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Playdough Fun with Emotions + Free Printables

By Kim in Activities for Kids

free printable playdough playdough mats

We absolutely love playdough and play with it ALL.THE.TIME! We actually have an entire shelf in our play room dedicated to playdough and playdough tools. It’s often the medium for play with the Littlest Pet Shop toys that fill the toy box. The kids love to use it for pretend play and create houses for their animals. I decided to take advantage of their love for pretend play and have some playdough fun with a free printable for learning about emotions.  

Download a free printable emotions pretend play set, perfect for playdough fun or sensory bin play! This fun kids' activity is a great way for children to learn about emotions.

Hi! I’m Kim from Life Over C’s.  I’m an 8th-year homeschooling mom to four awesome daughters ages 12, 10, 7 and my sweet special needs 4 year old. We have traveled to 46 of the United States, 3 Canadian provinces and 7 countries together! After living in the Republic of Georgia for 9 years we have returned to the U.S. permanently and are making our new home in Little Rock, Arkansas. I’m so glad to be here with you!

It’s so important for kids to learn about emotions and how to deal with them. Approaching this topic through play can make kids feel more at ease to share what is on their mind. 

Many times if kids feel that you are directing something at them, they can close off. That is definitely not what we want. We want our kids to be able to share how they feel without worrying about our reactions. 

We started off by making a set of “emotion” playdough. Using this super easy playdough recipe, we added in some fun colors and essential oils to represent different emotions. 

Blue with Cedarwood Essential Oil= Focus

Purple with Lavender Essential Oil= Calm

Yellow with Lemon Essential Oil= Joy

Then we printed, laminated and cut out the Emotions PlayDough Fun Set.

Download the Emotions PlayDough Fun Set here.

Download a free printable emotions pretend play set, perfect for playdough fun or sensory bin play! This fun kids' activity is a great way for children to learn about emotions.

Under each picture is a label with the emotion in case there is any confusion. 

I talked to my daughters about the different emotions that were included. The big kids demonstrated what the emotions would look like in real life for my special needs 4-year-old. She thought that was quite funny. 

Then, using the playdough to keep the Emotion Kids upright, they created some pretend play situations based on the emotions that were being shown. 

Download a free printable emotions pretend play set, perfect for playdough fun or sensory bin play! This fun kids' activity is a great way for children to learn about emotions.

I’ve learned from our vast experience with playdough pretend play that if I let my kids take control, they will show me exactly how they are feeling. This has been a great tool for me over the years. 

If they feel stressed, it will show in their play time. If they are very happy, play time will be happy. If they want to conquer the world, that will show too…

The bonus with this playdough set is that the kids will show you how they would react with the specific emotions helping you to see where guidance is needed. Download a free printable emotions pretend play set, perfect for playdough fun or sensory bin play! This fun kids' activity is a great way for children to learn about emotions.

And if there are situations that you are aware of that could cause fear, anger, or confusion in a child’s life, you can prompt them through play with the emotions playdough fun set to show them good ways to express those feelings. Let them know that what they are feeling is normal and they have people who want to help them. 

Download your free printable emotions playdough fun set today! 

 

Dear mom, I have so much more I’d love to share with you…

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    *Note: ↑ this form does not give you a freebie. If you are looking for a free printable or other freebie, scroll back up to the rest of the post and use the other form.

    Filed Under: Activities for Kids, Playdough and Slime Tagged With: free printable, playdough, playdough matsPublished on July 21, 2015

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    Comments

    1. Ty @ Mama of 3 Munchkins says

      July 21, 2015 at 12:44 pm

      OMGosh! How awesome are there! Thanks for the printables!

      Reply
      • Kim says

        July 22, 2015 at 6:13 pm

        I’m so glad that you like them!

        Reply
    2. Lori Felix says

      July 21, 2015 at 7:09 pm

      That is a great way to teach children about recognizing and expressing their emotions. Playing with playdough was always a good way to spend the time in my house when my daughter was little.

      Reply
    3. Scott says

      July 21, 2015 at 8:48 pm

      Those are so cute! I would try to then sculpt them out of the playdoh!

      Reply
      • Kim says

        July 22, 2015 at 6:14 pm

        That’s a great idea!

        Reply
    4. Chelley @ A is For Adelaide says

      July 21, 2015 at 9:32 pm

      I love this! I told my toddler I was “blue” the other day and she was SO confused!

      Reply
      • Kim says

        July 22, 2015 at 6:14 pm

        lol! This would be a great way to explain that!

        Reply
    5. Aubrey says

      July 21, 2015 at 11:06 pm

      I like the emotions people. Great way to help kids learn or explain how they are feeling.

      Reply
    6. Marcie W. says

      July 21, 2015 at 11:07 pm

      This activity looks educational on so many levels. I love that you added scented oil to the playdough too!

      Reply
      • Kim says

        July 22, 2015 at 6:16 pm

        Yes, adding the essential oils does bring a whole new dimension to the activity. I actually like to use them when we need a little bit of mood change in the house. Hyper kids=lavender play dough. 😉

        Reply
    7. Danielle Harper says

      July 21, 2015 at 11:53 pm

      This is a great activity. I love that it would work well for a wide range of ages.

      Reply
    8. Ourfamilyworld says

      July 22, 2015 at 3:32 am

      The emotions people are so cute! My kids love playdough and they love it when we make our own. They will love this for sure.

      Reply
      • Kim says

        July 22, 2015 at 6:16 pm

        I hope the kids enjoy it!

        Reply
    9. Hannah says

      August 6, 2015 at 5:11 am

      Ah playdough, such a classic. I still love it and I’m rapidly approaching 30 😀

      This looks like a fun activity for kids. It ties in well with the new movie Inside Out (worth a watch, btw!) and the other emotion based activities that have been doing the rounds lately.

      Reply
    10. Liz says

      August 15, 2015 at 12:54 am

      Great idea, Kim. I especially like the idea of having the characters (and the play dough) nearby for times when some de-stressing is needed, or when a child is struggling to express themselves. Thank you!

      Reply
    11. Laura says

      October 27, 2015 at 3:05 pm

      These are so cute! Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
    12. AK says

      April 10, 2017 at 6:17 pm

      Why are the positive emotions represented by white kids and the negative emotions by black / asian (am I the only one to notice?)? Otherwise, great idea and pictures!

      Reply
      • Erika says

        April 11, 2017 at 2:46 pm

        I never even noticed that, AK. It was definitely not intentionally planned that way. We’ll keep that in mind for future printables. 🙂

        Reply
    13. hoaithin says

      June 27, 2017 at 2:56 pm

      Thank you very much.

      Reply
    14. Alix @Special Learning House says

      March 14, 2020 at 3:53 pm

      Emotions can be a tricky thing to work on with my little learners on the autism spectrum. I can’t wait to try this activity!

      Reply

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