One of the best ways to help preschoolers develop fine motor skills and learn to identify letters is to use playdough alphabet cards. Print out these playdough mats and add them to your back to school activities as a way to gauge what skills your preschoolers have when entering the classroom.
Printable Playdough Letter Mats
When it comes to preschool literacy lesson plans, there are a few key ingredients that are essential for success.
One of these is the use of alphabet cards, and why not make them tactile and hands-on by adding playdough alphabet cards to the mix?
These cards provide a great way for children to develop fine motor skills and letter identification. Fine motor skills is more than simply tracing the letters of the alphabet. It includes hand strength and developing the pincer grasp, so it’s important to incorporate those skills into as many learning activities as possible.
The added alphabet activity is a fantastic way to gauge how much incoming preschoolers already know about the letters of the alphabet and beginning sounds, too.
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FAQ about Teaching the Alphabet to Preschoolers
Preschoolers need a lot of exposure to the alphabet. They need explicit instruction as well as plenty of indirect alphabet instruction.
That’s where letter knowledge builds through playful and natural activities in day to day life. To start teaching your preschooler the alphabet, try these things:
~ Read lots and lots of picture books!
~ Point out print around you.
~ Teach your child the letters of his name.
~ Teach each letter explicitly.
~ Do lots of whole alphabet activities, too.
~ Do hands-on alphabet activities.
~ Sing letter songs.
The alphabet should not be taught in alphabetical order. Teaching the alphabet in order puts a big focus on those beginning letters. Those are probably going to be the ones that your child sees and remembers most, since that Alphabet Song is so catchy!
Instead, teach the letters in order of how frequently they appear easily decodable words. Letters like s, t, r, m, n, a, o, and p should be taught first. These are “high-frequency” letters and emphasis on these letters first will allow children to quickly start reading simple words.
Many preschool alphabet activities that are done in the classroom can also be done at home. Beginning sound activities like these Beginning Sound Picture Seek Mats are a good option, as well as these Beginning Sound Fill-in Cards and these Year Long Alphabet Find and Circle Worksheets.
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Preschool Back to School Activity: Playdough Alphabet Mats
I like to use these alphabet play dough mats the first week of preschool.
Not only do they help me gauge what skills my preschoolers have, but they’re also a lot of fun! The kids love squishing the dough and making the letters, and I love seeing their little faces light up when they realize they’re learning something new.
Plus, it’s a great way to start off the year and get everyone excited about learning.
Materials
- free playdough alphabet printable from this post
- playdough in a variety of colors
Below is my fool-proof playdough recipe.
The Set Up
Print your playdough mats before the first few weeks of school, and laminate them for repeated use, or place them in a dry erase pocket.
Set out the alphabet mats with some playdough. You can purchase playdough or make you own, but make sure there is plenty because some preschoolers will want to keep their work as they continue.
How to Use These as Back to School Activities for Preschool
These don’t fit the traditional back to school theme, but I do like to bring out these mats during the first few days of school. The mats feature both upper case and lower case letters, as well as a beginning sound picture.
Preschoolers can also cover the beginning sound picture with playdough, continuing to work on hand strength and fine motor skills.
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45 Playdough Recipes$10.00 -
Playdough Shape Mats for the Entire Year$12.00
Fine Motor Skills Preschool Can Learn With These ABC Playdough Mats
Here are some fine motor skills (verbs) preschoolers learn while playing with playdough.
- rolling snakes
- rolling balls
- pinching
- squeezing
- squashing
- pounding
- poking
Why are these important?
The above list of verbs may not seem like they are very important to preschool development, but they are critical.
Playdough activities are a great way to help your child develop fine motor skills as well as bilateral coordination skills! They help develop precision skills, and finger and bilateral coordination. These are all needed to cut with scissors, put pegs into a pegboard, or thread a needle.
Those are defined examples, but simply put, playdough can help develop real-life motions in the hands, fingers and wrists.
Alphabet Preschool Can Learn With These ABC Playdough Mats
There are also a lot of alphabetic printables preschoolers can learn while using alphabet mats like these. Here are some.
- letter identification
- letter sounds
- letter formation
- visual discrimination
- letter-sound relationships
- phonetic spelling
Get Your Free Playdough Alphabet Mats Here
Think you need to add these mats to your playdough activities for preschool? Just fill out the form below to have the pdf sent to your inbox!
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
