These mini Christmas play dough mats will make great little gifts for students, sweet party favors, or just a fun activity to occupy kids during a Christmas or holiday gathering.
If you are looking for a sweet little Christmas gift for the kids in your life, I have a great idea for you. These printable play dough mats, along with a container or two of play dough can be assembled into a cute little gift bag. Here is how I put mine together.
Prepare the Christmas Play Dough Mats
I created 4 different mini holiday play dough mats. They print 2 sets per page. To prepare them you need to print them, laminate them, and then cut them out.
Assemble Play Dough Mat Gift Bags
Of course, if you have play dough mats…..you need play dough. I found a package of little Play dough containers in the stocking stuffer/candy aisle of my local Target store. If you don’t feel like battling the holiday crowds in the stores….scroll down to the bottom of the page for some Amazon affiliate links. If you have some extra time on your hand, you can also easily make your own play dough. Try my quick play dough recipe, my amazing Christmas Tree Playdough, or my Sparkly Christmas Playdough.
Along with the mini holiday play dough mats, you will find “dough-lightful” little gift cards (both holiday and Christmas versions). Place a gift card, a set of laminated play dough mats, and 1- 2 containers of play dough in a little cello gift bag. Tie the bag with a pretty ribbon and you will have a cute holiday favor or Christmas gift for kids.
I think that this is not only a gift that kids will enjoy, but parents will appreciate that it isn’t a candy.
Playing with play dough is a great way for kiddos to work on their fine motor skills, but the mats can also provide opportunities to practice counting, color identification, and patterning.
Increase the fun and learning opportunities by including more than one color of play dough in your little gift. Just don’t tag me in the pictures when the kids mix the colors. Does anybody else have serious play dough color mixing issues?
Download The Play Dough Mat Printable
The mini mats are available as a freebie in my TPT store. To get the free printable mini play dough mats, just click the link below:
While you are in the store, be sure to click the “follow me” button so that you will get notified when I post a new resource or freebie.
Are you looking for more hands-on learning activities for your kids? Check out these Christmas activities in my store:
Below are some items from Amazon that can be used for the activities mentioned in this article. The links below are affiliate links. If you happen to purchase something from link, there will be no additional cost to you, but a small portion of your purchase will be used towards the cost of maintaining this website.
Hi Jessica,
These were designed so that they would easily fit in a little cello bag. Perhaps a larger design will be added to the store in the future…but not this year. Thanks for the suggestion and Merry Christmas.
Jennifer
These are great! Super quick and inexpensive!
Is there anyway to get the pages bigger? Maybe half page? I’ve tried playing with it a little on PDF and can’t seem to get it right.
Thanks in advance!
Yes…they are there. Sounds like you may be trying to access them using a phone or electronic device. You won’t be able to download using the TPT app. You must use the TPT website instead….or access the webpage with your laptop.
Hi Jennifer,
Are these free Christmas mats still available? I would really like to get some for the kindergarten students that I am working with this year.
Thank you!!
2-year-olds might enjoy using these mats with an adult’s help, but giving them some playdough and a couple simple tools might be more appropriate for that age.
Would this work for 2 year olds?
I don’t know the exact size….they print 8 per page.
Hi! What size are the printable cards?
Thank you so much for the free playdoh mini mats. Perfect Christmas gift for my Kinders!
Great gift for my 3 year old classroom!! Thank you so much for the inspiration
Hi Karen,
The play dough will probably discolor or stick to the paper if it is not laminated. If you or a friend don’t have a laminating machine an office supply store or a teacher store can do it for a charge.
Jennifer
Hi Suzy,
When I created the document I didn’t think about printing it double-sided…..so I’m afraid that I don’t have tips. I will keep that in mind for the next time though.
Jennifer
Can you do this without laminating? I don’t have a laminating machine.
Cannot print double sided! Not sure if it was intended to or not but I tried printing double sided (flipping on short and long edge) in order to save on paper and the prints are SLIGHTLY off. When cut, you either A) cut the graphic side short or B) cut the front of the card short. Tried printing multiple ways to try to align both sides but had no success. Maybe you have tips to print double sided?
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful non-candy treat for my firsties. It’s perfect!
The bags I have measure about 4 inches wide by 9 inches tall.
Can you tell me what size cello bags you used?
These were just what I was looking for! Thank you SO much and Christmas blessings to you and yours.
Thank you Jennifer! I am going to give these out to my son’s preschool class. Thank you for sharing with everyone, you are so creative! I was looking for a non-candy treat, and this is perfect. I will send a picture of assembled packaging if you’d like!
Hi Angela,
I just tested the link and it seems to be working fine. Here is the direct link https://earlylearningideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Holiday-Mini-Play-Dough-Mats.pdf Still having problems? Shoot me an email at jennifer@earlylearningideas.com and I will email the document. Jennifer
Jennifer
Im trying to print these out but cant get them are they still avaible
You are welcome 🙂
Thanks so much! Using this for my son’s daycare Christmas party! Adorable =)
Hi Jacquie,
Here is the direct link to the PDF document.
https://earlylearningideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Holiday-Mini-Play-Dough-Mats.pdf
If it doesn’t work, please shoot me an email at jennifer@earlylearningideas.com and I would be happy to email it to you.
Jennifer
I can’t seem to bring up the template for the little Christmas play doh mats to print up.
Hi Jessica! I’m assuming that you mean the Play Dough Goody Bags rather than the Lego Goody Bags. You may certainly use my idea and pictures as long as you provide a link to the post on my website so that the reader can come to my website to download the printable. I do not give permission to post my printables on other websites, but if you send them to the original article it’s all good. Thanks for asking 🙂
If you think about it, send me a copy of the blog post when it has been posted and I will share it on my facebook page.
Jennifer
Hi, My name is Jessica. I am the founder of Jessie’s Party stop. South Jersey’s Guide to Kids Parties. I am writing a blog about how to Throw a Christmas Party and came across your webpage. I really like your Lego Goody Bags . I would like to use the idea and perhaps some of the pictures in my blog, giving you full credit and a link to your site. To get better aquatinted with me, I currently have a FB and Pintrest Board both under the name Jessie’s Party Stop. My blog is due to go live by October 1st. If you could reach out to me with your permission, I would really appreciate it! Thank You, Jessica
Hi Jessica! I don’t have any at this time. I’m hoping to add some end of the school year gift ideas to the website in a month or so. I’ll think about a summer version. 🙂
Thanks for your suggestion, Jennifer
Do you have anything like this for summer?!? Super cute idea!
Hi Kari! This is the only set of mini play dough mats that I have created so far. A snowman play dough mat is included in a bundle in my TPT store, but it is a full page mat. I also have a set of Gingerbread play dough mats in the store, but again, they are full page mats. I’m sorry that I can’t help you out with more mini-mats at this time.
Do have any mini play doh mats that aren’t Christmas related? I have a student who doesn’t celebrate the holiday. Something winter related like a snow man?
Thanks,
Kari