Peel, Rip, and Stick
Using Sticky Things with Tiny Hands
Tape and stickers are excellent tools for practicing small movements such as peeling, ripping and sticking.
- Audience
- Caregiver
- Subject
- Fine Motor Skill Development
- Age
- KindergartenPre-KPreschoolToddler
- Languages
- EnglishSpanish
- Materials
- Crayons, dot stickers, paper, tape
The Basics
Many of these activities will work on a table or even the floor. But you may want to try some of them on vertical surfaces, like a wall or the front of the refrigerator. Children build different muscles in their hands, wrists, arms, and bodies when working on something flat or vertical. Each of these muscles is necessary for developing their fine motor skills.
Tool Tips
Blue painter’s tape is designed to peel off surfaces without leaving a sticky mess. But it is still a good idea to test it on different surfaces before allowing your child to use it. Dot stickers can be harder to get off things like tables and walls. Only use dot stickers on surfaces like paper and cardboard.
Things to Try with 2 to 3-Year Olds
Peel it. Arrange strips of tape on a highchair tray, table, or the floor. Peel up the ends slightly, then allow your child to finish peeling the tape. Try taping small toys or objects to a table, wall, or even a large baking sheet. Invite your child to “rescue” them.
Add some dots. When your child is drawing or coloring, give them a sheet of dot stickers to add to their picture. Show them how to peel the stickers off the sheet. Gently folding the sheet will make it easier to peel off the stickers
Sticker sort. Use crayons to draw large circles on paper that match the colors of the dot stickers. Attach the paper to the floor or a wall. Give your child some dot stickers. Ask them to peel the stickers off the sheet and stick them inside the circle that is the same color.
Things to Try with 3 to 5-Year Olds
Sticker tracing. Use a pencil or marker to draw lines, shapes, letter, or numbers on a piece of paper or cardboard. Challenge your child to trace the lines, shapes, letters, or numbers with dot stickers. For an extra challenge, draw the lines using different colored markers. Then, your child can also try to match the dot stickers with the line that is the same color.
Letter match. Use a pencil or marker to write individual letters on dot stickers. Write the same letters on a sheet of paper. Encourage your child to peel a sticker and use it to cover the matching letter on the paper. Try this same activity with numbers or shapes. Or have them match uppercase letters to lowercase letters.
Tape track. Find some open floor space in your home where your child can play with tape. Invite your child to create a racetrack, a road, or a whole city on the floor. Then, they can use their track to play with toy cars, trains, or small toys (or walk on the lines, like an obstacle course).
Bonus!
Full Body Activity. When cleaning up activities that use tape, stick all the strips together and create a tape ball. Take the tape ball outside so that you and your child can play catch!
Things to Say
“Tape can be hard to rip. Let's try again.”
“You thought of something new to do with the tape!”
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