdough to fill in the autumn-themed pictures on these mats, we’re actually getting better at using our fingers and hands. It’s like a fun workout for our small muscles!

Here are some of our favorite free autumn playdough mats.

• Fall Playdough Cards
• Build a ___ Fall Playdough Mats
• Autumn Playdough Pack
• “I Can Make” Playdough Mats for Fall