Updated November 20, 2022
Are you looking for an activity to keep your toddler busy this Christmas season?
Today we are sharing Christmas Popsicle Stick Shape Mats for toddlers!
This popsicle stick shape activity set includes 7 FREE printable shape mats your 2 or 3-year-old will love!
These are great activities for your toddler to practice their shape recognition, counting, colors, and fine motor skills.
You can find the colored popsicle sticks at the Dollar store!
That is what inspired these Christmas popsicle shape mats.
We have an entire box of colored craft sticks and I wanted some activities that didn’t involve making a mess.
Christmas painting and Christmas playdough are so MUCH fun, but some days I can’t deal with the mess afterward.
That is why I love these free craft stick shape mats and I know you will too.
It is a mess-free activity for your toddler.
Christmas Popsicle Stick Shape Mats For Toddlers
1. Christmas Tree
This is a fun Christmas tree pattern.
I used this as a quiet activity before we went to get our Christmas tree and before decorating one.
2. Christmas Hat
Here is a fun Christmas or Santa hat shape mat.
Discuss the triangle shape with your toddler as they build.
3. Snowflake
Here is a fun snowflake shape mat.
4. Christmas Present
This is an easy-to-make Christmas present shape mat.
5. Reindeer
A cute reindeer shape mat!
See if your toddler recognizes the triangle shape!
6. Candy Cane
This is a fun candy cane shape mat!
You can paint the craft sticks white with red stripes if you want to, but any color popsicle sticks can be used.
7. Wreath
A wreath shape mat is ideal to introduce the beginning of the holiday season to your toddler.
We put our Christmas wreaths outside right after Thanksgiving. so this wreath craft stick shape mat is perfect for us to use that day.
Download your FREE Printable set of Popsicle stick Christmas Patterns
What are Fine Motor Skills?
Fine motor skills are essential when using the small muscles in fingers, hands, and forearms.
These muscles are the ones used during activities such as drawing a picture, buttoning a shirt, zipping a coat, constructing with Lego, cutting with scissors, and opening the lunch box.
Benefits of having fine motor skills
- Help your toddler to Perform Basic Tasks
Fine motor skills are essential to your toddler because they help him handle basic tasks such as grasping and moving objects.
Fine motor skills are important for this task, and they enable us to do tasks such as drawing, writing, and even signing a document.
Additionally, fine motor skills allow children to use different tools like pencils, chalk, scissors, and crayons successfully.
Even adults, if they did not learn fine motor skills when they were young, could not do most things like manipulating objects without help.
- Helps Children to become Independent
Motor skills are crucial for children as it enables them to handle basic but important tasks such as wiping themselves in the washroom, bathing, and washing their hands.
It also helps them brush their teeth, wash their clothes, and move different body parts.
When the children hold the pencil better, they will make a better drawings by manipulating their tools.
Additionally, they can cut paper in a certain way by manipulating how the scissor does their work.
- Helps Kids to develop drawing skills and Good Handwriting
To ensure the school work is hassle-free, kids need to handle two tasks well. And these are the handwriting and the drawing skills.
Usually, your kids will make drawings in school, such as in graphs and more.
And for handwriting, they need it while writing notes and during exams.
These skills are a part of fine motor skills, and the small muscles of your kids handle this task.
- It Helps to Grow the Self-Esteem of Kids
Have you seen kids who struggle even to handle simple tasks with their fine motor skills?
They are usually frustrated and upset and also have challenges when joining their peers.
For instance, if your child has challenges handling the scissors, then he could become frustrated and avoid any activities involving scissors in the future because they perceive cutting to be difficult.
Additionally, if their peers don’t have challenges with these tools, then the child will have lower self-esteem and may opt to avoid his peers.
- How to Know when your Child has Fine Motor Skill Difficulties
Finding out if your child has challenges with fine motor skills is not a daunting task. You only need to observe whether they have an interest in the fiddly finger skills.
Most kids with motor skill challenges usually prefer physical activities, and they also love passive activities like watching TV that doesn’t require motor skills.
The kids are also not interested in scissors or pencil skills, and they are usually bossy to others, i.e., demanding another kid to draw him a cut.
And when there is a challenge, they usually give up or expect their parents to handle it for them.
Fine motor skills are very crucial in the growth and development of your kid.
They enable them to handle basic tasks such as writing, drawing, and even bathing.
Therefore, you need to encourage your kid to partake in the activities above to help improve their skills.
Activities that will Improve your Toddler’s Motor Skills
- Finger Feeding
Allow the toddler to finger-feed for the longest time possible.
As the child learns to pick the food with his fingers, he will quickly learn to use the thumb and first finger together, which will help him learn to hold a crayon first.
- Tummy Time
Your baby should also learn to push up, swipe at objects, or occasionally shift from time to time when picking objects at her front, back, or side.
- Puzzles
I would also recommend setting up simple puzzles for your child to help him learn to manipulate objects.
- Finger Painting
Encourage your toddler to practice finger painting using shaving cream, pudding, or painting.
More Toddler Christmas Activities!
We hope you and your toddler our Christmas shape mats!
Toddler activities do not have to be messy or expensive!
The holiday season is tough enough with little kids.
Make it easier with this no-mess toddler activity.
