Use these free printable bunny shape mats to teach children about shapes, all while strengthening their hands and fingers. Be sure to add it to your list of Easter activities for toddlers and preschoolers.
Related: Free Preschool Printables
“Little bunny Foo Foo hopping through the forest . . .”
I have to admit, that song has been stuck in my head the entire time we’ve used these rabbit shapes. Hopefully it’s not stuck in your head now, too!
If you’re a regular Fun-A-Day reader, you know I’m not a fan of preschool worksheets . . . but I do love a good printable.
Coupled with hands-on activities, printables are great tools to have in the ol’ teaching arsenal. Bonus if the printables can be used multiple ways.
And these printable bunny shape mats can definitely be used a few different ways. I’ll share how we use them below, but feel free to put your own creative spin on them. And then tell me about it, as I’m always looking for new ideas.
Printable Bunny Shape Mats
Here’s how to make your own set of printable rabbit shapes to use with the kids.
While I know rabbits make everyone think of Easter, these shape mats also work well during a general spring theme, a forest theme, a pet theme, or whenever the kids are learning more about animals.
Related: Forest Animal Play Dough Small World
Materials for the Rabbit Shapes
You might not need all of these materials, but here’s what we used.
Free printable bunny mats (grab them at the bottom of this post)
Laminator
Play dough (homemade or store bought)
Mini erasers
Dry erase markers
Prepping the Bunny Shape Printable
Print out whichever mats you’d like to use. Print them on card stock to make the mats thicker, but regular printer paper will work just fine.
I highly suggest that you laminate the mats. If you want, back them with some colorful construction paper before laminating them, as well. We just left the mats as is this time around.
If you don’t want to laminate them, place the shape mats in dry erase pockets to ensure they last longer. If using play dough, the laminated versions work best.
Then grab the other materials you want to use along with the bunny mats, and you’re good to go!
Shape Bunny Printable Video Tutorial
Take a look at the rabbit shape mats in action:
How to Use the Printable Rabbit Shapes
As I mentioned above, the bunny shape mats can be used multiple ways. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
Related: 50+ Easter Egg Activities for the Kids
Bring on the play dough to strengthen little hands
Play dough was the first thing we brought out to use with the bunnies.
While I love making my own play dough, this time around it was just easier to grab some store bought. Either works just fine with the rabbit shapes.
You can set the (laminated!) shape mats out and let the kids explore them however they want when it comes to the play dough.
Strike up a conversation about the different shapes found on each bunny mat. Laugh a little, as they are rather silly looking bunnies.
Encourage the children to use the play dough to form the shape of each bunny mat.
Related: Easy Math Activities for Preschoolers
Let the kids add all the extras too, if they want – ears, eyes, whiskers, etc.
The kids could even use the play dough to trace over the shape description at the top of each mat.
Suggest that the children craft little shape bunnies to go with each mat. As always, it’s fun to watch and see how the kids extend an activity like this.
Use mini erasers for fine motor practice
Many young children love using mini erasers. I have to admit, preschool teachers have a blast with them too! Or is that just me?
Set out the printable bunny shapes (clean of any play dough!), along with mini erasers. We got our mini erasers from the Target $3 spot, you can likely find some on Amazon or at The Dollar Tree, too.
Related: Spring Say It, Write It, Build It Alphabet Mat
Encourage the children to use the little erasers to trace around the edge of each bunny shape.
For an extra challenge, have the kids count how many erasers it took to make the shapes.
They might also point out smaller shapes they find (like the little triangle bunny nose)!
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Mini Erasers
The erasers can also be used to make the shape words at the top of the mat.
Encourage the kids to try to make their own, smaller versions of the shapes with the erasers.
Use math manipulatives too
Math manipulatives pair well with the printable shape mats, too!
Grab some Unifix cubes or counting bears. Then have the kids use the manipulatives to fill in the rabbit shapes.
Related: Carrot Garden Sensory Bin
Take it another step and have the children count how many items fit inside each shape.
This works well with so many different materials. Why not try it with some loose parts you have on-hand too?
Dry eraser markers for early writing practice
Grab some colorful dry erase markers to pair with the printable bunny mats.
Have the children trace over the large shapes on the big bunnies, as well as the small shapes on the smaller bunnies.
Related: Counting Flowers Printable Emergent Reader
You can also have the kids trace over the shape words at the top of the mats, or perhaps they’d like to write the words independently.
Children might also want to use the dry erase markers to just draw over and around the shape mats. I think that’s perfectly fine, too!
Now that I’ve shown you what we did, be sure to let me know how you use the rabbit shape mats!
Feel free to share on Fun-A-Day’s Facebook page, or tag me in any Instragam photos.
More Early Childhood Resources
If you’re a busy teacher (and I suppose having the word “busy” there is a bit redundant . . . aren’t all teachers busy?), I’d love for you to check out the many done-for-you teacher resources we have at Preschool Teacher 101.
There are lesson plans, math resources, journal printables, and many more teacher resources available. Here are a few you might be interested in (just click on the photo for more information):
Grab the Free Printable Bunny Shape Mats
The shape rabbit mats are available to members of Fun-A-Day’s email community. If you’re already a member, click on the button below and enter your information, and the printable will be emailed to you.
Not a member? No worries! Click on the button below to be added to our email group for even more early childhood resources (and get the shape mats as a thank you freebie).
If you don’t see the above button, click here to join us!
PLEASE NOTE that many school district computers have firewalls and pop-up blockers that will inhibit your access to this free printable. You might see the pop-up stall out and say “submitting” for an extended period of time, or you might not see the box that’s supposed to pop up. If you’re on a school computer and run into these issues, this might be the case for your district. Using a non-school computer should solve that problem.
Originally published March 27, 2018.
The post Free Printable Bunny Shape Mats for Easter and Spring appeared first on Fun-A-Day!.