10 Rubber Stamping Ideas for Children

Written by Kate Pullen, About.com

Rubber stamping is a great way to introduce youngsters to a craft activity. Here are ten ideas to get children started with rubber stamping. As well as enjoying themselves, stamping also introduces some important skills.

Rubber Stamping Gift Paper

Rubber stamping gift paper is an ideal project for children. This not only introduces them to the process of rubber stamping, but it also allows them to create their own unique wrapping paper. Very little in the way of specialist supplies are required and a variety of papers can be stamped including craft paper, tissue paper or even postal paper.

Paper grocery bags can also be decorated with rubber stamps and turned into great gift bags.

Customize Books and Files

Youngsters can use stamped images to personalize files and exercise books. Plain covers can be brightened with a few well placed stamped images and special bookplate stamps are available for stamping on the front page of a book. These attractive stamps leave a space for the name of the book owner which is useful for school books.

Ensure that the youngster always checks before decorating the cover of books or files!

Thank You Cards

Making thank you cards using rubber stamps is the perfect way to encourage children to send their thank you messages for gifts received for birthdays, Christmas or other celebrations. The recipients will really appreciate the hand made card and writing a card reduces the need for the youngster to write a long thank you letter.

Most greeting cards can easily be adapted to make ‘thank you’ cards and children will enjoy planning the designs.

Make Covers For Books

Cover books with paper that has been decorated with rubber stamped images. This is a good way to personalize books while also protecting their covers.

Stamp paper in the same way that gift wrap is stamped, using different colored inks and a variety of stamps as required. Any paper is suitable including postal, craft or wall paper.

Rubber Stamped Tags

Stamped tags can be used as name or identity tags. Name tags are handy for hanging from sports bags or other equipment to help identify them. Finished tags could be laminated or covered in protective clear film to give them some added protection.

Stamped tags could also be used to identify keys or for other purposes around the house. These can be lovely decorated items and could double as charms used solely for decorative purposes.

Make Personalized Party Invites

Allowing children to make invitations (or acceptance cards) for their next party is a great activity. Children can be allowed to pick the theme, choose the stamp and the color ink as well as create the card. This is a fun activity that will help add to the spirit of the occasion.

Rubber Stamped Greetings Cards

If you are too busy getting ready for celebrations or holidays, why not let your little one make some greetings cards. They might not be quite to your high standard but who doesn’t love the wonderful innocence of children’s handmade items.

Decorate Walls With Stamps

Allow older children to decorate their walls using rubber stamps and paint. Special decorators stamps are available, however any large faced stamp with a clear, clean design would be suitable and foam stamps are ideal for this. This can be a good way to add some individuality to a room.

You can also use the new Decor Elements from Stampin’ Up!® to put up your kids’ names in their rooms or to personalize it other ways.

Make Stamped Decorations

Lovely holiday decorations can be made from stamping images onto card and cutting these out or using preformed blanks made from chipboard. All sorts of shapes can be cut from card and some glitter and paint can add some interest to the decoration.

This needn’t be restricted to just the holiday season, there are many other occasions such as birthdays and Halloween where a few decorations can add a bit of extra fun.

Make a Mobile Using Shrink Plastic

This is a good project for older children. Create a mobile from rubber stamped images on shrink plastic. Most shrink plastics can be placed on a tray and put into a hot oven to heat saving the need to use a heat gun. The heating process will need to be supervised, however this can be an exciting and interesting project.

Shrink plastic can be used for other projects such as fridge magnets and jewelry.

Benefits of Rubber Stamping For Children

  • Allows them to start exploring their creativity without requiring that they are artistic
  • The placing of stamps exercises their dexterity skills
  • Following a project helps children learn how to follow instructions
  • Stamping images on a page helps children learn left and right
  • Helps with problem solving, for instance how to stop smudging
  • Helps children understand how colors are formed
  • Coloring in of images helps children with concentration
  • The measuring of paper for a project, or counting rubber stamped images helps with numeracy
  • The formation of letter stamps into words, or the use of word stamps helps with literacy
  • Helps stimulate imagination
  • This a low cost activity that keeps them away from computer games, television, dvd….!!

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I thought these ideas were fantastic & I wanted to share them with you. I know I’m always looking for good ideas of things to do with my kids. And especially now that it’s summer time and the kids are home from school, I thought this would be a great thing to share.

Please share this article with anyone you think would like to read it: Moms, Dads, Grandmas, Grandpas, Friends, church children’s workers, anyone who takes care of kids. You can copy and paste this link to share it: http://www.crazystampgirl.com/?p=98

Happy family stamping!

P.S.  Are you a work-at-home mom or dad?  Do you need some ideas on how to entertain your kids now that they’re home for the summer?  Check out this book:  Mom Needs to Work by Liz Sanpietro and read some testimonials about it here: Stamping is my Business blog.

2 comments


  1. Thanks for sharing the article for kids and stamping I really have some ideas for the next kid playdate

    on July 16th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
  2. [...] at Crazy Stamp Girl, Jen has come up with a cool 10 rubber stamping ideas for children. We don’t actually have any stamps, but it’s definitely on my wish list to get a small [...]

    on July 19th, 2008 at 3:52 am

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