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Homemade Lick-and-Stick Stickers for Story Telling

Aug 14, 20144,995 views
Art Projects
Ages3–7 yrs
Prep20 min
Activity45 min
Leveleasy
MessMedium
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Kids draw and paint tiny pictures on card stock squares, then brush the backs with dissolved Jell-O to turn them into homemade stickers. Once the stickers are dry, they dampen them, stick them onto heavy paper and build a scene to tell a story.

⚠️ Safety first

  • An adult handles the hot water and dissolves the Jell-O. Let the mixture cool before kids brush with it.
  • Lick-and-stick is how the author's kids used the stickers, but a damp sponge is the safer choice, especially in a group. The stickers are painted with watercolors and markers, which are not food.
  • Jell-O water is for brushing, not drinking. Supervise so kids don't sip from the bowls.
  • Flavored Jell-O contains food dyes and sugar and can stain. Use unflavored gelatin to avoid the dyes.
  • Use one sticker per child for licking if anyone does lick. Don't share stickers that have been licked.

Before the kids arrive

  • Cut card stock into small squares, about sticker size.

Steps

  1. Set out the small card stock squares, paint brush pens and liquid watercolors.

  2. Draw and paint your own tiny pictures on the squares.

  3. Let the pictures dry.

  4. Adult: dissolve about 1 tbsp of Jell-O powder in a little hot water in a small bowl, then let it cool.

  5. Load a paintbrush with lots of Jell-O water and brush it all over the back of each picture.

  6. Lay the pictures backside up and let them dry for about 1 hour.

  7. Dampen the back of a sticker with a wet sponge and stick it onto heavy paper.

  8. Draw a scene around your stickers and tell your story.

Tips

  • Use just heavy paper like card stock, since you will be brushing it with liquid. My children wanted to draw on colored paper as well, but to make stickers that don't tear, bring out just the card stock.from the author
  • Those cut up paper squares were suddenly very unique, and the kids eagerly painted.from the author
  • Have the kids load up their brushes so they scoop up lots of the Jell-O mixture.from the author
  • Use heavy paper for the story scenes too, since regular white paper will not take water very well.from the author
  • Have leftover Jell-O from other projects? We used watermelon and pineapple left over from our tropical fruits rice and summer play dough.from the author
  • Be ready for surprising stories! One of my 6 year old's stories was about living alone by herself and visiting daddy and mommy when they are old. What!!!?from the author

Make it your own

  • Use the homemade stickers in pretend play and other art activities, not just story telling.
  • Draw some pictures on colored paper for variety. Card stock holds up best.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · August 2014
Art activities for kids : Homemade stickers for story telling
Today we share a simple method to make homemade stickers that aid in pretend play, art activities and, more importantly, great story telling sessions.
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Homemade Lick-and-Stick Stickers for Story Telling: the original post

Homemade stickers through this simple art activity to promote artful story telling We have been on a big art activities for kids kick in the last few days. Why not right? Kids art is a big part of our lives and this blog! I personally see the children break into big smiles while creating something, especially with our homemade art supplies. Today we share a simple method to make homemade stickers that aid in pretend play, art activities and more importantly in great story telling sessions. Materials

Invitation to create

I suggest you use just heavy paper like card stock since you will be brushing it with liquid. My children wanted to draw on colored paper as well. But to make stickers that don’t tear off just bring out just the card stock paper.

After the supplies are set up, the kids are free to create their own art on tiny papers. Those cut up paper squares were suddently very unique and the kids eagerly painted.

art project for kids where they make DIY stickers

They used both the fabulous Paint Brush Pens and Liquid Watercolor Paints to make their creations.

handdrawn pictures ready to be turned into homemade stickers

Don’t you agree that art activities for kids is such a fantastic way to inculcate wonderful skills in children? I mean this art project has everything — fine motor skills development, pretend play skills development, story-telling skills development.

art activities for kids using homemade gelatin stickers

How to turn the kids art into Homemade Stickers To turn the kids art into stickers, you will need some unflavored gelatin or regular flavored Jell-O. I used flavored Jello. Dissolve about a tablespoon of Jello ( I used watermelon and pineapple from our tropical fruits rice and summer play dough). For 1 tbsp of Jello powder I used about 1/5 TBSP of hot water. Once the Jello dissolves in hot water, set out your colorful Jello water and the kids art out for the children to create their own stickers in this wonderful art activity. The kids just loaded up their paint brushes with Jello water making sure they scoop up lots of the Jello mixture in it. Then they brushed all the pictures with the mixture on the backside. We set the pictures to dry backside up for about 1 hour so. Once completely dry kids can simply lick and stick. Mine did that and some were gently dampened with water using a sponge and then stuck. creating homemade stickers by painting Use heavy paper to create their stories and scenes since regular white paper will not take water very well. art activity with gelatin stickers Here are the completed art from both of them. One of my 6 year old’s story is where she is living alone by herself and visiting daddy and mommy when they are old. What!!!? completed art activity with arty stickers

More art activities for kids on on our category page

Thanks for reading

Story writing with stickers Homemade Lick and Stick stickers

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  1. Parks Daniel · Aug 2014

    superb ideas shared here in this post..kids will learn how to make stickers at home...keep sharing this kind of interesting stuff.

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