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    Home » paint » DIY Shape Stickers

    DIY Shape Stickers

    Published: Oct 30, 2013 · Modified: May 9, 2022 by Vicky

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    It's time for another edition of Paint and Play! Some of my favorite bloggers, Crystal from Growing a Jeweled Rose and Suja from Blog Me Mom, are joining me as we explore fun ways to use paint. This week we will be sharing our ideas for combining math and art. We made DIY Shape Stickers out of contact paper and paint and used them to create art. We love contact paper here at Mess for Less. We have used it to create Contact Paper Art and a Fall Tree with Suncatcher Leaves. Read on to see how we used it today.

    DIY Shape Stickers - Such an easy way to create stickers using paint and contact paper. You can then arrange the stickers on a piece of paper to create art.

    You will need:

    • Clear contact paper
    • Acrylic paint
    • Scissors
    • Permanent marker
    • Brushes
    • Wax Paper
    • Scotch Tape
    • Large white construction paper
    paint supplies

    My daughter and I talked about shapes and I had her tell me all the shapes she knew. We discussed the similarities and differences between the shapes and how many sides they each had. I drew the shapes she said on some contact paper with a permanent marker. Make sure to draw on the side of contact paper that has no writing on it. I originally tried this with a thin permanent marker (as shown in the photo above) but it got completely obscured by the paint, so I tried a thick permanent marker which worked a lot better.

    shapes drawn on contact paper

    Squirt some acrylic paint in a palette or paper plate. I prefer acrylic over tempera paints because when it dries, it does not crack like tempera paint. We used a water based acrylic which we have been able to wash off our skin and clothes.

    paint palette with paint

    Tape the contact paper to the table so it does not roll up or move. Provide your child with a brush and have them paint the shapes.

    child painting

    My daughter had so much fun with this that she insisted on painting multiple sheets of contact paper to make lots of stickers. Here are a few of her attempts.

    My daughter had so much fun with this that she insisted on painting multiple sheets of contact paper to make lots of stickers. Here are a few of her attempts.

    painting contact paper

    Originally I thought she would just paint the shapes I drew, but she was so into the process that she ended up painting the entire sheet!

    contact paper painting

    When the paint dries, it's time for an adult to cut out the shapes. If you turn the contact paper over, you can still see the shape outlines on the back which will help to guide your cutting.

    When you are done cutting out the shapes, peel the paper off the back and stick your stickers on a piece of wax paper. The wax paper makes it easy for kids to remove the stickers.

    shape stickers

    Provide your child with a large piece of construction paper that they can use to create an artistic masterpiece with their painted stickers. You child may choose to place the shape stickers on random places on the page to create abstract art or use the shapes to make a scene or picture.

    making stickers

    When my daughter saw the circles she immediately decided that she would make a truck.

    DIY stickers

    She used the squares to make the body of the truck.

    Shape art

    All done! She was especially proud of the rectangle at the end which she says is "where the smoke comes from."

    child holding up art of truck

    Since these stickers are made from contact paper, they are easy to remove and re-place on a paper. This is great for children, as they can experiment with the shapes in different configurations and change whatever they are not satisfied with.

    truck made from shapes

    For more fun Math Paint and Play ideas check out:

    Geometric Art

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    Comments

    1. Charlotte

      October 30, 2013 at 9:19 pm

      Ohhh what a fantastic idea!! Will definitely be trying that at some point x

    2. Anna

      October 31, 2013 at 10:05 pm

      Love how this turned out! Thanks for sharing an awesome idea.

    3. Georgina Bomer

      November 01, 2013 at 6:22 pm

      These look great! I particularly like the idea of putting the contact paper stickers on wax paper for easy removal.

    4. Vicky @ Mess For Less

      November 01, 2013 at 7:13 pm

      Thanks Charlotte! We always keep some contact paper on hand so it was nice to already have all the supplies.

    5. Katie Joiner

      November 02, 2013 at 2:05 am

      What a great activity, Vicky! Thanks so much for the inspiration - my daughter adores stickers, but she often has trouble peeling the backing off herself. This would be a great solution for her!

    6. Ayan

      November 02, 2013 at 11:28 pm

      This is so cute I love this idea. I usually tape it to the table and give my son different shapes and he practices his letters check out he pictures on my blog http://teachermomplus3.blogspot.ca/2013/10/letter-of-week.html

    7. Vicky @ Mess For Less

      November 03, 2013 at 1:34 am

      Thanks so much Anna! We had lots of fun with them.

    8. Vicky @ Mess For Less

      November 03, 2013 at 1:36 am

      The great thing about contact paper is that it's not terribly sticky so this worked well. Thanks for stopping by!

    9. Vicky @ Mess For Less

      November 03, 2013 at 1:37 am

      Thank you Katie! I think this should work perfectly for her.

    10. Vicky @ Mess For Less

      November 03, 2013 at 1:38 am

      Ayan, I liked how you made letters on the contact paper using shapes. Clever!

    11. Kerry

      November 11, 2013 at 3:01 am

      This is cool, it would go well with looking at Eric Carl paste paper illustrations as well.

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    Hi, I'm Vicky, founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find it at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

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