Sticker Play- Toddler Task Thursday #2
Toddler Task Thursday is BACK!
Today I want to talk to you about the benefits for toddlers of playing with stickers. Such a simple, small activity is packed with some BIG developmental benefits. The best part about using and playing with stickers is that Millie LOVES stickers right now (and so do most toddlers)! Since she enjoys playing with them, decorating, etc. so much, I thought I would spend some time looking into how this type of activity is important developmentally and some different ideas and ways to incorporate stickers into play.
*** DISCLAIMER *** Sticker play is AWESOME, but is best done with supervision… You can’t say I didn’t warn you. 🙂 Make sure your toddler is supervised while enjoying sticker play so you don’t find stickers on your walls, in their hair, or anywhere else that stickers are not welcome. Okay, back to the fun….
Here are some benefits of playing with stickers:
- Fine Motor Skills– Fine Motor Skills is the coordination of small muscles in movements. What a lot of people don’t realize is that also includes the eyes and how they synchronize and work with the hands and fingers. Pretty neat AND important! Selecting a sticker and then creating the synchronization of the eyes to peel and remove and then place a sticker is a wonderful fine motor skill practice and activity.
- Pincer Grasp– A Pincer Grasp is when a child uses the very tips of their fingers to pick up objects. In this case, stickers are a prime example of creating that pincer grasp which falls under the fine motor skills umbrella!
- Bilateral Hand Coordination– Bilateral Hand Coordination is referred to when both hands are involved in an activity. A good example of bilateral hand coordination activities would be zipping a coat. In the case of sticker play, one hand is used to hold the sheet with the stickers, while the other hand is removing the sticker to place elsewhere.
- Sensory Exploration– There are stickers of all different kinds! Sensory play can be incorporated by choosing stickers with different textures such as: puffy, fuzzy, scented, scratchy, etc.
- Hand Strength– This one seems like it wouldn’t be listed with stickers, but the truth is that our hand strength is developed from small muscles developing. By using and working those small muscles, it will have a large impact on hand strength down the road. Think about the stamina needed for kids to color, hold a pencil, etc. These types of muscles will be strengthened by strengthening the smaller muscles first.
- Creativity- Depending on how the child plays with stickers and how activities are structured, there is a lot of room for the development of creativity here! See more about this below.
- Problem Solving- As toddlers try to peel and stick, there are going to be issues that arise. For example, as they peel part of the sticker rips. How can they solve this? What do they do? Practicing problem solving skills at this small level, will help them with larger problems as they get older.
- Patience- Stickers can be challenging for toddlers at first. Trying to get them exactly where they want them, not losing part of the sticker, navigating the fine motor skills required… it all takes a practice in patience at first, and for toddlers this is a great skill to develop!
There are LOTS of ways that toddlers can play with stickers. Depending on the sticker sheet, you may need to peel up a corner of a sticker at first until your child is able to peel fully themselves, but working that pincer grasp skill is something that will really help them down the road!
Playing with stickers can look all different ways. Here are some of Millie’s favorite ways to play with stickers right now:
- Blank Paper– This one is also my favorite. The creativity that exudes from Millie when we just get a piece of blank paper out is incredible. She will choose some stickers and place them on the paper. Sometimes she will want to incorporate crayons or something to then decorate the stickers or add to her picture. It is a lot of fun to watch!
- Extend the Activity– One way to extend this activity is to simply say: Tell me about your picture that you are making. For Millie, this typically leads into a whole imaginative story about what is happening inside her head. Try it out some time!
- Pre-made Scene- For this activity you could pre-draw a scene or there are many different scene scape paper options that you could purchase as well. Ironically, Millie isn’t into this as much yet, but she does like when we work on a picture together. If I draw some on the paper, she does then like to add the stickers to that more than the purchased scene papers.
- Extend the Activity- One way to extend this activity is by first helping/having your child draw the scene. Even if it doesn’t look like a perfect scene to us, they can imagine the scene on the paper as they draw and color and it may surprise you what they come up with.
- Sticker Books- By far, Millie’s favorite thing right now are sticker books! Check out some of our favorites below:
- Melissa and Doug Puffy Sticker Books: Millie loves the texture and difference that these Puffy Sticker books provide. The sensory benefits and difference of these stickers is amazing. They are much more durable than your traditional sticker and come with scenes already ready for their imagination to explore. These are reusable which is a great money saver!
- Melissa & Doug Reusable Puffy Sticker Wild Adventures Bundle: Safari, Dinosaur and Ocean
- Melissa & Doug Puffy Sticker Activity Books Set – Farm, Safari, and Chipmunk
- Melissa & Doug Puffy Sticker Set Bundle – Fairy, Dress-Up and Mermaid
- Melissa & Doug Puffy Sticker Activity Book – Cool Careers
- If you need other recommendations, let me know!
- Melissa and Doug Reusable Sticker Large Books: These are a Mom favorite because they are reusable and a Millie favorite because the stickers are made of more of a plastic feel (think window cling but without the sticky) which make them really durable and can be applied to other things besides the book without Mom getting mad (HA!). She especially loves the ones where she gets to “dress” the dollies or characters.
- Melissa & Doug Reusable Sticker Pad Bundle – Fairy, Princess, Dress-Up and Play House
- Melissa & Doug Reusable Sticker Pad Bundle – Jungle, Farm & Under the Sea
Other options?
Do you ever get free stickers in the mail? Return Address type freebies? Millie isn’t really all that picky, she just enjoys the activity itself. There are SO MANY more things you can do with stickers. You can have your child create letters using stickers as they get a little older. You can simply draw a line and have the child follow the line with their stickers. Endless ways for fun and learning combined!
Does your child have a favorite way to play with stickers? Tell us below!
*** Toddler Tasks Thursday is a series devoted to highlighting activities and fun ways that Toddlers can learn through play. Toddlers are busy and haven’t developed a long attention span to most things yet. Finding creative play-based activities or tasks that work on building specific skill sets, while allowing the brain to do what it does best… learn through play is the goal of Toddler Tasks Thursday. Child Development experts say that typically a reasonable expectation of attention span is two to three minutes for each year of life. So, if your child was 2 years old a reasonable expectation for attention span is 4-6 minutes. ***
Here’s to pursuing a present, simple life by living intently and always remembering what matters and what doesn’t. Remember to give yourself grace and permission to enjoy the journey. I’m always in your corner, cheering you on, and pulling for you friend!
With love always, Madison
Happy Valentine’s Day! Love, Millie
