SCHOOL GLUE

Just a dot! Not a lot!

Just think if you were a little kid and you had never held a bottle of glue before. Wouldn’t it be fun to squeeze it all out? Sometimes we forget that children need directions on how to use school materials. Tell children, “We just need to use a baby dot of glue. Not a mama dot or papa dot. Just a tiny, little baby dot.” (Be dramatic with this and say “baby dot” in a high little voice.) Demonstrate how to put a dot on a sheet of paper. “What does that look like? A little bug? A cookie crumb?”

*Put food coloring in a bottle of glue and use it at a center for children to practice making “baby dots.”

If you use glue sticks, you will also need to demonstrate how to use them. “If you barely touch the page you can’t see anything. That means nothing will stick to it. Press it gently down and then look to make sure you can see something. That means your paper will stick.”

School Glue
(Tune: “This Old Man”)
School glue, school glue,
Just a little dot will do.
Put a dot and spread it around.
It will hold your paper down.
School glue, school glue,
Don’t use more than a dab or two.
When it dries up, it will disappear.
Your work will look good never fear.


Lotty Dotty
Write letters, numbers, words, etc. by making dots with a water-based marker. Put a drop of glue on top of each dot. Dry. The marker will bleed into the glue to create a textured figure. Children can trace over the dots with their finger as they say the letter, number, or word.

Hint! Let children make rubbings of lotty dotty letters and words by placing a sheet of paper on top and rubbing with the side of a crayon. Can they connect the dots and write the letter or word?

Glue Ghosts
Someone taught me how to make these years ago and I wanted to pass on the idea to you.  (Save it for October.)  Children squirt glue in the shape of a ghost on wax paper. Add googly eyes and let dry overnight. When they are dry, peel off the wax paper, punch a hole, and tie on a string for a necklace. If you didn't want to make ghosts, they could do aliens or other creatures. My kids loved these!