I’ve seen craft sticks with velcro dots on them all over Instagram, and I knew both girls would love it.  I first put this out just as a manipulative activity — a basket full of craft sticks with velcro dots on the ends.  The girls could build with them in whatever way they pleased.  Then we got a lot of different kinds of building materials for Christmas, so I knew it was time to redesign this work.

I decided to use the craft sticks as a shape building work for L.  This is far more difficult than the free-building activity, so I knew I needed to make templates for her to follow.  I put together a triangle, square, and rectangle, and traced the shapes onto pieces of construction paper.  I colored the sides the same colors as the craft sticks and laminated them.  To begin, I put out the triangle template on a tray with just the three colored craft sticks that matched the colors on the triangle.

I showed L how to put the craft sticks together into the shape of a triangle by laying them onto the template.

Getting the craft sticks to fit together in the perfect shape of the triangle is a bit challenging for her, but she is now able to do it completely by herself.  Must be time to bring out the other templates!