I have been a bit obsessed with sticky wall activities ever since my friend Allie over at No Time for Flashcards introduced me to the idea. Her most recent activity is this cool Valentine's Day Rainbow Wall that we will be trying out soon.
Sticky wall activities are created using simple materials and contact paper. For this activity I taped the non-sticky side of our contact paper to a piece of foam board so that the sticky side faced outward and we could move the foam board around the house with us. Once the sticky wall was ready, we could start learning!
Supplies Needed: contact paper, scissors, a shaped punch (optional), cardstock, painters tape, and a marker
Directions:
First we punched out several cardstock circles using our circular punch. You can also cut your paper into any shape for this activity. My 4 year old was my punching helper.
Next we wrote all of the alphabet letters (upper and lowercase) on the circles with markers.
Then I placed the alphabet circles in front of our sticky wall and encouraged my toddler to start sticking the colorful circles onto the wall!
My 4 year old son did not want to get left out, so he told the toddler the names of the letters and they worked together to create an alphabet sticky wall masterpiece.
My goal for this activity was to begin introducing the alphabet letter names and sounds to my toddler daughter in a simple and exploratory way while having fun together!
As she stuck letters on the wall I would say, "cool, you stuck a ___ on the wall" or "look you put a red ____ next to a blue ____." I just made observations about the alphabet letters while she created. Sometimes she would repeat the letter that I said while she stuck it onto the wall.
Once my toddler lost interest in the activity, my son had fun rearranging the letters so that the upper and lowercase letters matched one another and were next to one another. I love how you can move the cardstock pieces around and reuse sticky wall activity materials again and again. This activity can be fun for so many ages. You could also write sight words or word family words instead of alphabet letters to make it harder.
Do you ever create sticky walls? How do you use them for learning?
Here are a few of our past sticky wall activities...
Anonymous says
I've never made a sticky wall before, what makes it sticky ?? I would really love to do to this w/ my 3 yr old !!!
Kristina says
Anoymous – the contact paper (facing sticky side out) makes it sticky. Contact paper aka shelf liner paper.
Elizabeth says
I haven't made a sticky wall! What a great idea. You could use this for anything for learning. Wonderful!!
Jen says
This is extremely amazing and wonderful! Thank you for sharing this. Awesome and perfect for the kids. We also did a Contact Paper Transfer Art out of the same materials you used. You should check this out!
EarlyLearning.Momtrusted.com Contact Paper Transfer Art
Unknown says
Fab post
Would love for you to link it up at my new Empty Your Archive link party which is a chance to dust off great posts from your archive – there is a focus this week on reading – would really love to see you there, Alice @ Mums Make Lists x
aarushi says
I have been working with my daughter to help her recognize the alphabets but she doesn't show much interest. She is 2 years 3 months..will try this activity..she might enjoy it.
Polar Girl says
How many inches was the circle cutter?
Kristina says
I think it was a 1.5 inch punch (radius)
Polar Girl says
Can you tell me how many inches was your circle cutter?
Learn with Play at Home says
ps- I also love the foam board. Great idea. We usually tape ours on a window or table or something so we can't really move it
Learn with Play at Home says
This is great. I just did an activity using my circle punch. Oh, they're the best! haha. I need to fork out for more paper punches I think. Love this activity. Have pinned and shared on fb etc 🙂
PragmaticMom says
Love this! Sticky and letters — absolutely genius!
Vicky @ Mess For Less says
We love contact paper and use it for all sorts of things. Never to learn the alphabet though. Fun idea. Pinning now!
Aleacia says
This is a really great idea! I love how you stuck the contact paper on foam board so it's portable