How Wee Learn

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The Fine Motor Apple Tree Game!

by 140 Comments

I am excited to partner with Wikki Stix today to bring you this post and G I V E A W A Y ! (More information on that at the bottom of this post!)

You may remember awhile ago I shared with you a quiet bin idea involving pipecleaners and buttons and making little 3D trees. You bend the pipecleaners into trees and little ones thread “leaves” (buttons) on again and again.

Amazing Quiet bins for preschoolers!

It is a brilliant idea (tooting my own horn, I know, but they happen periodically to us all!) and I know you love it because I get this one email every single week …

“Love the button tree idea, but how do you get the tree stuck down??”

Ahhh … the one flaw to my brilliant idea … being brought to my attention again and again … until …

Tra-la-la-la (in my head that is a trumpet …)

Exchanging those pipecleaners for WIKKI STIX! All of a sudden those adorable 3D trees can be pressed onto the floor, the table, anywhere for some mess free, clean, and reusable fun.

Norah and I turned our little trees into a fine motor apple tree game. I thought I would share it with you today, as well as share with you an awesome giveaway Wikki Stix is offering one of you!

This activity can begin with a great STEM challenge for older children. Challenge your child to build a 3D tree that can stand up! See if they can find a way all on his or her own. Since Norah is 2, I did this part for her. To make this 3D tree I simply got a few Wikki Stix bundled together, gave the middle a twist, stuck the bottom stix to the table, and pulled out the top stix like branches of a tree.

I wanted to add in some counting and one-to-one correspondence for Norah, but since we are still working on numbers 1-3, I made my own dice using wooden blocks we got from the dollar store. Of course, you could just use regular dice as well.

Norah rolled one die and counted the dots. She gathered that many green beads (for the leaves). Next, she rolled the red die and counted the dots, gathering that many red beads (for the apples).

Finally, she popped those apples and leaves onto a branch, counting and adding as we worked (fiercely) on those fine motor skills. This little peanut of mine really is fierce! She is as determined as they come. At first I wondered if this activity would be too tricky for her, as it took a bit of concentration to get those beads onto the branches that would bend and squash a little. But she certainly persevered.

If she had found this activity too tricky, my second plan was to chop up some red and green Wikki Stix and make them into little circles to place on the branches. You might wish to try this if your little one finds the beads too much of a challenge.

Norah loved this activity and ended up creating a whole forest of apple trees. At one point she abruptly left our activity time returning with her little owl and gnomes. She quickly jumped into an imaginary world all her own. Don’t you just love when that happens?

One of the very best things about Wikki Stix is how they span all ages. I love playing with these stix! Wikki Stix has now even created Fidget Stix, perfect for keeping little hands busy and minds engaged while reading or concentrating. 

My big kids were thrilled to try out the new STEM pack which differs from regular Wikki Stix with their incredibly long length. There are so many options for these long stix, my mind was swimming! I was eagerly thinking about all sorts of projects when my boys took the lead and created an elaborate maze. They just love making mazes right now. I love that we can use these stix again and again for different purposes as our interests and projects change.

Have you tried Wikki Stix yet? If not, you are in luck! Leave a comment below to be entered to win this Wikki Stix Learning Bundle!

You will receive the STEM pack, a pack of brown and red Wikki Stix, and the brand new Fidget Stix if you are the lucky winner.

This G I V E A W A Y is open to those who live in Canada or the United States. Winner selected Sunday August 15th. Good luck! 

Good luck to you! I hope you win 🙂 Thank you so much for reading,

xo

Sarah

Contest Closed! Congratulations to Pali!

 

Love this idea? My store has even more amazing resources! Visit the store at shop.howweelearn.com

Comments

  3. Wow these look amazing! I love products that have more than one use so they don’t just add to the clutter they add to engaging the brain in so many ways!

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    • WooHoo! So happy to be the one to introduce you to these cool things! Thank you for entering the giveaway – good luck Victoria!

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  6. I love wiki sticks! I used them in my classrooms, and with my own kids. I know my granddaughter will enjoy playing with them too!

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    • Can’t wait to try the apple tree idea in my preschool class.I have beads left from Xmas crafts we can use
      We go on a field trip to the orchard in September to pick apples, this will fit right in with our theme. Thank you so much for the idea !!

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      • That is so wonderful JoAnn! Love the idea of tying this activity to a trip to the apple orchard – brilliant! Good luck!

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  9. We loved the button tree already, and the DIY dice is a great addition! Thanks! Looking forward to trying the new wiki stix

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  12. As a school based OT I have used Wikki Stix for years. I love using them with all ages. They can be used to create art, outline pictures for coloring, lines for writing, wrapped around a pencil or crayon and so much more.

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    • Those are so cool! I’ve never heard of wikki stick before. My grandbabies would love this. I will definitely be looking for these. Thank you.

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  13. What a great idea with the beads as apples. Already thinking of other ideas with the Wiki Stix in my classroom.

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  14. These are great ideas. My daughter received a small package of Wikki Stix once, and I couldn’t think of much to do with them other than fidget. This post inspired me to look for the package (if they aren’t all lost!) to see if we can have more fun with them.

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  15. I have had Wikki Stix on my wishlist for years and have yet to try them bc I wasn’t sure how well they worked. Now I’m dying to try them.
    Thank you for helping me find another quality resources to use with my littles.

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    • You will definitely love them Kinsley!! Highly recommend (obviously!) Thank you for entering this giveaway – good luck!

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  16. We are homeschooling our way through the pandemic! We’ve used little wikki stix to help my 6 year old, who happens to have Down syndrome, with writing! One stick at the top of her writing area (on paper or on a white board) and one at the bottom helps her know where to start her letters and *bump* where to stop at the bottom. My mind is reeling with all the possibilities with LONG wikki stix! Please enter me in the give away! These would be a great addition of fun to our learning! Thanks for the opportunity!

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    • Oh goodness – I could write a book on this topic! Ha! Glad to give a little inspiration, thank you for entering! xo

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  18. As a minimalist, I appreciate how versatile Wikki Stix can be. Neat that they have created a STEM pack for even more uses.

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  20. My grandson would love these wiki sticks! I used them in my kindergarten classroom, and they were always a hit. Now that I’m retired, I need to introduce some of these fun learning materials to my little grandson.

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  22. Oh my goodness! I haven’t used Wikki Stix since I homeschooled my four children 30 years ago. Now I am back in the preschool classroom again (with my granddaughter) and would LOVE to use them. Thanks for reminding me how awesome they are!

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    • Wow! I feel like this is ME writing to me in the future, Sarah! LOL! Thank you for entering, and good luck from current-day-homeschooling-4 Sarah 🙂

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  25. I love both the long wiki stix and the regular. I have a niece who has two littles, age 2 and 4 and both big kids, age 6 and 8. I want to give them these for Christmas. I can imagine the fun they would have.

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  26. This is genius! Thanks for the opportunity to win. I just added them to my Amazon wishlist too. I have one specifically for homeschool supplies that keeps growing. 😉

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  28. My older Grands loved these! Now that I am starting a brand new PreK class, these would be a perfect addition!

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  29. Wikki Stix are fabulous for highlighting letters, sounds, words or whatever skill you are focusing in on when using an easel for demonstrations. You have one student after another encircle the target with the Wikki Stix. This is a very colorful and self adhesive way to stress phonemic awareness skills and/or sight word vocabulary development.

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  30. Wikki Stiks are very popular around my house. They truly are a great open ended activity. Fresh ones would be very welcome.

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  31. Love Wiki Stix, and love this idea! I have tried this idea with pipe cleaners, and our trees just ended up laying on their sides! 🤣 Can’t wait to try with Wiki Stix!

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  32. My kids would love this! We’ve done the tree idea and play dough didn’t quite keep it up, haha. This would work much better!

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    • Awesome Kiki! I remember we once hot glued the pipecleaner trees to our craft table – that worked! Ha! Thank you for entering – good luck!

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    • Yes! I was so excited about these new longer stix, too. It really extends the options! Thank you for entering this giveaway Kimberly, good luck!

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  44. Loved the apple tree, the Wiki Stix makes it appear so real, especially the bottom with the roots spread out 🙂 Thank for sharing this idea, perfect start to the KAH program for sure! And, thank you for the opportunity to enter the giveaway 🙂

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    • Aww, you are very gracious Chelsea! Thank you. I am so happy my ideas resonate with you. Thank you for entering this giveaway – good luck!

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  48. Wikki stix look like an amazing tool for little fingers! I’ll have to look into it more. I have an almost-five-year-old and an almost-three-year-old who love to create and explore. ❤️

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  49. I can’t wait to try this with my twin 5 year-olds. Looks like a great sensory activity too! I’ve never used Wikki or Fidget sticks before but can’t wait to try!

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    • Awesome Maureen – they definitely make for a great sensory activity, and they are clean too! Thank you for entering, good luck!

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  50. We love wikki stix. We first discovered then at a restaurant that have us a small pack with a kid meal. They are awesome. We would love this so much and I just put the long ones, the STEM set on our wishlist.

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    • I was making a list of craft & hands on supplies we need for Kindergarten At Home and I remembered wikki stix. These look like fun with so many uses!

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      • Aww – love this! Yes, these are so great for strengthening those little hands. A perfect tool to add to your Kindergarten toolkit!

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  52. What an amazing giveaway! I can think of a million ways we could use these for homeschooling. Good luck to everyone!

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  54. Cute idea! I teach 4 year olds, and they would love this idea! I need to invest in some wiki stix. Thanks for sharing!

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    • They are certainly ideal for the 4 year old crowd, Wendi! Thank you for entering this giveaway – good luck!

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  56. Hi, thanks for sharing this idea! I have been looking for ideas on finding more fun fine motor activities that will keep my little ones engaged longer.

    Good luck to everyone!

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  61. These look like so much fun. My kids loved the pipe cleaner tree—we just used duct tape ;). Thank you for the giveaway and for sharing your expertise and creativity!

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    • Thank you Theresa! They are pretty cute – you could even decorate them for Halloween! Thank you for entering this giveaway, good luck!

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  64. Oh my goodness! I had forgotten all about these. I used to love manipulating them when I was a child. Thanks for the reminder! We’ve been looking for more things like this as my child likes to build but is getting bored with blocks.

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  69. I would love to try these with my 2-3 year old class! But even better, I think I just figured out what to get my grandchildren -who are moving across the world – for Christmas. I can’t get them anything big because they can’t take it – I plan to gift them some sort of “experience” or outing, but at their age something to open and play with is what they want! These would be perfect – small, and something they can enjoy on that very long flight! Omie win!

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  70. Fabulous ideas for using the Wikki Stix! Since I don’t have a mailing address, if I win could you please donate the prize to your closest Women’s Shelter?
    Thank you for all your hard work and excellent teaching ideas.

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  71. I love how easy this fine motor skill/counting game is to set up! Thanks for another great idea 🙂 hope we get add these fun stix to our homeschool bins!

    Reply

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