Sticky Pictures

This is one of my favourite activities as their are so many possibilities for what you can do and they look so beautiful! 


The idea behind sticky pictures when we did them as an activity in preschool was that it was the precursor to using glue. By using a sticky surface the child experiences how they can place items on it and that they stay put. The child can either choosing to just explore the idea of sticking/unsticking, placing items in specific places to create spaces of interest, to just explore dumping items or all of these explorations together. Though the exploration is great for the toddler crowd it also is an amazing one for older children especially is you create more complex patterns, mosaics or pictures. 

I set this one up for three littles to do together- it was fun! 

I set this one up for two littles and it was an Easter time so there is an egg and rabbits etc

The 'sticky paper' is actually contact paper which you would normally use stick on shelving or drawers to protect the surface (I also saw someone using it to line their entire fridge on pininterest so that when it's dirty you just peel away!). I purchase our contact paper at the local dollar store or hardware store. Cut to size and tape onto a surface or cut out a shape on a pice of pater and stick the contact paper to that so that the child then sticks items within that shape. 

Look at that fine motor skill! Picking up and placing small items is great for working that pincher grasp. 

Another great look at fine motor and placement skills developing 

The end results in my opinion are beautiful, I actually have a hard time taking them down and disposing of them. 

The items I usually have on hand for sticking are: foam pieces, sequins, paper punch outs from whole punches or craft punches, pieces of cut up straws, plastic bread bag clips, plastic lids, scraps of coloured tissue, scraps of gift wrap... the list goes on and there is really no limit. 

So what is so great about the fine motor skills and pincher grasp? They work the small muscles in the hand which eventually will be strong enough and help hold pencils and pens so essentially this is a prewriting exercise! Ha who would have thought that sticking stuff was beneficial in learning to write and more so then worksheets! (ahem FYI I loath worksheets both personally and as a teacher)