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Lots of people make their own resources for using PIXIE. These are a few ideas to get you thinking. We have some resources for sale, follow this link, this is some "free stuff ".
PIXIE is typically used on a table top. Most often it will run over a "microworld" made by sticking pictures, coloured spots or letters onto a large sheet of paper or cardboard. The microworld makes a background for the activities of the children. Thus, if the microworld is a map of some streets, the children could be asked to program PIXIE to behave as the school bus, going along the streets and pausing at the bus stops to collect children before finally ending up at school. The microworld gives the teacher a consistent environment in which to use PIXIE and ensures that the same program will give consistent results. Here is a selection of ideas using PIXIE on grids.
PIXIE is sometimes used on the floor to avoid problems with it being broken by dropping it off the edge of a table onto the floor. To avoid problems caused by carpets, dirt, and PIXIE being programmed to use the whole floor, we recommend that a PIXIE area is made and the children required to keep PIXIE inside it. This area can be a piece of painted hardboard from the local D.I.Y. shed (only a few pounds for 4 feet square), or a large sheet of cardboard.
For table-top PIXIE users, it can be worthwhile to have an edge round the table to make sure that PIXIE does not drive itself off the edge. One useful technique is to tape 4 metre rulers onto the table to form a fence to keep PIXIE in. If PIXIE is set to use 10 centimetre units this corresponds nicely to the markings on the rulers.
If you want instructions on making a PIXIE area, follow this link.
As well as running PIXIE on a custom surface, many users will dress it up to give it a character appropriate to the activity. PIXIE comes with a photocopiable sheet that can be cut out and stapled together to make a bus. This could be used with the school bus idea described above. We have many examples of PIXIE covers, together with ideas for using them in Volume 1 of PIXIE teachers notes. The picture shows a cover for making PIXIE into a frog. This is particularly effective when copied onto green or fluorescent green paper. It is typically used on a representation of a pond with PIXIE having to carry out activities appropriate to its cover.
The ultimate dressing up application is the PIXIE fashion show. There are downloadable resources there for you to use.
Some teachers will want the children to design their own covers for PIXIE. This can be as simple as making silhouettes to stick on either side of PIXIE or as complicated as you like. For those who want to make their own PIXIE covers, there is a blank PIXIE cover here.