Apple Playdough Mats: Free Printable

If you’re looking for an indoor activity that will keep your kids occupied with endless amounts of fun, look no further than these printable apple playdough mats!

Fall and apples – they just seem to go hand in hand. Probably because apples everywhere ripen once you can feel that crisp quality in the air. We have always loved going to apple orchards each fall, and I’m super excited to take my kids again this year. 

While we wait for the apples to get perfectly ripe, we can all play with these free printable apple playdough mats. They are a great way for kids to imagine what it will be like when they do arrive at the apple orchard. Plus, they help kids work on a few other skills too (without knowing they’re learning, of course!) 😉

By the way, if your family loves apples too, I’ve got some more fun activities to try. Check out our Play Clay Apples, Apple Volcanoes, Apple Stamping Preschool Craft, and Apple Shape Matching Cards.   

Learning With Printable Playdough Mats

Playdough is one of my favorite materials for kids to use. It’s easily manipulable, encourages creativity, and the possibilities of what kids can do with playdough are limitless!

We love to use playdough mats in activities that are simultaneously creative and learning-centered. You can probably tell that we use playdough mats often if you’ve seen our Fall Playdough Mats, Playdough Shape Mats, and Seasonal Playdough Mats,  

These free printable playdough mats are especially good for working on the fine-motor skills that are essential for writing. This way, kids won’t even realize that they are working as they roll the tiny apples to complete the pictures.

In addition to being creative and working on fine motor skills, kids will have fun with this activity, making apples of different sizes, shapes, and colors. And if that’s not enough, they’ll also be practicing their concentration skills in a fun and entertaining way.

Grab these free playdough mats to use when your kids want to play with playdough. Don’t forget to make our favorite homemade playdough recipe too! It takes less than 10 minutes to make a batch, so you can get playing quickly.

Get Your Printable Apple Tree Playdough Mats Here:

Preparing Your Activity Mats

Before your kids can start their creative fun, you’ll first need to prepare the mats. Here’s how:

• Download the apple tree playdough mat printable.
• Print out the pages (on cardstock, if possible, to make them more sturdy).
• Laminate the playdough mat pages.
• Get your playdough (or make this easy homemade playdough, calming playdough, or gluten-free playdough)
• Let the play begin!

How To Use Your Apple Tree Playdough Mat

So, what do you do with playdough mats? If you’ve never used one before, here are some ideas for how to get the most out of this activity.

• Use it to introduce some new words like orchard, apple tree, bushel, peck, apple pie & apple butter.
• You can talk about colors and sort the “apples” into different baskets according to color.
• You can also extend the activity by providing your child with a few short pieces of brown pipe cleaners & some scraps of green paper. Then, kids can make larger apples!
• Work on numbers and counting. Learn corresponding numbers according to the number of apples on the trees or in the baskets.
• Start introducing basic addition and subtraction concepts by working on “one more, one less.” For example, “We have 5 apples on the tree. If we add one more, we now have ___ apples on the tree.” You can use the similar “one less” concept as well.

NOTE: You might need to point out that only one kind of apple can grow on each tree (though my daughter insisted that hers were green because they were not yet ripe.) 😂

Free Playdough Mat Printable

My kids loved this printable playdough activity and wanted to continue playing even when I said it was time to clean up. I’m sure that we’ll be pulling it out again tomorrow.

And my kids can sometimes be a hard sell. So, if they liked it that much, I have no doubt that your kids will find it to be just as much fun.

That’s one of the great things about playdough, every time the kids play with it, they create something totally new and exciting! These apple playdough mats are open-ended, so your kids can design a new orchard every time they are used.

While you’re enjoying these apple playdough mats as well as a few apple crafts and activities, why not read a book about apples together? 

More Creative Activities Your Kids Will Love

• How To Make Fluffy Slime
• DIY Fairy House For Kids
• Flower Coloring Mats For Kids
• Playdough Mats Learning Bundle
• How To Make Silly Putty (2-Ingredient DIY Silly Putty)
• DIY Sidewalk Chalk Paint For Kids

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