Free Ocean Playdough Mats for Preschool Fine Motor Practice
Looking for a hands-on way to strengthen fine motor skills in your preschool or kindergarten classroom? These free ocean playdough mats are the perfect addition to your summer centers or ocean theme preschool week!
Students will love rolling, pinching, and shaping playdough to decorate ocean animals and scenes while working on important fine motor development.
Why Use Playdough in Your Ocean Theme Preschool Centers?
Playdough is one of the best tools for building hand strength and finger control in young learners. These ocean-themed printable mats add a fun and educational twist, encouraging creativity and purposeful fine motor movement.
Children can:
- Roll dough into tentacles for an octopus
- Squish and flatten shapes to cover a jellyfish
- Use seashell molds or plastic ocean toys to stamp into a scene
Open-ended mats also encourage storytelling, language development, and spatial awareness—all while keeping kids engaged.
What’s Included in the Free Ocean Playdough Mats?
This free printable ocean playdough mat set includes seven fun and skill-building mats designed to strengthen fine motor skills in preschool and kindergarten learners. These engaging ocean theme preschool printables combine hands-on play with early literacy and tracing practice, making them a great addition to your summer centers or ocean-themed lesson plans.
Here’s what’s inside the set:
- Fish Mat – shape and build two playful fish using playdough and practice tracing the word “fish”
- Ocean Wave Mat – mold curvy lines with dough to form an ocean wave and trace the word “wave”
- Jellyfish Mat – roll and press long tentacles to complete the jellyfish, then trace the word
- Crab Mat – build pincers and legs on a silly crab with red and black dough
- Seaweed Mat – squish and roll green dough strips to form tall seaweed
- Coral Mat – sculpt twisty coral branches and trace the word “coral” to combine literacy and fine motor skills
- Stingray Mat – shape the stingray’s body and tail while strengthening finger muscles and tracing skills
Each mat includes a build it section for playdough modeling and a trace it section to support pencil grip and pre-writing development.
Tip: Laminate your mats or slip them into reusable sleeves to make them last all season long in your fine motor preschool centers!
How to Use These Ocean Playdough Mats
These mats are ideal for:
- Morning tubs
- Independent fine motor centers
- Sensory play trays
- Therapy or OT sessions
Pair with ocean beads, small shells, or tools like mini rolling pins and scissors for added texture and challenge.
Then combine this activity with other ocean theme fine motor activities in my main blog post for a complete week of learning!
Grab Your Free Printable Ocean Playdough Mats
Ready to get started? Click below to download your free printable ocean playdough mats and add them to your summer fine motor preschool plans today.
More Ocean-Themed Freebies You’ll Love
Check out these Kindergarten ocean freebies to keep the learning going all summer long.
For even more under-the-sea fun, check out the full Ocean Activities for Preschool Bundle packed with crafts, math games, literacy centers, and more!
Love Playdough? Explore Even More Fine Motor Fun!
If your students enjoyed these ocean playdough mats, you’ll definitely want to check out my full collection of engaging playdough activities for preschoolers.
From seasonal themes to literacy and math-based playdough printables, these hands-on ideas are perfect for building fine motor skills, encouraging creativity, and making learning fun.
Whether you’re teaching a theme-based unit or just need fresh ocean fine motor center ideas, this playdough activity collection will give you plenty of options to keep your little learners engaged all year long!
