3 Ways to use stickers...that work!

Who doesn’t love a sticker? The ones that say “way to go!” or “you did it!” or the gold stars? YASSSS.

As fun as they are, they are often not successful at changing behavior. It turns out that many times they are something that we like, but not enough to work for (or change our behavior for). When they ARE successful, they are not something we want to work for for very long.

This doesn’t mean stickers are useless! There definitely are times when they can help support positive behavior changes.

Pairing stickers with something else can be a very successful way to change behavior. The attention that comes with giving the stickers can be motivating. The “I’m so proud of you!” or the “you are so smart/helpful/creative/thoughtful” can increase preferred behaviors and decrease problem behaviors.   

Stickers can also be used as tokens. In this way, several stickers have to be earned before cashing them in for the real prize – the one that is actually motivating and changing the behavior. This is done with a calendar or token board of some kind. Every time the child puts their plate in the kitchen after dinner, for example, a sticker goes on the chart. If they have at least 5 stickers on Friday, you’ll take them for fro-yo on Saturday.

Another way we use stickers is for fine motor skills. The act of reaching, peeling, grasping and sticking a sticker takes hand-eye coordination, planning, and all kinds of other skills. One way we have practiced this is in drawing a maze on a piece of paper and having our learner put stickers all the way down the path. This was lots of fun for our learner and guess who got 5 minutes of free time?

Stickers can be used in matching, counting, sorting, tracing, organizing and so much more! We have linked one of our favorite blogs where you can just pick an idea that works for you and print!

All of this being said, there are definitely some kids that love stickers. Like LOVE THEM - love them. When this is the case, we celebrate that as a win because that is something easy to dole out! ⭐

The Behavior Queens

For ideas on specific sticker activities, check out one of our favorite blogs at: https://www.teachinglittles.com/sticker-activities-for-toddlers-and-preschoolers/