27 Christmas Playdough Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Last Updated on October 18, 2021 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: These Christmas playdough activities build fine motor skills and are calming for toddlers and preschoolers. Perfect during this busy season!

We love using playdough for strengthing fine motor skills! It’s a staple in our toddler and preschool classrooms.

Playdough also invites creativity. It’s a fun open-ended activity where there are no specific outcomes.

During the Christmas season, we love to add some snowman building, making gingerbread ornaments, and building trees. But wow, there are so many more great ideas out there. And I found them in this collection of Christmas playdough activities. 27 of them, to be exact.

Yep, 27. You are sure to find a few ideas here to try in your classroom, childcare center, homeschool, even during a play date.

Included in this collection you will find playdough recipes, free printables, hands-on activities, and more. Ready for some Christmas playdough fun?

Bonus! I’ve included a FREE gingerbread playdough mat! Scroll down page to find the link.

27 Christmas Playdough Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Let’s Build a Snowman Activity: Provide white fluffy playdough and accessories to make an indoor snowman!

Gingerbread Dough Ornament: Add gingerbread boy cookie cutters and make ornaments!

Build a Christmas Tree from Playdough: This STEM activity challenges the preschooler to figure out how to build a Christmas tree out of play dough and beads. (Schooling a Monkey)

Christmas Tree Play Dough Activity: Build your own Christmas tree and adorn it with loose parts. (Messy Little Monster)

Vanilla Mint Playdough: Think of candy canes while enjoying this playdough activity! (Mama Papa Bubba)

Quick and Easy Playdough Activity: This recipe is so easy, even toddlers can make the dough! Add accessories and you have a quick and easy activity. (Living Montessori Now)

Christmas Lights Color Sorting: Sort colored Christmas lights and place them on the matching color of playdough. (3 Dinosaurs)

Candy Cane Playdough Soap: Mold the dough into candy canes and use for your bath. Would make nice gifts! (Steam Powered Family)

Snowman Playdough Activity with Free Printable: Make snowmen with sparkly white playdough and adorn them with accessories. (Messy Little Monster)

Christmas Tree Playdough Math Mats: Use these mats to help with counting and number recognition (free printables). (Pre-Kinders)

Christmas Counting Playdough Mats with Free Printable: Add some math to your Christmas playdough activity with these fun counting mats. (Simple Fun for Kids)

Count the Reindeer Noses: Roll the playdough into small balls and work on 1:1 correspondence while counting noses. (The Preschool Toolbox)

Fine Motor Christmas Activity: Use tweezers to remove small items from playdough. (Little Bins for Little Hands)

Reindeer Letter Matching: Match letters while making reindeer out of chocolate playdough. (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Aliens Love Panta Claus Playdough: Create the characters from this fun book! (Adventures of Adam)

Cookies for Santa Activity:  Kids will be having fun making pretend cookies and writing their own letter to Santa with the provided free printable. (Pre-K Pages)

Salt Dough Recipe: Salt dough is super easy to make (only needs 2 ingredients plus water) and you can make ornaments and other Christmas items with it. (The Natural Homeschool)

Gingerbread Baby Playdough: Retell the story of Gingerbread Baby while molding this sweet smelling gingerbread playdough. (Kitchen Floor Crafts)

Peppermint Salt Dough: This is an easy no-cook recipe to use with Christmas cookie cutters and other pieces. (Little Bins for Little Hands)

No Cook Natural Peppermint Playdough: Your classroom or kitchen will smell wonderful after making a batch of this dough. (Natural Beach Living)

No Cook Cranberry Playdough: Super easy to make and would make a nice quiet indoor activity. (Natural Beach Living)

Gingerbread Playdough: A pinch of ginger, cinnamon and allspice to give it an authentic smell and make the house smell lovely too. (The Gingerbread House)

Candy Cane Playdough: Let the children make this themselves to strengthen fine motor skills. (KC Edventures)

Christmas Playdough Gift: Create cute playdough packages that would make nice Christmas gifts. (Non Toy Gifts)

Christmas Jello Playdough: Using Jello to make playdough creates a nice vibrant color! (Play and Learn Every Day)

Cinnamon Playdough: Explore patterns with this scented Christmas playdough! (Mama Smiles)

Build a Snowman Playdough Kit: Everything needed to build play dough snowmen in small locking lid containers for some holiday fun on the go. (Mama Papa Bubba)

10 Christmas Playdough Mats: These would be fun as an independent activity or with a group of children! (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

You can find so many more ideas on our Christmas pin board!

Here are some more favorites for preschoolers:

• 17 Favorite Action Songs for Preschoolers
• Preschool Favorite Fingerplays
• Favorite Breakfasts
• Favorite Rhyming Books

Free Gingerbread Playdough Mat!

Click on the photo below to get your digital pdf download: