Spring Flower Playdough Mats
Spring is the perfect time to bring some fresh, colorful learning into your day, and these spring flowers playdough mats are just the thing! If you’re looking for fun preschool fine motor activities and maybe some tips on how to make playdough to go along with the printable, you’re going to love how easy (and adorable!) these playdough mats are.
These mats invite kids to roll, squish, and press their way through building bright spring blooms—all while strengthening important pre-writing muscles. Plus, they make a beautiful addition to your spring centers, flower preschool themes, or maybe even a Mother’s Day activity.
If you’re looking for a creative and hands-on activity for spring, these flower playdough mats are a great choice.
Children can shape petals, stems, and leaves with colorful playdough, strengthening fine motor skills and enjoying all the benefits of sensory play.
Each mat features a simple flower outline with plenty of open space for kids to build and design their own colorful flowers. They’re an easy fit for spring themes, garden preschool lesson plans, preschool Mother’s Day tea, or anytime you want to bring some color and creativity into your classroom or home.
Read this: Free Flowers Them Lesson Plans for Preschoolers
What Kids Learn from Spring Flowers Playdough Mats
Using these mats packs a lot of learning into playtime, just the way we like it! Here’s what they’ll work on:
Fine Motor Skills
Rolling and shaping playdough strengthens the small muscles in children’s fingers, helping prepare them for writing and cutting. For even more practice, encourage kids to pinch and pull tiny pieces of playdough! Read all about our playdough hand strengthening activities, too!
Sensory Input and Regulation
Playdough play gives children rich sensory experiences that help regulate their bodies and emotions. The squishy, stretchy texture of playdough can be calming and organizing for little hands and busy minds. Sensory input like this also supports focus, attention, and self-regulation during learning time.
Building Vocabulary
As children build their flowers, they naturally practice using new words like “petal,” “stem,” “leaf,” and “bloom.” You can boost vocabulary even more by asking questions like, “What color is your flower?” or “How many petals do you have?” Every new word gives kids stronger language skills for storytelling, science, and everyday conversations!
Shop Our Fine Motor Printables
Looking for fine motor activities? These printables help preschoolers strengthen their pencil grasp and build the skills they need for formal writing.
Build Fine Motor Skills with Spring Flower Mats
Spring flowers and playdough? Yes, please! Kids will love making their own colorful gardens.
What’s Included
Each printable mat includes:
- A spring flower outline
- Space on the mats to build with playdough
- Simple design perfect for creativity
Additionally, these playdough mats come in a black-line version, too. So, you can save on color printing, or they can be used as spring color pages.
Additional Materials
You’ll want to have:
- Playdough in spring colors (yellow, green, pink, purple)
- Laminator and laminating sheets
- Play trays or baking sheets
- Rolling pins and small plastic knives (optional)
The Set Up
- Print the mats on thick cardstock.
- Laminate them for durability and easy clean-up, or place them in dry erase pouches.
- Place mats at a table with tubs of colorful playdough.
- Set out tools like rolling pins, cookie cutters, and safe scissors if desired.
How to Teach Fine Motor Skills Using Spring Flowers Playdough Mats
Get ready to bring these flowers to life! Here’s how to use the mats in a fun, friendly way:
Step 1: Introduce the Mats
Gather the kids and show them the colorful flower mats. Talk about different flowers they might know, like crocuses or tulips. Remind them how these spring flowers are some of the first signs of spring!
Step 2: Explore the Playdough
Hand out playdough and invite kids to roll it, squish it, and stretch it. Show them how to make little balls or snakes to fill in the petals and stems. Let them mix colors if they want—it really is ok.
Step 3: Build Your Flower
Encourage kids to press the playdough onto the outlines. They can roll out flat petals or layer lots of little balls for a bumpy flower look. Remind them there’s no “wrong” way to build their flower!
Step 4: Add Extra Details
Invite children to add leaves, extra petals, or even a sun or cloud around their flower. For even more fine motor practice, encourage them to press small items into the playdough, such as cut-up straws, flower seeds, pony beads, or mini erasers.
Step 5: Write or Shape the Flower Name
Hand out dry erase markers and encourage kids to write the name of their flower on the mat if it’s laminated. Or, for a fun fine motor twist, they can use tiny playdough “snakes” to shape the letters of the flower’s name! This builds writing skills and helps connect spoken words to printed letters.
Spring Flowers Playdough Mats as Coloring Pages
The blackline version of the spring flowers playdough mats gives you even more ways to play and learn! Instead of using playdough, you can easily turn these mats into coloring pages. Simply print the blackline mats on regular paper or cardstock, and set them out with crayons, markers, or colored pencils.
Children can color each flower any way they choose, or you can turn it into a creative challenge by asking them to design a rainbow flower or a flower that matches real ones like sunflowers or tulips. You add additional fine motor work to these pages by using the playdough space to glue small items to create the flower shapes, like torn up paper, small dot stickers, or even flower seeds.
Spring Flower Activities for Preschool
Spring flower themes are a joyful way to celebrate the season! These playdough mats pair perfectly with planting seeds, flower crafts, and garden sensory bins.
- Flower Theme Letter Identification Printable
- Spring Patterning Cards +5 Ways to Use Them
- Flower Number Towers
- Spring Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers
- Spring Flowers Letter Recognition Game
- Flower Counting Worksheets
- Flower Height Measurement Printable
Free Printable Playdough Mats
You can never have enough playdough mats. Here are some more we have!
- Playdough Shape Mats for the Entire Year
- Cactus Theme Number Formation Playdough Mats
- Fine Motor Letter Formation Practice Mats
- Butterfly Playdough Mats
- Earth Day Playdough Mats
- Sight Word Playdough Mats
Read this: 20+ Free Spring Printables for Preschool
Shop our Spring Printable Sets
Grab all three spring printable sets for a season full of learning and fun!
Get Your Free Spring Flowers Playdough Mats Here
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FrequentlY Asked Questions
Perfect for preschoolers and kindergartners, ages 3–6. Younger kids can use them too with simple guidance!
Homemade or store-bought dough both work! Soft, pliable dough is best for easy shaping and less frustration. Try our easy microwave playdough recipe, our sparkly playdough recipe, or learn how to make scented playdough!
Definitely! They fit beautifully into garden, spring, or nature study units.
Talk about parts of a flower as kids build—stem, leaves, petals, and roots.
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.
