Having two preschoolers and a toddler at home (not to mention a 2nd grader that I homeschool) can have its challenging days. And there are those days when I all I want out of life is a moment of peace and quiet, which does not happen too often. Just recently, I’d had one of “those days”. Rest time was approaching and I could tell it was going to be anything but restful, if you know what I mean. So I quickly gathered a few markers, themed stickers (I keep a stash for moments like these), and some copy paper. I hand drew a few scenes (think simple) and made some DIY sticker mats. My preschoolers played quietly with these mats for about 30 minutes (ahhh…) and it was GREAT for fine motor play!
Want to Make Some DIY Sticker Mats?
It’s SO simple. And LOW-prep! Seriously. Gather the materials I mentioned above and draw out different scenes, based on the stickers you have. I suppose if you laminated the scenes, the stickers might peel off and you could re-use them, but I did not test it myself.
I hand drew a couple of scenes with flowers and grass for MBug (currently 3 years old), while she decorated with her bug stickers.
For NJoy (currently 5), I drew a construction site and he used his construction vehicle stickers to decorate his mat.
Later that afternoon, NSis (currently 2 years old) found some left over stickers and wanted to play. So we worked together on a mat. Since she loves to name her colors (she gets them right about 2% of the time), I quickly drew stick figures all over the paper out of different colors. I pulled a smiley face sticker off, we named the color together, then she stuck it on the corresponding color stick figure on the paper. She only stayed with the activity for about 12 stickers, but she was being exposed to color names, color matching, and fine motor play…a home run in my book!
And as for rest time? It was a success that day thanks to these simple, low-prep sticker mats. What do you do on “those days” to keep the peace? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments!
More Fine Motor Play Ideas–>
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~Becky
Love this! I do this sot of thing with my two year old, but you’ve given me more ideas. He loves to name colors too, but they are usually “geen.” 🙂 Pinning!
Yes, the color thing is so funny to me. Thanks for pinning!
Brilliant!!!
Thank you. 🙂
LOVE this!!
Thank you.