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ABC Playdough Mats

Our ABC Playdough Mats are perfect for young children who are learning the alphabet. Creating letters with playdough allows children to feel the alphabet…literally. As they squeeze, roll, and bend the playdough to form uppercase and lowercase letters, children don’t even realize they’re gaining important pre-reading skills. They just know they’re having a blast–and combining learning with fun is always a recipe for success!

Preschooler making letters with playdough

Our free download includes colorful mats for uppercase and lowercase letters along with tips for using them, so you can jump right in and get started.

ABC Playdough Mats activity download three-page spread

Instructions for the ABC Playdough Mats

  1. Prepare your letter mats. Print the A-Z letter mats contained in this activity download. Cut each sheet in half and laminate.
  2. Prepare some playdough. If you don’t have playdough on hand, you can follow the simple recipe in our short instructional video, or refer to the recipe in the download file.


  1. Create the alphabet. Now the fun begins! Form “ropes” by rolling the playdough on the table with your hands. Show your child how to place the ropes on the laminated mats to create the letters.

Playing with Your ABC Playdough Mats

There’s no “one right way” to use the ABC Playdough Mats. Your child might prefer to create his own variations of the letters, and that’s perfectly fine.

Preschooler making letter C with playdough

If your child’s first attempts aren’t perfect, that’s okay! The ultimate goal is to create an enjoyable atmosphere as your child masters the alphabet.

Preschooler making A with playdough

Older children can be encouraged to match uppercase and lowercase letters.

There are lots of ways you can use this activity with your child to reinforce his knowledge of letters and how they are formed.

Preschooler making letters with playdough

Have you found other ways to use playdough to teach your child letters? Please share in the comments below.

If your child enjoyed this hands-on letter recognition activity, why don’t you try some of our other Letter Recognition activities, too?

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Martha lune

says:

Hi

Robin

says: Customer Service

Hello, Martha! Do you have any questions or anything else I can help you with?

Paulina

says:

Thaaaaaank you!

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

You’re welcome, Paulina!

Harold

says:

These are awesome! Thank you!

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

You’re welcome, Harold!

Alice

says:

Hello! I could NOT believe that this was available for free… I work at a Title I school so resources are scarce, and with distance learning right now, we are trying to figure out ways to provide at-home activities to reinforce learning. This is an absolute gem! Thank you sooo much!

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

I’m so pleased to hear that this will be useful for your students, Alice! You are very welcome.

Ashley

says:

I really appreciate you providing this resource. First year homeschooling and this has been a blessing to my family. Thank you!

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

You’re welcome, Ashley!

Ashley

says:

I absolutely love this blog! I continue to be amazed by all of the awesome ideas on here! My son LOVES to make the letters with playdough!

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

Awww, thank you, Ashley! I’m glad to hear your son is enjoying this activity.

JAN NWUKE

says:

i LOVE YOUR SITE. MY GRANDDAUGHTER (KINDERGARTEN) HAS IMPROVED SO MUCH IN HER LETTERS AND SOUNDS. SHE HAS LEARNED MOST OF THE SOUNDS. i HAVE HER READING SOME OF THE BOOKS FROM YOUR SITE. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS SITE TO ANY PARENT OR TEACHER FOR HER CLASSROOM.

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

Thank you for recommending our site, Jan! ?

Adrienne P

says:

Great idea!

H. R.

says:

These are fantastic!! ❤️

Crystal Taylor

says:

These are so cute! I love all the free resources All About Learning company has on their site.

Merry

says: Customer Service

Thanks, Crystal! Have fun teaching your little ones!

CARLA MARTINS CARVALHO

says:

Muito divertido para as crianças!!!

Jessica

says:

This looks like it would be a great activity for my son :)

Naomi

says:

We love play dough! Can’t wait to print and use with my kiddos. Thank you !

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

You’re welcome, Naomi! I hope you and your kids have lots of fun with these.

Amy McCormack

says:

Great idea! This might help my ‘late’ reader, as he’s very hands on.

Samantha

says:

This is such a great idea!!

Ashley

says:

What a fun activity!

Eirynn

says:

I love this idea. Now to find a play doh recipe that uses just rice flour, and works! Tricky when you can’t use wheat or most gluten free flours (extensive allergies).

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

Eirynn,
I recently searched for gluten-free playdough recipes and came up with lots of options! It seems they use rice flour and either cornstarch or tapioca starch.

When you make some, I’d love to know which recipe you used and hear your opinion of it. It would be good to have a recipe on hand for others that have gluten allergies.

Eirynn

says:

We have allergies to all grains and pseudo-grains except rice, not just wheat/gluten. We can’t use corn, tapioca or any of those. I’m very time poor so still searching for recipes and finding time to try! I believe that gluten free flours tend to need more cooking to make a good play doh, according to others who have tried with regular GF flour.

Kyla I Johnson

says:

I love the idea behind this montessori activity and can’t wait to try it, as well as experiment with making our own playdough.

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

I hope you have a lot of fun and great learning with this activity, Kyla! ?

Sarah

says:

This is so clever! I have a 2 (almost 3) year old who always wants to learn with his older brothers. This would be perfect for him!

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

I’m glad this will help you to satisfy your little one’s desire to learn, Sarah! I hope you have lots of fun.

Mely

says:

Thanks for the idea!

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

You’re so welcome, Mely. I hope you and your child(ren) have lots of fun with this.

Anne

says:

Such a great idea.

Anne

says:

What a great idea, so encouraging.

April

says:

Oh wow! I think my daughter would love this! Thank you for the great idea and free download. :D

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

You’re so welcome, April. Have lots of fun with making letters! ?

Judith Martinez

says:

My kids love playing with play-dough. I need to put together some mats for them to use.

Beverly

says:

These look super fun, can’t wait to try! My kids love play doh so this will be a great way to give them hands on learning.

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

I hope your kids have lots of fun with this activity, Beverly! ?

Cassandra D

says:

Great idea for learning.

Heather S.

says:

We love play dough mats! Anything hands on is great!

Sasha Gilson

says:

I like how big these are! Leaves room for small hands still gaining fine motor skills to form the letters. For letter sounds, one idea is asking a child to make something out of playdoh that starts with the letter sound.

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

Great idea, Sasha! That would be a wonderful way to take this activity to the next level.

Lacy C

says:

Cute idea!

Shelby

says:

We love making letters with play doh!