Inside: This collection of popsicle stick activities builds a variety of skills that can be done at home or school. A little something for everyone!
If you’re a teacher, chances are you have a box of popsicle sticks (or craft sticks) buried somewhere in your art supplies cupboard. Parents, you might have a stash of them at home, too!
They’re so simple yet useful- you could actually probably build just about anything using popsicle sticks.
(Have you seen those people who build giant dollhouses out of them? Now that’s commitment)
This list of activities will inspire you to utilize popsicle sticks for color recognition, fine motor skills, and more.
Easy Popsicle Stick Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Shapes
Make a Shape – Provide color-coded craft sticks to be arranged in the outline of displayed shapes. (Surviving a Teacher’s Salary)
Shape Building Magnets – Glue magnets to the backs of popsicle sticks and create shapes. (Planning Playtime)
Fine Motor
Build – Attach small pieces of velcro at the ends of the craft sticks for them to be used as building materials. (Powerful Mothering)
Tweezers – Work on pencil grasp by making your own tweezers using popsicle sticks. (The OT Toolbox)
Art
Folding Fan – Construct a fold-able stick fan using brads and paper, adding lots of colors and decorations. (Pink Stripey Socks)
Dragonfly Craft – Make a cute dragonfly magnet for the refrigerator. (Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls)
Rocket Craft – Super easy to make with a free printable template. (Art and Craft Fun)
Literacy
Alphabet Match – Cut slots into a box labelled with letters and provide craft sticks each featuring a letter for preschoolers to match the letters together. (School Time Snippets)
Name Practice – Learn the letters of your name with this simple and fun idea. (Learn, Create, Love)
Table Activities
Puzzles – Create miniature puzzles by attaching an image onto craft sticks and cutting them apart to create the puzzle pieces. (Embellish Goods)
Patterning – Toddlers will match the color of the craft stick onto the pattern of the printable provided. (Playdough to Plato)
Science
Bird Feeder – Glue layers of craft sticks together to create a box to fill with bird seed. (Mothering with Mindfulness)
Colors
Color Matching – Cut slots into the top of a plastic lid on a container for preschoolers to slide the matching color stick into the spaces. (Mama OT)
Fine Motor Color Match – Boost fine motor and color recognition skills. This would make a fun busy bag, too! (Darcy and Brian)
STEM
Train Track – Challenge your preschoolers to make a train track out of popsicle sticks for the block area. (The Keeper of Memories)
Popsicle Stick Catapult – Put together STEM and physics while designing a catapult! (Little Bins for Little Hands)
And here are some ways I’ve used popsicle sticks in our classroom:
We even use them as tools for mixing paint, such as our 2 Ingredient Puffy Paint!
More activities:
Crafts Using Recycled Materials
Fun Art Activities for the Outdoors
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