Shapes
Demonstrate basic shapes by forming Wikki Stix into squares, circles, rectangles and more.
Geography
Create geography maps by using Wikki Stix to outline countries, states, regions. Use them also to represent rivers, streams and lakes. Also ideal for latitude and longitude lines.
Teach tying shoe-laces with Wikki Stix, using a backward chaining lesson.
Math:
Use Wikki Stix to teach concepts of long and short, as well as math symbols. They can be used also for patterning and sequencing and demonstrating size order.
Reading:
For reading programs, use Wikki Stix to add tactile clues to story books: also to create a “picture” or “scene” to help convey the setting of a story.
Wikki Stix are easy to use in making flashcards for adults who have been print readers.
Teachers can use Wikki Stix to highlight an error on a page so a student can feel where the error is to make the necessary correction. Have the student replace the Wikki Stix, so the teacher can locate the correction. They can also be used to separate sections of an assignment or serve as a place marker.
Pre-Braille Readiness Activities
Artistic Activities
For O & M
Wikki Stix are ideal to demonstrate intersections, malls, city blocks, etc. Also, they can be pressed onto the wall to assist with trailing techniques. (Wikki Stix peel right off the wall with no damage to the surface.)
Suggested by Karin Hirschkatz, C.O.M.S., Dayton, OH: “I use Wikki Stix for making a model of the shape of a room/table/tree (too tall to feel, too tall to see) for my students.”
From Boguslaw Marek of Lublin, Poland: “In Orientation and Mobility, I have used Wikki Stix as a protective adaption to sharp corners on coffee tables, as well as on walls or railings for trailing techniques.”
General
From Kathe Selby of South Eastern Special Education, St. Marie, IL:
“One of my blind students uses Wikki Stix in art class with sighted peers. He ‘draws’ with Wikki Stix, then traces them to make his own pictures.”
“One deaf-blind preschool student built his own 3-D spider, and used it to act out the song ‘Eensy-weensy Spider.'”
“But my students favorite activity is when I hand them a package and say ‘Free time, make whatever you want!'”