Dot sticker play

Dot stickers are so versatile. Your child gets to work their fine motor skills when peeling the stickers off the page, and learning how to manipulate a sticker so it comes off your fingers onto the paper is hard—but rewarding—work.

DOT STICKER MATCHING

This activity challenges your child to find visual matches, using letters and numbers. Not to worry if they don’t know them yet—this is a matching activity, with some early literacy building blocks as its inspiration.

What you need

• Butcher paper or a few pieces of paper taped together—the larger, the better
• Dot stickers, preferably multi-colored

How to do it

• Write numbers or letters (randomly spread out, not in any order) on the large paper.
• Write the same numbers or letters on the dots.
• Lay the paper out on the floor. Hand your child the dot stickers and let them work to match and stick the letter or number sticker onto the paper.
• Taping the paper up on a wall gives your child a different perspective, and works different visual spatial skills. Try different surfaces too, like a low table or (if you’re feeling adventurous) on the underside of a table!
• Vary the activity by offering different images to match: symbols, punctuation, small drawings, or recreating emojis 😉
• Your child may not be able to name the letters or numbers, but you can help them find matches: “do you see a letter that looks like a circle?” or “do you see a number that has two small circles one on top of the other?”

DOT STICKER LINES ON A WALL

Working on vertical surfaces is great for arm strength, fine-motor development, and visual spatial skills. This fun activity challenges your child to follow various types of lines with dot stickers, and requires concentration and focus to ultimately complete the task: completely cover each line with dots.

• Gather a large piece of butcher paper (or several pieces of regular paper), a thick marker, some painter’s tape, and several sheets of dot stickers.
• This can be done flat on a table or the ground, but taping the paper onto a wall can help keep your child more active.
• Draw a few kinds of lines on the paper from left to right: straight, wavy, curly, zig-zag, or others.
• Invite your child to start covering the lines with the dots—if they leave open spaces, remind them that the entire line needs to be covered!
• Your child may go in order, or they may skip big sections of line; let them explore their own way.