These free printable bat shape mats will be the perfect addition to your Halloween activities for preschoolers and kindergartners.
They’d be great during your next bat theme, too. Or when you’re teaching the kids about nocturnal animals. Or just because your students are very interested in bats! As you can see, these bat shape playdough mats can be used at many points during the year.
Plus, they’re super easy to prep. And you can use the bat shapes printable with a wide variety of materials. This way, your students will stay very engaged as they’re exploring two-dimensional shapes and practicing fine motor skills.
Related: Free Preschool Printables
Be sure to grab your copy of the bat shapes printable at the very bottom of this post. Read below for how to prep the shape mats and ideas for using them with your students.
Bat Shape Mats
The bat shape printable comes with a variety of full-page shapes:
- Circle
- Heart
- Diamond/Rhombus
- Hexagon
- Octagon
- Oval
- Pentagon
- Rectangle
- Square
- Star
- Trapezoid
- Triangle
There are also two “I can find shapes!” pages with smaller versions of each of the bat shapes.
How to Prep the Bat Shape Playdough Mats
Start off by gathering the materials you’ll need to get the shape mats ready to go. We used the following (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post):
And that’s about it! Once you have those supplies ready, go ahead and get the materials you want to use with the bat shapes. Here are some possibilities:
- Dry erase markers
- Mini erasers
- Black glass gems
- Plastic bat rings
- Play dough
- Mini pompoms
Now it’s time to prep the bat shape mats. As I mentioned earlier, these are super low-prep! Here’s what you do:
- Get the bat shapes printable at the bottom of this post.
- Save it to your computer.
- Open it in the most up-to-date version of Adobe Reader.
- Print out the printable bat shapes.
- Laminate the mats or place them in dry erase pockets.
And you’re ready to use the bat shapes with the kids now!
Related: Math Activities for Preschoolers
Ideas for Using the Bat Shape Mats with Kids
Even though the bat shapes printable is pretty simple, you can use it in a variety of ways! Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Have the kids strengthen their hand and finger muscles by using play dough with the bat shapes. Challenge them to make play dough snakes to trace around each shape. Or have them fill in each bat shape with the dough.
- Pair the bat shape mats with loose parts or math manipulatives. Let your students trace around each of the bat shapes with the items.
- Use the “I can find shapes!” as part of a shape hunt in your classroom or outside on the playground. Kids keep track of the shapes they find on the sheets.
- Let the children use dry erase markers to trace around the shapes on the large or small mats. If they’re ready, have the kids draw their own versions of the shapes on white boards.
- Print the pages smaller and make bat shape books out of the pages. The kids can use them like busy books during down time or centers.
- Add in even more math! Challenge the children to count each shape’s sides. Or have them count how many manipulatives it takes to fill up or trace around each shape.
Of course, you don’t have to go with my suggestions. You and your students can come up with even more ways to use the bat shape mats. Be sure to come back and let me know how you use them in your classroom! I’m always looking for new ideas.
What are the Kids Learning with the Bat Shapes?
Well, the main purpose of the printable shapes is to explore two-dimensional shapes. And these mats really give the kids many opportunities to do just that! But that’s not all the kids are learning with the bat shape mats. Here’s a more complete list:
- Shape identification
- Shape formation
- Fine motor skills
- Counting
- Patterns
- Math vocabulary
- Descriptive words
Not too bad for a simple shape mat printable, right? Remember to grab your own copy of the printable at the bottom of this post.
More Bat Activities for Kids
Here are more ideas to try with your bat-loving students:
- Bat Calendar Numbers
- Easy Bat Craft for Kids
- Bat Sensory Bins
- Stellaluna Sight Word Activity
- Coffee Filter Bats
- Flying Bats STEM Activity
- Bat Emergent Reader
- Even More Bat Crafts
I think these would all pair well with the bat shape mats!
Bat Lesson Plans
Let Preschool Teacher 101 make your life a whole lot easier with fully-developed, done-for-you early childhood resources. We have hundreds of lesson plans and supplemental resources for preschool and kindergarten. You can even join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101, a membership site for teachers like you. Members get access to our materials (and member exclusives) at a steep discount.
Click on the image below to get our bat lesson plans. It comes with a weekly overview, detailed daily plans, whole group lessons, small group activities, center ideas, book suggestions, and related printables!
You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Get the Free Printable Bat Shape Mats
The bat shapes are available to members of Fun-A-Day’s (free!) email community. If you’re a member, enter your email address in the form below to have the download link sent to your inbox. If you’re not a member, you can join us by entering your information in the same form. Then you’ll receive the printable as a welcome gift!
If you can’t see the above form, you can find it in a new tab.
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