Space Play Dough Counting Mats for Preschool
These space theme playdough counting mats are perfect for preschoolers working on their counting and fine motor skills! Let them learn while playing!
Space Counting Play Dough Mats for Preschool
Space is such a fun theme for preschoolers. It’s a theme full of awe and wonder.
Check out these Space Letter Writing Mats for more preschool and space themed learning!
I love using playdough mats for learning. Many kids just enjoy playing with playdough. It provides so much space for creativity and sensory input.
I know I have two kids that still love their time with playdough. Sometimes I still enjoy playing with it.
Make Your Playdough
Making playdough is a surprisingly science-y endeavor. There are many recipes and different types of dough to try.
This space playdough would be absolutely perfect for these space playdough mats!
Try all different kinds of dough to find which ones your kids prefer!
How to Use the Preschool Playdough Mats
These mats are all meat to work on fine motor skills and counting up to 5 or 10 – ish. None of them say how many pieces to add. The idea is for kids to add what they want and count them up after they’re done.
There are 5 different sheets and each has it’s own prompt.
- Can you make craters on the moon?
- How many moons can you add around Jupiter?
- Can you make flames to propel the rocket up?
- Can you fill in the Earth and add stars to space?
- Design your own flag to stay on the moon
Start by printing the playdough pages. There are two versions – ones that include a black background for space and ones that do not (to save ink).
I love have the ones with the black background look but that is a LOT of ink to use. If I was going to use these year after year then I probably would go ahead and print on cardstock with the black background.
I highly suggest putting the pages in a sheet protector or laminating them. Playdough can stick to pages.
After the mats are all ready, put out the mats and playdough for your kids!
If they start adding things on their own, let them have at it. If they need a bit of inspiration, read them the prompt.
And then just let them play!
Playdough is so great for fine motor skills. Rolling, pinching, tearing, etc – it’s all great for developing those muscles.
When you’re all done, ask them how many ____ they added to work on counting.
Or if you really want to focus on the counting aspect, ask them to add ___ many of something to their mat.
