My Sticky Valentine!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a fair bit of affection for contact paper. It didn't start until I saw my first contact paper collage on display at the center where I taught art enrichment about a year ago, but it took off from there and I haven't looked back! In addition to being great for simple lamination, adding a dry-erase component to activities and its generally addictive tactile quality, it makes the process of sharing tactile-sensory explorations with toddlers and preschoolers simple! Beautiful double sided collages will never go out of style! Because my passion for contact paper is unending, I thought I'd mix that passion with passion itself and turned it into a Valentine's activity! I called this project “My Sticky Valentine.” Although this is could be a great collaborative art experience, in this case I turned it into an individual experience because my class was drop-in and choice based and I wanted to make sure these got home for Valentine's Day even if some children left early! 

 I began by setting out trays that included tons of bits and bobs in the traditional Valentine colors - reds, pinks, purples, and whites. Because most of the children I was working with were toddlers, I wanted plenty of different things to touch and manipulate! Feathers were quite popular. There was also fabric, polar fleece scraps, string, felt, paper hearts, various yarns, lace, and curled ribbon! The older children (and even the younger ones!) enjoyed using the foam letters and numbers for a little added letter and number recognition, and they made lovely collage elements, too! Additionally, the curled ribbon provided a bonus fine motor workout, because in order to get it to stick the children had to use their little fingers to straighten it out!

Look at all of those lovely textures and patterns! Don't be surprised when the smaller children find more interest in exploring the materials than they do in actually assembling a collage! The collage is actually secondary! The sticky paper is just as irresistible, however, so plenty of odds and ends will doubtlessly make it on! Then just fold the contact paper up to seal it and the children can take it home! It can be used as a suncatcher, or even as an insert in a card! I'm sure there are plenty of other lovely ideas, too!

Lovely!