Make Stickers Reusable

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a few times when I've wanted stickers to last longer than one use.  First, William had a cool Dover sticker activity book.  The inside of the covers for these are designed to release the stickers, but when they are removed, they don't stick back to the original paper.  So, I used a laminated sheet we had saved.  It worked great.  I'm sure eventually the stickers will loose their stickiness, but for now we can move them back and forth from the laminated sheet to the play scene.

Then, Natalie received a Fancy Nancy book from the library.  The last page was to dress Fancy Nancy with stickers, much like a paper doll.  It was hard, but I persuaded Natalie to wait until we got home to play with it.  I photocopied the picture of Fancy Nancy with our printer and then taped it inside a sheet protector.  Viola!  She could not use the stickers multiple times, or perhaps more importantly, if she changed her mind or placed one crooked, she could fix it.

Being able to reuse stickers saves money, but its more about ending frustration in our house.  William does not like to place and item and leave it there.  We struggle to make crafts together because he wants to pull off everything he just glued.  Stickers are the same way.  Moving the stickers between two laminated sheets is much more satisfying for him.  Meanwhile, Natalie likes to create stories with her stickers.  Just yesterday she made a whole story out of princess and castle themed stickers.  I was proud of her for coming up with a creative solution when I told her we couldn't move the stickers, but she would have enjoyed making her characters act out her ideas.  

Natalie wanted to put two princesses into the carriages.  When I couldn't remove them, she said that they would have to walk instead.  By the way, stickers are a great literacy tool.  Natalie creates a story as she places her stickers.  I sometimes write down what she says, type and print it, and hang it under her picture.  Its a great way to praise natural literacy play. 

So, in review, there are a few ways to make most regular stickers reuseable.

1. Laminated sheets of paper
2. Page protectors
3. Photo album pages