Play dough tracing
A hands-on activity for tracing shapes or letters with play dough, building fine motor skills while promoting literacy and shape recognition.
Play dough tracing is a fantastic way to help your child develop fine motor skills while also learning about shapes, letters or numbers.
Draw your shape on a piece of cardboard (or paper) and invite your child to roll out the play dough and trace along the lines. It’s a fun, hands-on activity that encourages both creativity and early literacy or shape recognition.
This play idea can be easily adapted for different developmental stages—use simple shapes for younger children or introduce...
Materials
Prep
Step 1:
Draw a shape, letter, or word on a piece of cardboard or paper using a marker.
Step 2:
Set out some play dough for tracing.
Play
Step 1:
Encourage your child to roll the play dough into long, thin pieces and trace along the lines of the drawn shape or letters.
Step 2:
Talk about the shapes or letters as they trace them, helping your child to make connections between what they see and what they create.
Step 3:
Once they’re done tracing, let them use the play dough to create their own shapes or designs on the paper.
Extend
Name Matching: Write out their name letters and have your child trace them with play dough while saying the letter names or sounds. Their name letters are always a great place to start building interest with literacy activities.
Multi-Colour Tracing: Use different colours of play dough to make tracing even more fun—assign a specific colour for each shape or letter.
Tracing with eyes closed: Use glue to add texture to the mark and encourage your child to trace the shape with their eyes closed, using only their fingers to guide them along the raised lines.
