Setting up Invitations to Create like this is one of my very favorite ways to encourage children to explore new ideas and develop a visual language. Here’s the basic premise:
- Clear the table of anything that won’t be used in the invitation
- Artfully arrange the materials to provoke ideas
- Limit the choice of materials to just a few items
- Provide clues about how to use the materials, but keep the project open-ended so that original ideas can flourish.
Sticker Composition with Frames
Before I went to bed, I set up two sheets of paper that were simply marked with a hand-drawn frame. Next to to the frames were a few sheets of rectangular color coding labels. You can find these at Amazon (affiliate) or any office supply aisle. Alternatively, you could set this with circle stickers, some other favorite sticker, pieces of colorful tape, or squares of construction paper and a bottle of glue.
I also placed a stack of plain paper and rolls of colorful tape in the middle of the table, just in case my kids wanted to use other materials. They didn’t.
Here’s how my two-year old used the materials.
And here’s how my four-year old put her composition together. The beauty of creative invitations is that children will meet them where they’re most capable.
If you’d like more ideas like this one, you might enjoy reading about the Creative Table project, checking out these highlights from the Creative Table Project, or browsing the hundreds of brilliant set-ups on Instagram by searching #creativetable,
A Question for you…
How old is your child, or how old are the children in your class, and what creative project have you been working on? And how do you like to encourage creativity for kids?
These are so simple and beautiful. Love the idea.
That’s what I love about these invitations, Johanna — the simplicity of them. Any parent or teacher can manage them without too much stress, and kids get so much out of them. Have a great day!
Kids love stickers and this is a great way to use them creatively. Most people use stickers in a pretty traditional way and this allows kids to use those coveted stickers they way they want. Such fun.(even if many will end up on body parts and walls)
You never know how they’re going to use them! My kids adore your typical sticker (animals, fairies, flowers, etc.) and while they sometimes use them in traditional ways, they’ll also incorporate them into scenes that they’ve drawn, seal envelopes with them, and (yes!!) use them to attach drawings to the wall.
Love this idea -it’s so ‘do able’
Thanks so much. I totally agree, which is why I love sharing ideas like this. Setting up invitations to create shouldn’t add more stress to a parent’s already busy day.
Love the ease of this. My 2yo would enjoy it.
We did glue with cutout paper shapes yesterday, and I’m always surprised by what he makes.
Hi Christine! Glue and cutout shapes is another favorite, and I’d definitely put it in the same genre as this invitation. You never know what they’ll come up with, which is the beauty of projects like this.
[…] Office Stickers inside a Drawn Frame – ages 2 and up […]
[…] is no denying that stickers are fun. I love this idea from Tinkerlab of drawing a frame and using office stickers, available online or any office store, to create an […]