Create A Face Sticky Easel Activity

This post was supposed to be about multiple things children could create on a sticky easel but when the first idea – make a face – was such a huge hit with my daughter I knew this would stand alone as a great easel activity. Seeing how she expanded this from a simple easel activity into storytelling and pretend play was a highlight of my week . The benefits to this activity aren’t just the creative ones, there are also language, emotional development, fine motor, and even opportunities to count. Oh and it was really fun too!

Gather your materials. You will need some contact paper and collage materials. We used beads, gems,craft sticks,feathers, googly eyes, and grabbed some pipe cleaners mid-way through the activity. While we used an easel with a white board you could simply tape the contact paper to a table or wall if you don’t have an easel, using a regular marker for the outline.

Start by attaching your contact paper on the easel sticky side out.

Draw the outline of a face. I did ours on the white board but you can draw one right on the contact paper.

Set up the collage materials in the paint cup holders.

Time to invite your creative genius to the easel… and sit back and watch. I am amazed at what happened. I expected her to create a face but I wasn’t expecting the level of storytelling that happened in our playroom. She immediately started talking to the face who was also almost four and had lost her mom at the store. This storyline began because she used a craft stick for the mouth which gave the face a sad look and mentioned ( to the easel not me) ” You look sad what’s wrong?” As she continued to add little bits and bobs the story got deeper but she never stopped adding things… eventually they were at a store looking for their moms and trying on earrings, make up, and beautiful hats. Still more gems and eyes were being added. Only when they found their moms did the activity end. I sat in our book nook quietly taking photos and enjoying being a spectator to her imagination.

What she may not have realized is that while she was creating this story she was working on literacy development, practicing empathy, and fine motor skills too.