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Sticker books are a tried and true favorite in our home. Once my kids got into them, there was no stopping us! We’ve tried so many.
While we play with them at home, we love them for traveling. They help pass the time in airports and make great travel toys.
They’re also one of our biggest parenting hacks for going out to eat with toddlers. Sticker books provide a hands-on activity to keep our kids engaged while we wait for our food.
But sticker books aren’t just for passing time. They have great developmental benefits for little ones and engage a multitude of skills! Let’s dig in.
Price: $16.98 Number of stickers: 500+ Age recommendation: 18-24 months+
Cupkin makes our favorite sticker book by far. It checks all the boxes and makes a great activity for toddlers.
The stickers and corresponding scenes are right beside each other. This means no flipping back and forth nonsense!
While the sticker sizes range, the majority of them are larger and a good size for toddler hands. Your child can start using this book around 18 months old and continue through preschool and beyond.
Each scene has a matching coloring page for additional creativity and fun. There are so many themes to fit every interest, too!
Pros:
Suitable for toddlers of all ages
No flipping back and forth between pages
Sticker page and coloring page for each scene
So many themes available to suit all interests!
Spiral bound pages for easy opening
Considerations:
One-time use
More expensive than other options
Other Sticker Books We Love
While Cupkin makes our overall favorite, there are so many other great sticker books available. Some are one-time use, others are reusable, and others involve prompts and/or seek-and-find components.
Below you’ll find ones we’ve tried and loved in every category.
Price: 3 for $17.99 Number of stickers: 125+ (~45 per scene) Age recommendation: 2.5 years+
This reusable sticker book set is great! It comes with three different fold-out scenes and themed puffy stickers for each vignette.
Since some of the stickers are quite tiny, supervise little ones younger than 3 years old. Lots of the stickers are a decent size, so even though this set is marketed for 4+, younger little ones can definitely manage it. My daughter started playing with these at 2 years old.
Pros:
Reusable for unlimited sticker fun
Puffy stickers are easier for toddlers to peel off and stick
Price: $10.94 (frequently goes on sale) Number of stickers: 300+ Age recommendation: 3 years+
This is a great sticker book for kids, but toddlers can easily work on it, too. My son loves to look for the animals on each page and put the matching sticker on top.
While the seek and find aspect engages visual skills, hand-eye coordination, and precision, it doesn’t need to be perfect. Each page doubles as a coloring page as well. Older toddlers can have so much fun with these!
Pros:
Color-coded and labeled sticker pages that can be perforated; no flipping back and forth between pages
Functions as a sticker book and coloring book combo
Seek and find elements for added challenge
Considerations:
One-time use
Sticker pages need to be perforated to be used with scenes
Price: $9.99-10.99 Number of stickers: 165+ Age recommendation: 3 years+
These color-by-sticker books are like paint by sticker using numbers. My kids love these! We travel with them and create new scenes on rainy or cold days.
While these books aren’t spiral bound, it’s easy to tear the matching scene and sticker pages out. This way your toddler can work with the stickers and activity page side by side.
Pros:
A good introduction to sticker by number
Large stickers for tiny toddler hands
Thick pages with perforated edges, can work with stickers and scene side by side
Facts or songs on each page to increase vocabulary and learning
Multiple themes to choose from
Considerations:
One-time use
All stickers are in the back of the book and need to be pulled out before working on the page they belong to
Price: $8.99 Number of stickers: 250+ Age recommendation: 3 years+
Perfect for introducing paint by sticker as they only require ~10 stickers to make the picture come alive. The stickers are a good size for toddler hands – none are super tiny.
Pros:
Affordable introduction to paint by sticker
Larger stickers for older toddlers
Multiple themes available
Considerations:
Guidance from a caregiver is likely needed to introduce the concept of paint by sticker
Price: $10.98 Number of stickers: 260+ Age recommendation: 3-4 years+
My son Paul enjoys these sticker by letter books. Since we’re currently doing preschool homeschool, these books are a great fine motor activity and they work on letter identification!
There are so many different themes available, we just bought our third book.
Pros:
Bright, colorful pages with spiral binding
Both the sticker page and the main page can be perforated and taken out to work side by side
Great for working on letter identification and fine motor skills at once
Considerations:
Some stickers are smaller and require more precise fine motor skills
Like all sticker by number and letter books, if you lose one sticker, it affects the entire design on the page
Price: $7.99 Number of stickers: varies by theme (180-300+) Age recommendation: 3 years+
Usborne makes quality products and these sticker activity books are no exception. The stickers are larger for toddler hands and easy to peel and stick.
Each page has a small snippet to read that corresponds with the theme of the book. It also contains prompts to ask your child as they find the stickers to match the page.
Pros:
Can be worked on independently, or with an adult if reading the page prompts
Good quality stickers
Affordably priced
Considerations:
Requires an adult to read the words on the pages and engage in the prompts to find stickers
While stickers are labeled with the page they belong to, still requires flipping back and forth between the stickers and the scenes
Price: $13.99 Number of stickers: 50 Age recommendation: 2 years+
This reusable sticker book has large stickers that can easily be manipulated. It has seven different scenes for your child to create on.
Highly-rated and reusable, this is a great option to pop in the diaper bag for any time you need to keep tiny hands busy.
Pros:
Reusable
Stickers can stick on any smooth surface
Larger sticker size that’s easy for toddlers to manipulate
Considerations:
Only comes with 50 stickers
More expensive than some other sticker book options
What sticker books are best for toddlers?
Always consider your child’s age and fine motor skills when choosing a sticker activity book.
For younger toddlers, look for larger stickers that are easier to peel and stick. Be mindful of puffy stickers that are too small as they could pose a choking risk.
Older toddlers can manage smaller sticker pieces and flipping back and forth between pages. They can start to work on seek-and-find sticker books, too. You’ll see their skills refine with practice!
Paint by sticker books and sticker by number and letter books involve matching, precision, and more advanced skills. They are best suited for 3-4 year olds and up!
Remember, you can modify sticker books to suit your child’s needs. Maybe you give them a plain piece of paper and they just work on placing the stickers there! Peeling and sticking engages and refines the pincer grasp.
You can also help your toddler learn by modeling how to use the books. Ask questions that lead them in the right direction, or point to different spots on the page.
What’s Next?
For 5-6 year olds who have learned the ins and outs of sticker books, we recommend these paint by sticker books. They’re a step up and require more advanced skills!
Price: $9.95-10.99 depending on theme Number of stickers: 400+ Age recommendation: 5-6 years+
If your child has graduated from the before-mentioned paint by sticker books, these are more advanced. They require placing 45+ stickers on a page and the stickers can get really small.
These activity books definitely require advanced fine motor precision, hand-eye coordination, and visual scanning.
Pros:
Pages can be ripped out from the back to work side-by-side with the selected picture
Great learning tool to work on number identification
Grows with your child into early elementary years
Considerations:
Most advanced of all sticker books in this post
Depending on your child’s age, dexterity, and attention span, this could become frustrating
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Most parenting resources come from a single expert's perspective, but development doesn't really work that way.
You can't fully understand feeding without input from both a dietitian and a feeding specialist. You can't properly address milestones without OT, PT, and SLP perspectives working together. That's why every Eat Play Say resource is created collaboratively by our entire team — giving you the most comprehensive guidance possible, all in one place.
MS, SLP
Founder of Eat Play Say, Speech-Language Pathologist, Feeding Specialist, Play Expert, Mom of 2
Jordyn Koveleski Gorman
SPECIALIZES IN: Infant and toddler speech-language, play, and feeding development, and curating a team that provides expert help that feels like a reassuring text from that one mom friend
EDUCATION: Jordyn received her BS in Speech-Language Pathology from Bloomsburg University and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Towson University
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: “The first true smile, it’s the sweetest!”
SPECIALIZES IN: Breast and bottle feeding, tongue ties, oral motor dysfunction, starting solids, infant and toddler speech, treating oral motor disorders
EDUCATION: Jessica received her BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Pennsylvania State University in 2015 and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Towson University in 2017
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: “Baby’s first wave! What a fun first communication gesture!”
SPECIALIZES IN: Breast and bottle feeding, tongue ties, starting solids, infant and toddler speech development
EDUCATION: She received her BS in Speech-Language Pathology from Ball State in 2014 and a MA in Speech-Language Pathology from Ball State in 2016.
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: “My favorite baby’s first is their first true smile that just warms your soul knowing they are smiling at you. My other favorite is their first word. I love watching their language explode!”
SPECIALIZES IN: Bilingual development (Spanish-English), supporting multilingual families, infant and toddler speech
EDUCATION: She received her BA in Communication Sciences and Disorders and in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014 and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology with an English-Spanish Specialization from Marquette University in 2016.
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: “It’s the first slobbery kisses for me!”
SPECIALIZES IN: Infant and pediatric nutrition including breastfeeding, formula feeding, and starting solids. She also specializes in prenatal and postpartum nutrition.
EDUCATION: She received her BSc in Biology in 2014 from Life University, and her BSc in Dietetics from Life University in 2019.
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: ”The first time they say ‘mama!’”
This checklist was created with input from a Speech-Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist and has been downloaded over 20,000 times by parents worldwide. Learn the important milestones to pay attention to, and keep it in your digital back pocket during the baby + toddler years!
Comprehensive Milestone Checklist for gross motor, fine motor, and speech-language milestones for 0-36 months,