Create Interactive & Engaging Learning Centers for Preschoolers Using Printables
Printables are a fantastic tool for creating educational activities in your preschool program, but how do you make them more engaging and interactive for young learners? The good news is that with just a little creativity, you can easily transform your printables into hands-on, sensory-rich experiences that help children learn through play! Many of these ideas are low-cost and reusable, saving you time and money in your program. Below are 10+ creative ways to make printables more exciting and interactive for your preschoolers. Let's dive in!
Reminder! Please make sure the materials you are using are safe and appropriate for the ages you care for.
1. Add them to a Sensory Bin
Turn printable activities into a fun sensory experience! Simply fill a sensory bin with materials like shredded paper, dyed rice, or pom-poms, and hide your printable pieces inside. For example, in our Apple Activity Pack, we printed a letter recording mat and placed the letters inside the sensory bin. Kids love seeking and finding hidden objects while practicing their skills. This is a fun an easy way to add more interest to printable matching games.
Here is another example of a sensory bin made from a plastic shoe box filled with dyed rice! Children will have fun digging around the bin to find each sight word for the matching scene.
Almost anything can be hidden inside a sensory bin!
Search for numbers, shapes, images, words-your creativity is the limit! 
Seek and Find Numbers in our Bubble Gum Themed Sensory Bin Set
2. Combine Printables with Manipulatives
Add manipulatives like pom-poms, math counters, or mini erasers to printables to engage tactile learners. Use them with letter mats or number mats to enhance counting, letter formation, and patterning activities.
Tracing Letters or numbers with manipulative's is a great way to practice letter formation. For this activity I combined my Alphabet Letter Tracing Mats (which I reduced in size using this technique) with pom pom's.
Pom pom's are a great low cost manipulative that can also be used as math counters, or patterning. Extend the learning: combine math and literacy! You can count how many pom pom's were used to form each letter, and make patterns! You can also use these mats to practice forming letters with other manipulatives like stickers, or collage items. 
Tip:White Pom Pom's can represent snowballs, marshmallows, or even sheep!
3. Use Sand Trays with Printables
Sand trays are a great pre-writing activity! Simply add sand or salt to a tray, print out a letter formation mat, and let children "write" by tracing the letters in the sand. This sensory activity helps kids develop motor skills while practicing letters and numbers.
The Melissa and Doug Lacing Card Boxes make great trays!
Sand Trays allow students who are learning to write the chance to focus on letter formation, and build strong fingers before having to worry about how to properly grip a pencil or crayon.
They are most commonly made with salt, or sand. Simply add a small amount of salt or sand to a tray or cookie sheet, and let the fun commence! For this activity I changed the scale settings on my printer to print the Letter Formation Mats 4:1! It's such an easy way to make smaller task cards! 
For this activity, I used a salt tray, a paintbrush, apple eraser "counters," a reduced
(2:1) copy of the apple letter recording sheet, and the full-size first sounds mat (both found in our Apple Activity Pack). First, tape the recording sheet to the tray and cover it with salt. Then, your preschooler will gently wipe away the salt to reveal a letter underneath. Once a letter is uncovered, they’ll use an apple counter to mark the matching first sound image on the mat. Keep playing until all the letters have been revealed! 4. Incorporate Play Dough with Printables
Play dough is another fun way to enhance fine motor skills. Use printable letter or shape mats to encourage children to form letters or numbers with play dough. A fun twist? Use small items like letter erasers for a hide-and-seek match-up game inside the dough.
Children are building strong fine motor skills when they pinch, tear, squeeze, and roll the dough to form letters, numbers, and shapes. For this activity above I've combined play dough with my A-Z Dough Letter Mats. To extend this activity: after making each letter have the children talk about the different shapes they see. Do they see a circle, a line?
*Teacher tip: be sure to laminate printables, or place them inside page protectors if you plan to use them with play dough. 
I ran across these fun letter erasers at the Target Dollar spot! They are perfect to create a play dough hide and seek letter match-up game. Kids really have to use their fingers to dig through the play dough to find all of the letters. If you don't have letters like these you can use other small items such as letter beads. scrabble letter tiles, or even write letters on mini erasers to hide!
5. Combine Printables with Stickers
Stickers are a low-cost and exciting addition to printable activities. Use them on letter mats, sight word practice sheets, or counting activities to reinforce fine motor skills while making the learning process more fun.
This is another low cost activity that I created using stickers (found at the Dollar Tree) and the letter recording sheet from my Apple Activity Pack! Stickers are another fun way to incorporate a fine motor activity with literacy.
Print on Felt for Hands-On Learning
If you're looking for a tactile way to use printables, try printing on felt! Use felt pieces for storytelling or make your own felt food or activity pieces which will allow students to interact with the printables in a hands-on, imaginative way.
If you have been a reader for a while you'll know I LOVE felt, and printing onto felt. You can make your own felt food pieces, and even your own flannel board story pieces. 
Felt pieces are a great addition to the reading area. They are a fun hands on materials that allow young children to re-tell their favorite stories such as the Goldilocks and the Three Bears Set I've featured above.
Teacher tip: If you are printing pieces that contain printed words or numbers, choose printable transfer sheets for dark fabrics that don't require you to "flip" your images. 7. Create Magnetic Printables
Print your materials onto printable magnet sheets or combine them with magnet toys to create magnetic learning games. Magnets are great for literacy activities like letter matching and first sound identification. You can even make magnetic story pieces or use them for math activities!
Magnets are another low cost item that most educators have on hand. You can use them as math counters for math activities, or use magnet letters with literacy printables (letter matching, first sound identification games). For this game I combined the uppercase letter mats Apple Activity Pack with magnet letters.
Children will have fun finding the matching magnet letters!
One easy way to differentiate activities is to provide older children working on more advanced skills, the same magnet letters with a different resource.
You can even make your own magnetic activities that are perfect to place in the quiet corner, or reading area. For this activity I printed my own magnet astronaut pieces onto printable magnet paper (from the Outer Space Activity Pack). Next I placed a secured a shape printable using double sided tape to a cookie sheet.
Tip: If you want to make individual magnetic pieces (as opposed to printing a whole page) you can also adhere the paper to magnet sheets with adhesive backing. 9. Turn Printables into Gross Motor Activities
Get kids moving by turning printables into a physical game! For example, set up a relay race or a cake-walk style game where children practice sight words or letters as they hop from one space to another. It’s a great way to blend movement with learning.
The mats in the apple sight word set were used to create a cake walk style game above! Play your favorite music and let the fun begin. Children can take turns announcing the words, letters, or even numbers they are standing on!
10. Create Mini Task Boxes
Mini task boxes are a fantastic way to break down learning into manageable, bite-sized activities. Simply print smaller versions of your printables (like 4:1 size) and pair them with small objects like mini erasers for a fun, hands-on task box activity. It's easy to create your own task boxes! Simply print multiple slides per page (4:1) to create task cards.
For the activity above I printed the pre-writing sheet found in my Outer Space pack 4:1 and combined it with Dollar Spot mini erasers. This is a fine motor workout. Extend the learning: Count the number of erasers you used, or make a pattern!
Make your own matching lotto games! For this activity I combined the 3-part cards found in my farm set (and almost all of my themed activity packs) with toob figures.
11. Use Printables with Pipe Cleaners
Pipe cleaners are perfect for creating shapes, letters, and numbers! Pair them with printable letter or number mats to give children a chance to practice forming letters and numbers while enhancing their fine motor skills.
For this tactile activity students can use the letter formation cards as a guide to create their letters. Depending on their skill level, you can provide them with pipe cleaners. and scissors or a variety of pipe cleaner pieces already cut to different sizes.
For this activity we combined our free counting cards beads, and pipe cleaners. The children can practice counting and threading the beads onto the pipe cleaners (which is also a great fine motor workout).
12. Incorporate Bingo Daubers & Stamps
Take your printables to the next level with bingo daubers or stamps! Whether you’re practicing letters, numbers, or shapes, let children use daubers or stamps to mark off the corresponding items on their printables.
For this activity I combined mini alphabet blocks with the letter recording sheet from the Apple Activity Pack. Provide the children with a bingo dauber (or markers of your choice), a few blocks, and a plastic cup. Children roll the blocks and mark the corresponding letter to each mat. Extend this activity: turn this into a group game by providing all of the children with a mat, and giving each child an opportunity to "roll" the blocks for the whole group.
For this letter activity I combined letter stamps with the ABC Recording Mat found inside my Apple Activity Pack. Children search for the matching letter "buddy" stamp and stamp it next to the letter on each month. This can easily be turned into a lowercase & uppercase letter matching activity as well. To extend this activity you can encourage the children to stamp their names!
13. Turn Printables into Light Table Activities
Use vellum or transparency film to print out your materials and then place them on a light table. Add translucent manipulatives like colored counting blocks or shapes, and watch your printables light up with fun, hands-on learning.
Member Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning Center created this fun light table activity you see here-by printing our Spider Mats on vellum!
You can find helpful tips for printing on vellum here. Another good alternative (which is a little bit easier to work with) is to use printable transparency film.
*Tip: Be sure to double check that the materials will work for your printer type (they are usually offered in either ink jet or laser). 
Our Site Manager, Sheena , printed our letter formation mats on vellum,
and placed them inside page protectors to use for this fun letter tracing activity! 14. Use Dry Erase Markers for Reusable Practice
To make printables reusable, slip them into page protectors and let children use dry erase markers to trace letters, numbers, or shapes. This is an easy and eco-friendly way to reinforce skills without the need for paper waste.
15. Make Cut-and-Paste Activities
Almost any activity can be turned into a cut and paste activity. To save on paper, print multiple pages per sheet, and in grayscale for activities that don't need color.
Sheena use using the printables to create a Pre-K journal.
These are a great way to show progress! 16. Take Printables Outdoors
Sometimes a change of scenery is all it takes to make learning more exciting!
Take your printables outdoors and encourage children to use them for nature walks, counting exercises, or simply to enjoy the fresh air while learning. 
Look for items to count, explore different colors, and find things that begin with various letters outdoors!
Boost Your Preschool Program with the Pre-K Printables Club!
Looking for more creative and interactive ways to bring printables into your preschool program? Join the Pre-K Printables Club today and gain instant access to a growing library of ready-to-use, themed printables designed to engage your little learners. With our membership, you’ll get:
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How do you make printables more engaging?
Let us know in the comments!
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Note: This post was originally published on 9/10/21 and has been updated
with new information and fresh ideas to better support your preschool program. 
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