These Christmas Playdough Mats are so much fun for the kids and they’re a great way to get them away from the screens for creative and imaginative play.
Gearing up for the holidays is always a ton of fun and when you pair the holiday excitement with playdough, great things are sure to follow. This can be used at home or even for classroom holiday parties.
If you want to make your own playdough for your kids to use on the mats, check out this edible outer space playdough (you can use the recipe to make different colors) or see below for some additional recipes.
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Why use Playdough Mats?
All kids love playing with playdough. It can be stretched, molded, rolled, bounced, and made into a ton of different colors to be able to create some of the coolest things, ever.
However, while they’re having so much fun, it can also get quite messy. So, having a mat for them to play on, keeps the mess contained in an easy-to-clean location.
The mats are also a wonderful way to make learning fun. There are sight word playdough mats and playdough number mats, just to name a few educational options.
These Christmas playdough mats are great because they have a holiday image that the kids can decorate with playdough. This allows them to be creative and have fun too.
What are the Benefits of Playing with Playdough
Playing with Playdough is an important part of a child’s development because sensory play helps with many different aspects of their learning.
Here are just a few of the benefits kids get from learning to manipulate the Playdough:
Develops Fine Motor Skills
Rolling, squishing, and molding playdough helps strengthen the muscles in children’s hands and fingers. These Christmas mats are helpful for this because they’ll have to shape the dough into a specific shape and size to fit within the picture.
This improves dexterity and fine motor skills, which are important for writing, drawing, using scissors, putting on clothes and shoes, and using utensils.
Grows Creativity and Imagination
Children can express their ideas through art and make-believe play with playdough. Maybe they have a great idea for an ornament to decorate the Christmas tree or for a type of candy to put on the gingerbread house.
While shaping the playdough, they can become a decorator or a chef which allows them to try different ideas by experimenting with various designs. They can also use their imagination and turn the playdough into animals or people, like birds in the tree or like the characters in Hansel and Gretel discovering a gingerbread house.
Calming Activity
The holidays can be a time filled with constant excitement and kids will sometimes need a break from all of it. The soft and spongy texture of playdough can help children shift from loud play to quiet time and relaxation (moms and teachers will appreciate this).
It can also help reduce stress and help anxious children because it gives them something to focus directly on while still releasing some of their energy in a quiet way. Kids that like repetitive motion to help them feel in control will enjoy kneading and manipulating the playdough and it can help them relax.
Creative Ways to Use These Holiday Printables
Make your own playdough
Playdough isn’t hard to make and it’s a great activity to do together. It also introduces children to some elements of cooking like handling ingredients and measuring.
For Christmas, I recommend this gingerbread playdough recipe or this cinnamon playdough recipe.
Let the Kids Pick the Activity
With multiple printable Christmas play mats to choose from, give them the choice on where to start. This will encourage them to speak up and have fun in their choices while also giving them the confidence to voice their thoughts.
Make Easy Playdough Shapes
Once they’ve decorated all the holiday mats, have them create some fun playdough shapes as well (there’s lots of accessories that can help them with this). Can they roll the playdough into a circle? Or make a square with four equal sides?
Play Pictionary with Playdough
This is a fun way to get the family involved in creative play. Let the kids make anything that they want out of the playdough but state that it has to be Christmas-themed. No words can be used and have fun watching everyone try and guess what they’re creating.
Equipment Needed / Helpful Tools for Printables
Printer: This one is a great budget printer. If you’re willing to spend just a little more though, this is a better option. And if you’re looking for an all-in-one home office machine, this one does it all, has high reviews and includes 2 years of ink.
Ink cartridges: Speaking of ink, this is where the cost of using printables can really add up! To save BIG on ink, buy it from CompAndSave.com. It’s substantially cheaper than anywhere else and they carry ink for all major printer brands and models.
Printer paper or cardstock: If you’re printing for one-time, quick use, print on regular printer paper. If you need the printout to hold up to being handled often or if you plan to laminate it to use it multiple times, choose cardstock.
Laminator: Laminating your printable is an inexpensive way to use it multiple times. Just use dry erase markers and wipe off when you’re done so you can use it again! Alternately, you can cover the printable with clear contact paper to achieve the same thing or place the printable in clear page protectors.
Binder or Folder: If you’re using page protectors for your printables, binders are such an easy way to keep them together and organized. I love this colorful set. If you prefer to stick with standard white though, this set is highly rated and very affordable. And if you need larger binders, this set is terrific. If you go with folders, I like these.
Storage boxes: I like to keep a collection of coloring pages and activity sheets for kids in these plastic storage boxes that I pull out whenever I need to keep kids occupied.
Download the Free Christmas Playdough Mats
This printable is completely free. To download and print the Christmas Playdough Mats, simply fill in the form below.
Printable FAQs
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The most likely place will be in your computer’s Downloads folder. You can also select “Downloads” in your browser menu to see a list of your downloads, then simply select “Show in folder” below the file name to see where it is stored on your computer.
You’ll need a program that supports PDFS, like Adobe Acrobat (which is free). Open the program, click File > Print. Select your printer and set the number of copies you want to print. Double check your print preview, then click print.
Additional Christmas Fun
Keep the Christmas fun going strong with some of these other fun printables, activities and treats.
- Printable Christmas Kindness Cards – This set of printable Christmas kindness cards has four pages of acts of kindness that are perfect for your family to do this holiday season.
- Printable Christmas Maze for Kids – Add some holiday fun with this Printable Christmas Maze for Kids! This free printable is perfect for keeping little ones entertained while boosting their problem-solving skills.
- Printable I Spy Games for Winter Holidays – Keep kids engaged with these festive seek-and-find activities. Fun for classroom parties, family game nights, and winter break entertainment.
- Mason Jar Lid Snowman Ornament – Transform mason jar lids into adorable DIY snowman ornaments. This easy Christmas craft upcycles spare lids into charming holiday decorations. Perfect winter craft for kids or unique handmade gifts.
- Easy Christmas Lights Cupcake Recipe – A fun festive treat that uses a simple cake mix base and takes just minutes to make. Top with colorful sprinkles and icing for a sweet holiday cupcake everyone will love.
- Sugar Plum Hot Chocolate – This colorful, flavorful drink is a wonderful winter treat for both kids and adults. Make up a batch to sip while watching the Nutcracker or simply to warm up after a fun day playing in the snow.
Can I please have the PDFs for the Christmas Placemat Printables??
Thank you!!
Fill in the form above. After you submit the form, you’ll receive an email from “Wondermom Wannabe” with a direct link to the printable library where you’ll find the link to the printable above as well as all of my other free printables. If you do not see the email in your inbox within a few minutes, check your spam folder.