Today, I bring you.... STICKERS!!!!
There's something magical about stickers that attracts all small hands... and people like me, too. Before 2.0 was born, I stocked up on all kinds of sticker books, sticker projects, etc.
So why are stickers so awesome? Well, for the most part, the mess is pretty minimal. Peel 'em and stick 'em, and that's it. Clean up is pretty much just tossing the backs into the garbage. All in all, it's pretty independent activity (given that your child has the dexterity skills to peel off the backs). It's great for teaching things- shapes, colors, animals, pretty much any sort of recognition skill and you can add in sharpening verbal skills too, if you play alongside your tot.
Here's some activities that we like doing with stickers:
1. Sticker activity books
Cost: 5-10 bucks, depending on quality
Independence: fully independent (if you don't care where in the books the stickers go)
What the baby was doing at this time: breastfeeding
We've gone through several of these books already. Basically, they are activity books that have a generous selection of stickers for you to play with. There's usually specific spots for the stickers, so it's almost like working a puzzle. These guys are usually categorized by interest (cars! trucks! animals!) and age (2+, school age, etc). They're also great for taking out to restaurants ;)
Bonus points if your activity book also has other activities: coloring, connect the dots, etc.
2. Craft kits
Cost: 5-10 bucks (pre-made kits), <5 bucks (DIY)
Independence: requires adults to at least help demonstrate skill
What the baby was doing at this time: taking a nap in the bassinet
This is another great busy tool. A craft that comes in a box - not only does it keep the tot entertained, but there's a prize out of it! The completed craft makes a good card or keepsake to give to a love one (think grandparents). I'm personally a fan of the pre-made kits, because hot damn, I'm not interested in spending my free time cutting and preparing crafts for someone who routinely eats glue.
So there's all types of craft kits, but I love the ones where stickers take up the majority of the decorating. Again, no mess! No cutting and no glueing, just peeling and sticking.
All kinds of companies make these - I bought this particular "summer camp" set at Michaels, with a coupon and a store promotion, no less.
The only thing I'd caution against, is getting your expectations too grande for a project like this. Remember - toddler and preschool art is very much about the process and not the product - expecting a crafty outcome out of a kit like this might frustrate a 3 YO and make it less fun. For AJ, he enjoyed punch and peeling the stickers off of the sheet more than the actual fishy project made here - and I'm totally cool with that.
3. Sticker books
Cost: $1 - infinity, depending on quality
Independence: completely independent (my 3 YO)
What the baby was doing at this time: on the ground, tummy time.
AJ loves his little brother. Sometimes a little too much. He's always wanting to hug and love on him...but sometime, it's just a little too much. I save things like sticker books for him to play with when I desperately need to distract him and keep him away from say...jumping on his little brother. Sometimes, you just need a little bit of wind-down time, you know?
Enter sticker books. Your imagination is the limit here. I buy lots of different kinds of sticker books with different themes. What I've learned is that quality is important. I have a kid who is a rule-follower, so I'm not as concerned about him sticking stickers in inappropriate places, but I'd imagine that no parents want to deal with nasty sticker residue. For this reason, I really like the Melissa and Doug re-usable stickers. Bonus points go to having a play pad for them to place the stickers (they are like "scenes" you can use for pretend play).
Image: melissaanddoug.com
4. Textured stickers and card making
Cost: DIY from our "stash" so $1 - infinity
Independence: completely independent (my 3 YO)
What the baby was doing at this time: anything, really.
Three truths in our household:
1. AJ attends A LOT of birthday parties
2. I hate buying greeting cards - it takes a while to shop to find a good one, they are RIDICULOUSLY expensive, and I think that we can make better hand-made ones
3. AJ loves stickers.
I call that a recipe for the perfect distraction project (or child labor mill, depending on how you look at it).
It's pretty easy actually - I buy blank cards when they're on sale at Michaels or JoAnn's (remember to bring those coupons!). I also stock up on cutesie scrapbooking stickers. I usually check out the clearance sections - good prices but still really cute stuff! For this type of project, I do usually try to buy some really cute, textured stickers, cause you know - they're fun! I also buy some "staple" stickers too. To ensure that the stickers don't rip in the process of little hands peeling them, I usually go for the foam stickers. To mix things up a bit, I usually also bring out some self-stampers for AJ to experiment with.
There's no rules on how we make handmade greeting cards, so I usually just lay all the materials out on our kitchen table, and let AJ have at it. He absolutely adores making birthday cards (cause he also gets to pick out one fancy cupcake sticker as the piece de resistance).
Thanks for reading up on our sticking adventures! Hope you enjoyed this Sibling Distraction Series!
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