Wikki Stix are an easy way to create tactile graphics, assist with O & M training, map concepts, music lessons, daily living skills and much more. Since they adhere to almost any smooth surface with just fingertip pressure, they are easy to use to provide a raised line effect.
Shapes: Demonstrate basic shapes by forming Wikki Stix into squares, circles, rectangles, etc.
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.
Take the Challenge Out of Shoe-Laces: 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: Make raised-line patterns on paper with Wikki Stix; have students find the beginning of the line at the left and follow to identify the end; find the next line down, etc. Label Talking Book tapes and music for children not yet reading. Make small circles out of Wikki stix and press onto the keys of a Braille writer or piano to help with finger placement.
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."
Artistic Fun: To help mainstream kids in art, outline designs with Wikki Stix so children can color inside the tactile lines. And from Nan Carson of Houston, TX: "My students make their own greeting cards by writing letters in print and Braille for the inside of the card. On the outside we use Wikki Stix to form a picture or design (Christmas tree, heart, etc.) and then they color inside the pattern."
General: From Kathe Selby of South Eastern Special Education, Ste. 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!'"
* Most of these ideas were submitted to us by teachers of the sight-impaired, who saw a blurb about Wikki Stix in "Dots", the newsletter of the American Foundation for the Blind. We would like to again extend our appreciation to each of these individuals for taking their time to share their ideas with us.