Contributed by: Kristen Sharpless, Vision Rehab Master’s Student

O&M skill: Fine motor skills, tactile discrimination

Appropriate for ages: 3 and up

Materials needed:

•  Rubik’s Cube

Tactile markers:

• Buttons
• Velcro (both parts)
• Stick on gems
• Foam star sticker

Or anything that you’d like to put on!

Some suggestions:

• Use a sealant to prevent the items from falling off!
• If you want to use braille letters, make sure that they are letters that can be read at all angles (G, L, X, A, C, K)
• Use something stronger than the adhesive that the stickers and velcro already come with for more durability
• The tactile markers don’t have to match the colors if you don’t want them to!  I did it for aesthetic purposes and colorblindness
• You don’t have to leave one side smooth if you don’t want to!

Any way you decide to craft it, make sure that the markers you place on the sides can be easily discriminated from each other.  And consider placement! If they’re too similar, it might get confusing to remember which is which.  I tried to go for as different as possible.

The process to make it was relatively simple. As soon as I had the cube, I headed out to Michaels and looked for different tactile markers I could use. I wanted to keep the colors consistent because it was aesthetically pleasing and it could be used for somebody who is colorblind as well. The most difficult part I had with this was finding textures that were completely different from each other to avoid confusion or mistakes. I had to really think about what I put next to each other – that took the longest part of my trip to Michaels! The project took me about ten minutes to put together and I really love the way it came out.