Homeschooling using stampers perfectly blends art-based fun with preschool and early elementary-level skill building. We use stamper days in our homeschool twice a week, and the children always look forward to it.
Stamper homeschooling activities are perfect for use with multi-age children. Everyone from toddlers through age 10 can be actively engaged in similar learning activities all at the same time.
Using stampers in homeschooling academic lessons is a wonderful way to garner far less resistance from children who do not want to practice their spelling, math facts, or find learning letters and numbers an entirely tedious and boring task.
If your daughter is into fairies and princesses or your son is all about trucks and tractors – or dinosaurs, buy stamps in those themes so they more eagerly engage with any academic lesson in which they are being used.
I used my youngest grandson’s love of all things superhero to get him to practice (without putting up a fight and being in a really negative mood) to learn how to count to 100 and identify all the numbers he was counting.
What Are Stampers?
We purchase wood stamps because they are so durable and easy to use even for younger children because of the large and sturdy way the “handles” are made. I prefer to use the Melissa and Doug stampers because of both their quality and variety.
A quick search on Amazon will lead you to a multitude of stampers made with both wood or plastic handles.
Every once in a while, you can find plastic single stampers or a whole themed set at the Dollar Tree. They might be a little flimsy, and may not last forever like wood stampers, but are still lots of fun, and a great way to build your stamper stockpile on the cheap.
Although most wood stampers come with an inkpad or sometimes even two, I highly recommend factoring in purchasing extra into your homeschool budget.
I purchased several different color sets when I bought the stamp sets so I knew I had more than enough to last for months, and also to do color matching and color word spelling activities.
I purchased roughly two dozen large ink pads (see photo below for size perspective), and while they have been heavily used for three months, we are not anywhere close to using up a single one yet:
Math Stampers Activities
Number Recognition
Draw lines on a piece of paper to divide it up into squares or sections. Write one number in each section or square. Instruct the children to stamp the correct number of objects in each square.
- Free number recognition printable here.
Math Problems
On a piece of copy paper or construction paper, have your child write out a math problem – minus the numbers. You can write out the math problem signs yourself to aid early learners.
Example: _ + __=.
Tell the child how many objects to place on either side of the addition sign. For example 2 dinosaurs plus 3 dinosaurs equals.
After the child has stamped the right amount of dinosaurs in the proper spot, have them count the number of dinosaurs on the page to find the answer – and then stamp the total number of dinosaurs after the equals sign.
To make this more of an independent lesson and to help practice number recognition even more, write out the numbers in the math equation so the child has to correlate the number on the page with the number of stamps he needs to put in each part of the problem.
Number Words
Write or type onto a piece of paper number for the child to read and then stamp the correctly numbered stamp next to.
Matching Game
Work with your child to make a matching game using both number and object stamps of their choice. Buy a packet of index cards. Draw a line in permanent marker down the middle of the card.
Have the child stamp a number on one side of the line and then a corresponding number of object stamps on the other. Once all of the cards are completed, allow the child to cut the index cards in half.
Mix up the cards after turning them upside down and have the child match them. My grandkiddos love doing the number-matching game as a race to see who can finish first.
Number Line
Have the child create their own number line by stamping either along a line or across a sheet of paper putting the numbers in order.
Measuring
Draw lines on a piece of paper and have the child measure them with a ruler, stamping the correct number of inches onto each line.
Language Arts Stampers Activities
Name Writing
Teaching little ones to write their name is often exciting for the parents but tedious for the kiddos. Write the child’s name on a piece of paper, and have them stamp out the letters in the correct order below – reading off the letters in order once complete.
For children who are a bit more experienced with letter recognition, you can simply give them the letter stamps, and instruct them to write their name on the paper.
Spelling Words
Practice how to spell any new words, a spelling list, or vocabulary words by stamping them onto plain or lined paper instead or writing them out with a pencil – same learning goals achieved but a lot more fun.
See And Spell Book
Cut standard computer paper in half. One each half page have the child stamp an object they or you choose in relation to spelling or vocabulary words and then stamp out how to spell the word next to it.
The children can then make a cover for the pages and create their own little book – coloring in the stamps with colored pencils if they choose.
Letter Recognition
Use the printables included in this article or make your own to teach the children letter recognition skills. Give the children a piece of paper with the alphabet in uppercase letters and have them stamp the corresponding lowercase letter next to it.
Repeat the same activity using a piece of paper with lowercase letters, and instruct the child to stamp the corresponding uppercase letter next to it.
Alphabet Line
Give the children a piece of paper and have them stamp the letters of the alphabet across it in proper order.
Comprehension
Use the included printables as a comprehension – direction following the lesson. The children read and then complete each task by stamping the correct object in the designated space.
Storytelling
Make up or read a passage from a storybook, and have the children stamp onto a piece of paper to relay the action taking place on the page.
If you are reading a fairytale, draw or give children an image to cut and paste of a castle and related scenery onto the paper to help create the scene if they do not have enough corresponding stampers to depict the particular book passage or homemade story.
Little Authors
Let early learners and older children who are more adept at writing to create their own storybook using object and letter stampers.
Science Stampers Activities
Weather Journal
Purchase or make a journal for the children to use to gauge the weather each day. On each page, the children can use stampers to note the temperature, weather conditions – sunny, cloudy, rain, etc. stamps, and seasonal stamps that show a holiday, apples for fall, a bunny for Easter, etc.
They can also use stamps to spell the name of the day, month, seasons, and numbers to note the date to make their journal a more scientifically detailed record.
Animals
Use stampers to detail the life cycle of animals and to group animals by category – wild, farm, pets, ocean, etc.
- Get free “On the Farm” printable here.
- Get free “Stamp a Field” printable here.
- Get free “Stamp a Field 2” printable here.
Charts
Use stampers to fill in a chart related to a subject the children are learning about or to track the progress of a hobby, record egg collection from the chicken coop, or to inventory the garden harvest.
Homeschooling with art stamps will not teach your children a lesson any better than would be accomplished if using a workbook page, but the activity will be a lot more fun and memorable.
Sitting at a table for an hour or so with a pencil in hand cranking out pages of work is tedious and will be met with the same groans we as adults would utter when stuck at our own desks doing boring paperwork.
But, if you make the lesson fun – feel more like play, the children will embrace the activity and not only learn, but retain more of the information they are being presented with or sharing themselves.
Tara lives on a 56 acres farm in the Appalachian Mountains, where she faces homesteading and farming challenges every single day, raising chickens, goats, horses, and tons of vegetables. She’s an expert in all sorts of homesteading skills such as hide tanning, doll making, tree tapping, and many more.