It is officially back to school time for our students this week! While we are excited to have our kids back in the classroom, we aren’t quite ready to let go of summertime fun just yet! We hope you enjoy the Wikki Stix created Popsicle Alphabet and Ants on a Picnic Blanket Learning Crafts below! They are a fun way to introduce (reintroduce) basic skills while incorporating fine motor activities at the beginning of a new school year!
Wikki Stix Popsicle Alphabet
In our classroom, we use everything (literally) for learning. In moving some of our supplies last year, I have misplaced our popsicle letter matching game. It is one of my “go to” activities at the beginning of the year as our kids love the “popsicle” theme to the letter game. We decided to make our own popsicle alphabet using Wikki Stix and craft sticks. It was a great craft to help strengthen finger muscles while creating a DIY popsicle letter matching game.
Materials needed: Assorted Wikki Stix and Craft Sticks.
Our kids took several strands of Wikki Stix and made a “rainbow” shape to resemble a popsicle. The kids then placed the craft sticks on the back of the Wikki Stix. The Wikki Stix will adhere to the craft stick so no glue is necessary. The children can make uppercase or lowercase letters to place on their popsicles as the letters are introduced in the classroom.
The Wikki Stix created popsicle alphabet set is durable and can be used over and over again for various center activities. A few suggestions:
1). Have the children match the uppercase letters to a popsicle with the corresponding lowercase letter.
2). Have the children spell sight words, word families/CVC words, or their names using the created Wikki Stix popsicles.
POPSICLE WORD FAMILY GAME – Popsicle Word Families Game
Print the file for each of the children. The children can write/copy/stamp the words that correspond to the word printed on each of the popsicles. Have the children cross out the word in the word boxes as they are used. Our kids created Wikki Stix popsicles for each of the word families (see photo above). The words in the boxes can also be cut out prior to the activity for younger children (the children can then glue the words to the appropriate popsicle on the page).
3). The children can take one popsicle letter and “HUNT the ROOM” for any items that correspond to the letter on their popsicle. The children could also hunt for items that correspond to the COLOR of their popsicle.
While we had the Wikki Stix out and creating, we used the black Wikki Stix for a basic roll, create, and cover math activity.
Ants on a Picnic Blanket – Ants on a Picnic Blanket
Materials needed: One printable file for each child (linked above), 2 dice for each child (or one for younger students), and black Wikki Stix.
Have the children roll two dice, count the dots, and create a black Wikki Stix dot or spiral to cover the corresponding number. If desired, the children can use markers to create ant legs or other features. The second page of the file is left blank for use with larger numbers as they are introduced to the children.
For more back to school activities using Wikki Stix, visit the Wikki Stix blog!