If you haven’t heard of dot markers by now, you should definitely check them out. There are countless uses and activities for making dot marker art and playful learning with toddlers and that’s what makes them so exciting.
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Chalkola Dot Markers
Dot markers are basically markers but they print big dots. It might sound silly to skeptic but it’s actually a great way for younger learners to grasp and tune their fine motor skills. Plus, there are so many things you can do with them that make them exciting for all ages.
We also absolutely love our Dot Markers and Dot Marker Activity Book For Kids from Chalkola! The set of 10 comes with a cute storage box and educational activity pad that’s ideal for preschoolers and kindergarteners- score! Oh, and of course, they’re vibrant and easily washable.
Chalkola also makes vibrant chalk markers and boards, check out my review.
Dot Marker Activities for Kids
Dot marker activities are great for kids of all ages, including those who haven’t mastered their fine motor grasping skills.
Activities range from freely stamping dots, learning how to make lines, creating various types of beautiful artwork, and making direct learning more exciting. There’s a lot of enjoyment for little ones and tons of benefits for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
No matter what activities you’re doing with the dot markers, your toddler will be learning and improving various skills.
Free Stamp or Draw
When we first got these awesome markers, my kids just wanted to play around and make their own art. Honestly, the vibrant colors look fantastic no matter what you make so I gave them a bunch of paper. They colored and stamped for about an hour, while I cooked, and then they combined their drawings to make a “picture book” – my heart melted of course!
Negative Space or Art Relief
You can never go wrong with making a negative space art piece! With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, I cut out a four-leaf clover and we stamped away with green. They came out beautiful! Next, we’re doing a bunny with Easter colors.
This method is also a lot of fun with paint. In February, we did a few different heart paint relief pieces, one with negative space, and another with painter’s tape for an art relief. Both came out fantastic!
Line or Shape Outlines
Tracing lines and shapes is a great lesson for the little learners but also a lot of fun for the older kids too.
Another way to do this activity is with dot stickers. See how we did that a some Valentine’s Day activity.
Number or Letter Tracing
Homeschooling parents, this is likely the place for you! Stock up on big paper rolls or sheet pads and write out letters and numbers for your little learners to trace.
Color Recognition
There are so many ways to play around with color recognition for growing learners. For the youngest of toddlers, simple activities like tracing different colored lines with matching dot markers or stamping the correct color within a circle of the matching color and label.
For kindergarteners and readers, remove the color clues and label color words in black for them to practice their reading and connection skills.
Color Patterns
Create a simple color pattern with the dot markers and allow your child to complete it. Adapt the pattern based on your child’s level, two colors for little ones and multiple colors for advanced learners.
Changing Seasons
My kindergartener has been learning more about the changes of the seasons in his virtual classes so we stretched that thinking into an activity for both my kids. I created a simple blank tree and labeled each of the seasons. We then discussed how the leaves would change for each season and used the dot markers accordingly. They loved simultaneously stamping while learning.
Counting
Again, there are countless ways to incorporate counting activities with dot markers. Two that we’ve tried so far with the theme of Spring are Stacking Ice Cream Scoops and adding Flower Petals.
Letter Recognition Stamping
One of the most common uses for dot markers in preschool and early kindergarten learning is letter recognition. Basically, you have a set of letters and you have to follow directions to stamp the correct letter. This works great for both uppercase and lowercase letter recognition.
My friend from BehindTheMomBun.com makes fun printables. We used her Alphabet Mini Books for stamping letter recognition with my preschooler.
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My name is Paula and I’m a mom of two scrumptious cuties. Thanks Mommy Blog became a project for me to help guide other new moms and current moms through any of my own personal experiences and struggles. My hobbies include singing, doing jigsaw puzzles, baking, designing and trying to stay creative.
This is something that my little nephew would definitely be interested in! He just recently started coloring and he LOVES it!
These are so fun and different. Had never seen anything like them. Thanks for sharing
Fantastic ideas on using dot markers for toddlers! Definitely using these with my 3 year old!