Learning about emotions is an essential part of a toddler’s development. Emotions help toddlers understand the world around them and their place in it.
Children begin to develop emotional skills at a very young age and continue to refine them as they grow. Parents can play a crucial role in helping children understand and express their emotions. It will help children to become independent, thoughtful, and compassionate individuals.
Emotions playdough mats can be a lot of fun with great learning about emotions. It’s a great way to create all sorts of expressions and emotions. Working with playdough itself is a great stress reliever and a fun activity to do it together. Give it a try; you might be surprised at how much your children enjoy it!
Preparing Materials For Emotions Play Dough Mat
Working with playdough for emotions is a fun and educational activity that children of all ages can enjoy. It promotes creativity, imagination, and skill while providing a fun way to relax and bond with others.
Let’s start to have some fun learning about feelings.
You will need the following:
- Emotions shape playdough printable (you will find the download link at the end of the article)
- Playdough
- Lamination/ Self-Lamination or Reusable plastic pocket (Click here for more idea)
How To Use The Playdough Mats
The emotions play dough mat is a tool that can be used to help preschoolers learn about themselves and express different feelings.
The mat features different shapes of facial expressions, such as happy, sad, surprised, etc. A corresponding word accompanies each Facial expression to help the child identify the emotion.
To use emotional shape playdough mats for preschoolers, print out the mats and laminate them or use a reusable dry-erase pocket. Once you have your worksheets ready, take play dough and create different facial expressions, such as happy, sad, etc., yourself to show them.
Next, have the preschoolers use the play dough to create the facial expressions on the mat. For example, they can mold and shape the play dough to make a smiling face for the “happy” expression or a frowning look for the “sad” expression.
While children are working, encourage them to talk about their feelings and the emotions they are creating on the worksheets. This is an excellent opportunity for them to learn new vocabulary words and practice expression themselves. Ask questions to prompt them to think more deeply about their feelings and the feelings of others.
This can be a fun and interactive way for preschoolers to learn about and express different feelings. It can also be beneficial for social-emotional learning and emotional intelligence development.
Benefits of Learning Emotions With Playdough
Play Dough is a great learning and fun tool for toddlers and children. They can enjoy working with it in many ways.
Through this activity, children can learn to identify and express their own feelings while playing. They can also learn how to regulate their emotions and healthily interact with others.
Let the children be creative and enjoy the activity with them. They can learn and adapt so much through fun and play.
You can even make different colors of play dough and let them mix different colors to make new ones, which will help them learn about colors and how they can be combined.
It’s also an excellent way for them to work on their hand-eye coordination as they squish and mold the dough.
Overall, working with play dough is a fun and educational activity for kids of all ages!
Click below for a free printable for fun emotions play dough Mats.
Have fun learning!