Reusable Stickers!

By: Chelsea, from the YouTube Channel: MommysTrying

I found another fun kids activity that’s also a good fine motor skills activity that’ll keep your little one (L.O.) entertained AND focused! I wanted to share that with all of you, so let’s get to it…..

Raise your hand if you have never heard of reusable stickers. Uhh, me! My daughter happened to get a hold of some stickers that came in a new book I got her and I quickly realized how much she loved them.

But, as we all know stickers are a one time use thing that can get very expensive fast. Not to mention messy since they’re hard to remove from whatever your child chooses to stick them to. So, in my search to find a cheaper but more importantly neater, alternative to stickers, I came across a huge pack of reusable stickers. They happened to vary in size, shape, and theme and brand names that I recognized and trusted made them! Bonus! There are a lot of no name, or off brand ones, but who knows what’s in them… not….in my house.

I ended up getting the Melissa and Doug (M&D) reusable stickers, the Melissa and Doug Puffy sticker book, and Usborne reusable sticker books. So, I’ll be reviewing all of these products and showing you what they offer.

Side Note: You can also choose to make this as interactive as you wish when you’re playing with your child and that goes for any reusable sticker set you choose.

• You can help your child learn to follow directions or spatial concepts
  • You can ask your child things like “can you place the boat in the water? Can you place the cow on the grass?”
  • Repetitive things like that will help them understand
• You can work on language comprehension, to help them form and improve words, and introduce new vocabulary to them
  • Encouraging them to say what type of sticker they want out loud every time they want a new one
• Make sure to take turns doing these things
  • Let your child feel in control as well as we all like to have that sense of leadership

Melissa and Doug Reusable Pads

• The $14 pack I personally own includes the themes: Habitats, Vehicles, and Adventures
• I’ve also seen Jungle, Farm, Under the sea, fairies, princess castle, play house, dress up, prehistoric themes, etc.
  • So, more like likely M&D probably has a theme your child would be interested in
• This entire pack has 15 different scenes, 12 different backgrounds to place the stickers on, and 560 stickers all together!
• We’ve had this for over 4 months now and we’re not even halfway through our second pack. But, we do play with other toys as well!

The M&D Pads

• The reusable sticker pad that comes in this set is pretty large

• 11” x 14.5’’ precisely. So, it’s a large enough size of paper where you can get a decent amount of stickers on it at once but it’s also a little cumbersome when it comes to finding a place to store it.
  • You can tear the pads out
    • Personally I think this is a better way for my almost 2 year old daughter to play with so she can just focus on one scene and not have anything else around to distract her.
  • Since the pad itself is made of paper, it can tear and does wrinkle easily so, it can start looking rough real quick.
    • But, if you have an older child that actually appreciates the different landscapes they might be able to hold up longer.

These can stick to anything that has a glossy finish which is a game changer

These stickers remind me of vinyl stickers where they would mainly rely on static to stick. I’ve noticed the stickers that come with this set actually stick the best to glass or any other surface with a glossy finish to it.

• Honestly, the reusable sticker pad that comes with the set is the least efficient surface to place the stickers on
• So, try it on other surfaces that have a glossy finish to it like:
  • A French sliding glass door
  • A storm door
  • Your fridge or dishwasher (doesn’t matter if it’s stainless steel or not)
  • Books with glossy thick pages
  • Or, even your wooden furniture that has a that nice glossy finish.

You get the idea of how these could be entertaining for your child.

The Actual Reusable Stickers

Since these stickers are flexible, they can withstand toddler play. My almost 2 year old daughter likes to make it a game as to how many stickers she can bunch up and fit in her little hand. This will of course wrinkle them and not make them stick anymore.

The sticker does adhere to itself so just take the extra 30 seconds to lay each one flat (I know, it seems tedious but it’ll be worth it!), wait about 10 minutes and they’ll return to a nice flattish shape where you’d be able to play with them again.

Since the stickers vary in size you can’t fit all of the stickers that come in that one set theme to fit onto the entire landscaped paper. So, expect to end up with a lot of leftovers. But, if you have multiple children that just means there are plenty of stickers to go around.

It’s also difficult for my daughter to remove the stickers herself so I tend to peel the outline portion off so she can do it herself. But, it also works just fine if your child can peel stickers off independently.

I love that this has different themes AND different sized stickers. The little stickers like the blades of grass, chicks, small fish, etc. really help make your child concentrate and improve finger dexterity, so you gotta love another fine motor skills activity your child has access to.

One Way I’ve Found to Store These…

I actually completely stole this idea from another YouTuber @Stickin it with Anthony, so shout out to you Anthony!

Since these stickers don’t stick very well to the reusable pad the pack came with or the original backing the stickers came on, I place them in a notebook.

The Notebook:

• Has sheet protectors and thick card stock paper in it
• Place a thick 8” x 11.5” card stock paper in each sheet protector
• The sheet protector already has that glossy finish the stickers will easily adhere to
• I used a 65 lb. thick card stock paper, the thicker the stiffer the page will be and it’ll be easier for you to turn the page.

This notebook has become a quick way for my daughter to let me know she wants to play with them since she can get the notebook out herself and she can see all the stickers laid out and pick which one she wants. If your child is older, you can organize the stickers by its theme and write the theme at the top of the paper placing all of the stickers into the sleeve of the sheet protector. For me, I really don’t care how they’re organized, I just want them to lay flat so they’d be ready to be used again.

The M&D Puffy Stickers

• A 3 pack of these are about $15 or $5 for one

• Rated for children 4-8 years old
• Each theme has a different sticker count but there’s not a big difference in the quantity (difference of 4 stickers at most if you get a three pack).
• Measures to be around 8’’ x 11.5’’ and about 16.5’’ wide when opened
• It has little tabs on the pad that’s meant to help secure the clear pad of stickers
  • Unfortunately this only works well in theory since it slips off as soon as you manage to peel a sticker off
• These reusable stickers in particular seems to be a little more satisfying when you’re using them only because I think the shape gives you that extra sensory and tactile input
• So, if your child is known to have the want to always touch something, or, they always like to keep their hands busy, this might be a good option for them. It might give them that extra input they’re looking for
• Downside: for those of us that bite our nails or just have very short nails like my husband, peeling the stickers off might be a little challenging

If you look at the stickers closely most of them have a very thin part to them. I thought as soon as I peeled up on this thing fragile looking part it’ll just snap right off but it doesn’t! You can bend it on itself, pull on it a little, and the small piece still won’t detach, which was surprisingly awesome.

The manufacture also made a point to put a disclaimer that these puffy stickers should only be placed on the pad provided and they will be unusable once they’re placed on regular paper or if they adhesive becomes dirty.

Of course I had to test this out myself so I rubbed a sticker on carpet, stuck it on glass, wood, etc., rinsed it off with water, dried it, and it seems to be working perfectly fine so far. I’ll update you all on the actual timeline for this and will post it on here! So check back periodically if you’re interested in that.

Moving On to the Usborne Brand

If you’re unfamiliar with Usborne books they’re a UK based publisher and you can view their full catalog online through an Usborne consultant. If you know what you want, I’ve also seen some products available on Amazon and Ebay.

This particular book is part of the series: “Little Sticker Books”, and there are also different sized ones like the mini’s which are $3, the Little’s which is this one for $8, the Regulars which is also $8, and the large “build your own” which is $9.

• The one I have measures to about 7’’ x 9.5’’ and about 13’’ wide when opened so it’s a good traveling sized sticker book

• There are 16 pages you can place the stickers on and 8 sticker page
• Rated for children 3 and up

• There are also short sentences on each page that suggests where to place certain stickers on a particular scene
• The front and back pages seem to feel the sturdiest while the other pages are thin and have that glossy finish

• Both the pages and stickers tear easily
  • I actually accidentally tore a couple stickers just for demonstrating purposes and I was already being very careful so just be mindful of this if you’re giving this to a younger child

“All Better”

If you’re looking for an actual story book with thick washable reusable stickers, this is the one you’ve been searching for.

I want to point out that these are the thickest and strongest reusable stickers out of all the other ones I’ve talked about.

The “All Better” book is a part of the Kane Miller Picture book series available on Usborne that’s an actual story book with thick sturdy stickers. The other books that are similar to this one that you may have heard of are titled: “Little Bear Needs Glasses” and “Kisses, Cuddles, and Goodnight”.

• This book is rated for children 3-5 for $13

• The book was bigger than I imagined it to be
  • Measuring about 9’’ x 8’’ and about 16.5’’ when opened
• I have friends who also have this book and say their L.O. has basically grown up with this book and it still entertains them as they’re nearing 5+ years old
• The only downside to this is that it only comes with 5 reusable stickers since it’s supposed to be more of a story line than an activity book
• The company is great about sending you more if you happen to lose some just pay for shipping and handling fees which I think is around $4
• If you happen to get carpet fuzz or dog hair on the back of these just rinse it off with water, pat it dry, and they’ll stick like brand new
• My daughter has even bent a sticker and it still works perfectly fine so they are extremely sturdy

The Overall Take Away

• If you happen to have a L.O. that plays rough, I’d go with the M&D reusable pads
  • The stickers are basically indestructible since you can crinkle them up and they’ll work just fine after you let them set.
  • The variety seems to be endless when it comes to the different themes and sizes
  • Your child would really be able to use their imagination with these since they stick to so many different surfaces
  • Downside: it’s a little difficult when you have to store any of the pieces

• If you’re looking for something more to grasp on to the M&D puffy stickers is a good option
  • They’re colorful, eye catching, and have thin and thick pieces to challenge your L.O.’s dexterity
• Downside:
  • The clear pad it comes with doesn’t stay on the board at all so you’re better off just storing the stickers on the actual background
  • Might take you a little longer to remove them if you have short nails

• If you have an older child where they understand how stickers work and can read short sentences, the Usborne “Little stickers book” is the way to go. It’s a perfect travel sized booklet with brightly animated characters. It kinda reminds of an actual sticker booklet though since it’s a little difficult to relocate the stickers so you have to be patient when doing this or you’ll end up tearing both the stickers and the book itself.

• And, one that seems to please all ages, the storybook that’s available through Usborne, the “All Better” book. It’s a little bigger than a typical children’s sized book but there’s plenty of room to fit all 5 bandage shaped reusable stickers onto one layout if your L.O. chooses to do that. The only downside to this is that you’re limited to only 5 reusable stickers.

I hope this was some helpful information for you and hopefully it gave you some new ideas and insight on how your L.O. can stay entertained and how they could improve their fine motor skills at home! Thanks so much for reading at MommysTrying!

If you’d like to see what these packs of reusable stickers look like in depth check it out on my YouTube review!

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