I’ll admit it, I was hesitant to set L loose with a glue stick. Then I remembered that I did it in the classroom all the time when I was teaching, so why couldn’t I do it with my own child?
L always likes looking at the grocery store ads that come in the mail each week, so I decided to make this gluing work grocery themed. (It doesn’t have to have a theme — gluing colored scraps of paper onto a larger paper is just as good). I cut out a bunch of pictures from the ads and put some in a small box on the tray. I drew a quick (QUICK, people! Stop laughing!) shopping cart on some old paper, and added a glue stick.
When L found this work on the shelf, she was so excited. Before we did ANYTHING we had a long talk about the glue stick. I explained that she could open it, but only Mommy could twist it. It goes on the paper AND THAT’S IT. And you know what? So far, she’s been very good with it. She likes to put a little too much on the paper, but she’s not eating it or putting it anywhere it doesn’t belong, so I can’t really complain.
I showed L how to make a dot of glue on the paper.
Then I showed her how to put the groceries on the dot of glue and repeat. L loves this work! She does it multiple times a day and insists on hanging EVERY shopping cart on my fridge. Some of them may have “fallen” into the garbage can…
Gluing is great for fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It also provides an interesting sensory experience (sticky hands!) which leads to a practical life lesson in hand washing.
Love glue! My favorite is the glue sticks that turn from purple (so kids can see where their glue has landed) to clear. The shopping theme is really fun, but you are right; just gluing things is fun enough. Thanks for this post!
Thanks for reminding us moms to be courageous in finally using the glue stick. A Picasso for Tots art class helped me to overcome my hesitation. I had visions of glue sticks being used as markers all around my house. Lol!
Ha! Love the hand washing point. I feel like the secret fear of sticky glue is my current situation with my Little One venturing into the self-feeding stage. Ahhh. Food everywhere….how do I get the courage? 🙂
Haha, yes! My littlest ate a banana all by herself for the first time this morning, and I thought I was going to hyperventilate because of the mess!
So funny, we did that for lunch today!
Grocery pictures… Brilliant! I think my son would appreciate a theme so it had some kind of purpose. Love this idea, thanks!!
I can’t wait to buy a couple of glue sticks and try this with my kiddos! I think they will also enjoy it.