My eldest has been using stencils since she was approx 2.5 years old and she is now 4 years old and still likes to use them, but mostly for art or collage purposes at this stage. The biggest challenge she had using these stencils early on was the fact that they are made from plastic and are light weight so if you don’t hold them down they move. For a young child who is just learning to use stencils, this may be frustrating for them as it’s tricky to hold the stencil at the same time as stenciling with it.
Our set of Geometric shape stencils came with 12 shapes. My eldest started with the easier shapes to stencil (circle, triangle, square).
Once my eldest mastered using all of these shape stencils, she then started using them to make collage pictures, for example using the star shape to make a star fish and an oval shape with a triangle shape to make a fish or using the crescent shape and the star shape to make a night time sky picture. In the above picture she is using a permanent marker and then using water-based paints to colour them in.
Shape stencils used for scissor cutting practice.
Shapes stencils used for pin poking.
For a bit more of a challenge I put these Australian map stencils on my daughter’s shelves just recently. I have had them in our storage cupboard for some time now, waiting for the right time to put them out.
At my daughter’s Montessori school she is currently using the Metal Insets and just loves them.
