Winter Play: Wikki Stix

This winter has seemed to last forever. For instance, as I write this, on the morning of March 6, I'm looking out the window at a few inches of snow. To contrast that, check out my post of March 5, 2012. Take special note of Sydney's bare feet, and the green grass behind her. On March 4, 2011, she's wearing capri leggings and sandals. Today, Syd's wearing clothes upon clothes and snow pants and mittens and a coat and a hat, as I boot her out the door to go appreciate what will SURELY be the last snow of this season.

Surely?

Anyway, one benefit of the winter, I suppose, is that the girls, who normally only play with toy ponies, play silks, and each other, have been rediscovering what a bounty of toys they do, in fact, own. In between pestering the cats, Syd has so far spent a solid week obsessed with this giant Wikki Stix set that her Grandma Beck gave her for Christmas in 2011 and that had remained entirely unopened until last Wednesday:

I was only thoughtful enough to photograph this first exploration, but since then, Syd has learned to create three-dimensional figures with the waxed yarn, and has incorporated them into her play dough and clay sculptures, and has made herself (and me!) several pieces of jewelry, and has added them to her toy ponies as bridles, reigns, unicorn horns, etc. We've also had LOTS of conversations about (her lack of) keeping the darned things contained, as they're slightly sticky, which makes them easy to work with, but also makes them stick to the floor, the carpet, and the bottoms of my feet, and they're easy to cut with scissors, which makes them even more versatile, but also makes them the kind of odd shape that gets stickily stuck inside the vacuum cleaner. I've also come across them abandoned just everywhere, from the bathroom counter to the stereo cabinet.

But keep her happy and busy and engaged, they do! And sneakily, now that I know what Wikki Stix do, I plan to incorporate them into our future lesson plans, as well as introduce some other cool ideas:

• practicing cursive letter formation
• tracing geometric figures
• creating window art
• copying coloring pages set under waxed paper or plastic wrap
• writing the signage for our Science Fair display boards

And then, since the rate of Wikki Stix attrition is high (when I find a Wikki Stix in the bathroom, or sticking to the bottom of my sock, I do NOT return it to its owner), I think I'm going to figure out how to make my own.