Wacky Links

Product Description

Cognitive 5

Skills

• Wacky Links promote the development of part-whole relationship comprehension as the players explore connecting and disconnecting individual tubes and “charms” to create a finished product.
• Wacky Links promote the development of creativity as the player utilizes the pieces to build as form of personal expression.
• Wacky Links promote the development of problem solving as how to build desired objects and shapes with varying colored pieces.

Play Ideas

• To foster the development of matching and sorting skills, players will practice sorting charms by shared characteristics such as color or number of prongs into predesignated containers marked by matching characteristics.  
• To develop and practice early math skills, create simple math problems using tubes and charms as physical manipulatives. For example, a facilitator will instruct player to build (addition problem) an object using 3 tubes and 2 charms and tallying the total number of Wacky Links, or to remove (subtraction) a certain number of tubes or charms from and pre-assembled creation and tally the remaining Wacky Links.
• To develop sequencing skills, provide player with pictures of completed Wacky Links creations from which player will select one to recreate. Instruct player to sequentially number on the pictured tubes and charms on as he / she builds it with the matching concrete representations. 

Adaptation Ideas

Prior to construction of items, facilitator will group the tubes and charms by shared characteristics, and will model physically attaching to and detaching the tubes from the charms.

Communicative 5

Skills

• Wacky Links promotes the development of non-verbal expressive language through the use of the tubes and charms to create objects as a form of self-expression.
• Wacky Links promotes the development of receptive language as players listen to facilitators or peers for construction instructions and in turn implement the instructions.
• Wacky Links promotes negotiation skills as players interact to trade pieces and completed projects with peers.

Play Ideas

• To promote player comprehension skills, create a scavenger hunt clues to find pieces that when all gathered, create a mystery structure.  
• To promote expressive language, instruct players to create sculptures or objects that relate to one another. The player will then use the related objects to present in a story or play format, such as a store for jewelry items.
• To promote receptive language, a facilitator will build a Wacky Links sculpture and hide from the player’s view. Using verbal directions only, the facilitator will direct player to recreate the sculpture utilizing identical tubes and charms. When the player completes his / her sculpture, the facilitator reveals the hidden sculpture to compare with player's. 

Social/Emotional 5

Skills

• Wacky Links promotes the development of a player’s patience and frustration tolerance as he / she experiments with physically manipulating the tubes and attaching various charms to create a desired object / sculpture.
• Wacky Links promotes social interaction as players exchange pieces and completed objects amongst themselves.
• Wacky Links promotes the development of cooperative play as players work from a shared group of Wacky Links pieces to create their own finished products.
• Wacky Links promotes self-esteem and confidence as over time, as players learn to create more complex objects, structures, and sculptures.

Play Ideas

• To promote social interaction, use the tubes to build a colorful tic-tac-toe board and charms as players’ X and O markers.
• To promote turn taking and good sportsmanship, a facilitator will construct a Wacky Links target ring and place it several feet in front of players. Players will each have two opportunities to blow charms towards the target ring. The person to get their charm the closest to the target ring wins!     
• To promote cooperative play, a facilitator will suggest building themes from which two or more players work to construct Wacky Links-based items that fit the theme and complement one another, such as a ball and hoop.