Category: Stickers

Paper Plate Numbers

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Veronika loves to bring her toy phone in the car, which has proved a great way to learn simple number recognition of the numerals 1 through 9. Here’s a great activity to build on that and emphasize that each number goes with a certain amount of things!

I labeled ten plates with the numbers 1 through 5, making two of each. I then added stickers to one set, with a corresponding number of colored dot stickers, but left the second set blank.

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For each number, I first asked Veronika what it was. Sometimes she recognized it from her phone, and sometimes she sweetly confessed, “I can’t remember.”

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Once we said the number out loud, we counted out the correct number of dot stickers to go on the plate. One, two, three!

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Continue with as many pairs as you like, based on your child’s age and understanding… or just until you run out of paper plates!

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Once all the plates have the right number of stickers, you can then play a matching game. I held up the plate with a 1 and Veronika’s task was to find the other.

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Preschoolers can use these more than once for review, but don’t be surprised if your toddler turns it into a sticker free-for-all after the first round of the lesson.

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A+ for Teachers

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May 7 is National Teacher Day, so in appreciation, Travis put together “report cards” for his two preschool teachers!

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Ahead of time, I bought a few packs of school-themed stickers. These served as helpful prompts as I asked him to think about how his teachers help him. For example, cookies and juice reminded him, “They help me at snack time.” Glue, scissors, and paint jar stickers reminded him, “They help me with crafts.”

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We also added a few more abstract ideas, like “they are patient with me” or “they encourage me.”

Of course for each sentence, we graded his teachers an A+! Once he’d written in his name, the cards were complete.

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What will you do for your kids’ teachers in appreciation? Please share in the comments!

 

Tambourine

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Well, it’s official. My preschooler has left behind the sweet tunes of childhood music class, and now demands pop radio when we travel in the car. But I adore his passion for music and dancing, and we had some quality time making this tambourine, which we then used to play along to his new favorite tunes!

To start, punch holes around the rims of two paper plates, making sure the holes line up. Place the plates so the bottoms are both facing outwards.

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Thread a ribbon through one of the holes, and tie on a bell. Continue threading and tying bells until you’ve worked all the way around.

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Travis helped with a bit of the ribbon…

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…but was far more interested in decorating the surface of his tambourine with foam stickers. We soon developed a symbiotic relationship, mama threading and knotting, Travis decorating, until the tambourine was finished.

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Time to play!

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What’s your child’s favorite instrument to play along when their favorite tunes come on? Please share in the comments!

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Christmas Tree Alphabet

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Why not sneak in a little learning with your holiday decorating? If you don’t celebrate Christmas, you could try this idea on a drawing of a dreidel or menorah instead – or any time of year with the appropriate seasonal picture!

Draw the outline of a Christmas tree on poster board, and fill in with the letters of the alphabet, in random order.

Next, write out all the letters on blank stickers, and present your toddler with both.

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Now it’s time to match the letters to the tree!

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Travis loved the activity, especially the find-and-seek aspect of it.

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Preschoolers may have the attention span to get through the whole alphabet in one sitting, but Travis lost patience and instead returned to the game over the course of a few days.

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It’s a fantastic way to test recognition of the alphabet without going through the letters in rote order.

Halloween Tote

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Instead of purchasing a bag for all the upcoming Halloween loot, engage your child’s creativity and have them decorate their own tote! We got ours care of Koala Crate, but you can easily buy a blank canvas bag and cut shapes from felt to adhere.

Although our kit came with suggestions for animal faces, Travis had other plans. He dove right in, telling me which shape he was holding and assembling into an ever-intricate design.

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He had so much fun that I simply sat back and let him decorate. On the reverse side, I added a face with the leftover stickers, something sort of resembling an owl!

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It will be Travis’ first Halloween going door-to-door, so I hope this tote helps create special memories.

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Sticker Surprise

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Travis is under the weather, so needless to say we had a very quiet, snuggly day. The happiest and most alert he was all day, though, was when I suggested sticker play – he can’t get enough of his shape stickers! I decided to make things even more interesting with this painting “surprise.”

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Encourage your toddler to arrange stickers (big ones in interesting shapes work best) however he or she would like on a piece of construction paper.

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Next, let your child paint over the entire paper – stickers included! – with tempera paint. This was our first opportunity to test out the non-toxic tempera paints from Natural Earth Paint and they worked wonderfully! (Note: The paint is available in both vegan or milk-based versions).

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Travis chose purple and green and loved that his stickers were now “hiding.”

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Unfortunately by the time the paint dried and I did the big reveal – peeling off the stickers to show the shapes left behind – Travis was feeling even crummier. I hung our craft on the fridge, and hopefully he’ll look back on it in a day or two to remember the fun he had putting it together!

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Now it’s time for more toddler snuggles.

Sticky Situations Part 2

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As a follow-up to my Sticky Situations post, I had some foam farm-themed stickers that I thought we be fun to put up on our window. Travis was a huge fan of setting up the farm scene, talking about the cows and sheep, and practicing animal noises as he worked.

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What I didn’t anticipate was the hot afternoon sunlight making it impossible to remove said-stickers from the window!

As always, these little “disasters” can turn into joyful moments. Travis was thrilled to see how difficult the stickers were to remove, and eager to help out with the “tricky ones.” Then I got down to scraping (I used a pie slicer!) and Travis thought it was just the greatest thing.

He wanted to help, so I gave him a paper towel and his safety scissors so he could get in on the action. We cleaned off nearly all of it, except one patch of window that I’ll have to work on in his nap!

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A nice reminder that even “disasters” can lead to fun and games.

Sticky Situations

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Just a simple post this evening. I highly recommend introducing your toddler to stickers early. Peeling them off of sheets and applying them to paper or coloring books is fantastic for fine motor skills, and stickers in favorite designs will delight your little one. To wit, we love truck stickers, rainbow stickers, and shape stickers around here.

I found this neat idea for keeping little hands busy at The Artful Parent. I had my doubts that Travis would be ready for the concept of centering a hole reinforcement sticker over another circular sticker, but to my surprise, he took to it right away!

Talk about good fine motor practice:

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He was very proud of himself every time he applied a reinforcement sticker spot-on.

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In general, I highly recommend Melissa & Doug reusable sticker pads for toddlers. The stickers are easy to peel, great for new images and vocab words (I’m not even sure what some of Travis’s jungle animals are called!), and best of all – reusable.

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