Playdough Learning Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Last Updated on September 15, 2025 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Put together playdough learning activities with this fun collection. Over 15 different ways to build skills with toddlers and preschoolers.

Toddlers and preschoolers love working with playdough. There’s so much squeezing, pressing, poking, and rolling going on. While they are having fun with their creations, they are building important skills, such as fine motor and pre-writing.

But did you know there are even more benefits when young children are engaged in playdough learning activities?

In this collection I’ve found over 15 playdough learning activities that include fine motor, science, math, literacy, art, color, nature … and more!

I’ve also included one of my most popular free playdough counting mats – scroll down to find the link to the pdf!

Scroll down to find my favorite playdough recipe!

Playdough Learning Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

While searching for different ways we could use playdough, I found over 15 fun hands-on activities. I’ve categorized them by the primary skills they are building. Simply click on the links to find the details of each playdough learning activity.

Fine Motor: Squeezing Playdough

Fine Motor: Triangle Shapes Fine Motor Fun

STEM: STEM Playdough Activity with Legos

Visual Processing: Playdough Press

Shapes: Shape Playdough Mats (Free Printable)

Shapes: Playdough Shapes Building Challenge

Numbers: Exploring Numbers with Playdough

Counting: Montessori Play Dough Poke

Literacy: Elmer the Elephant Activity

Literacy: Dragons Love Tacos Activity

Literacy: Learning Your Name Playdough Puzzles

Art: Playdough Pictures

Pretend Play: Birthday Celebration

Pretend Play: Chocolate Playdough Cookie Shop

Colors: Easy Homemade Playdough Recipe

Colors: Color Surprise Playdough

Nature: Building with Sticks and Playdough

My Favorite Stovetop Playdough

August 5, 2021

by Sheryl Cooper

Category Centers Fine Motor Playdough preschool Preschool Fine Motor Toddler Fine Motor Toddlers

Persons

Prep Time

5 minutes

Total Time

5 minutes

Notes

How long your playdough lasts depends on how much it is used, and by how many children each day. We usually keep the same batch for the duration of a theme (2 weeks) and then change it. But it definitely can last longer than that.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons oil
2 cups water
1 or 2 packages of unsweetened Kool-Aid for coloring (If you don’t have Kool-Aid, you can use food coloring or Wilton’s icing gel)

Instructions

Add flour and cream of tartar together in a bowl. Mix with a whisk or spoon.
Place a pot on the stovetop and add water, salt, oil, and food coloring.
Turn on the stovetop’s burner and stir as the salt starts to dissolve.
With the heat still on, add the flour and cream of tarter, small amounts at a time.
Keep stirring everything with the heat on until it all comes together and starts to lift from the bottom of the pot.
Turn heat off and let it cool a bit so it’s not burning hot. (You don’t want to burn your hands when you knead it!)
Carefully take the pot with the playdough and tip it, dumping the playdough onto your countertop (or other flat surface).
If it’s still a bit too warm to touch, let it cool some more.
Knead the playdough on a flat surface until it feels like a soft ball. (You can do this on top of waxed paper if desired.)
If it feels a bit dry, you can add some oil to your hands while kneading.
It it feels too sticky, I’ve found that usually means I didn’t cook it long enough. You can put it back into the pot with some heat for a couple of minutes and see if that helps.
Let your ball of playdough cool and then store in a sealable gallon size plastic bag or other airtight container.