Today’s task boxes allow students to practice math facts using plastic eggs. One of the great things about plastic eggs is that students get to practice everyday tasks with hands-on activities. It avoids worksheets and flashcards. So students are more likely to want to engage with them. And they are a great way to bring seasonal tasks in to practice tasks that students may need to practice for longer times, like math facts.
Independent Work Inspiration: Material List
- 12 Plastic Eggs
- 1 Egg Carton
- (possibly super sticky notes to change letters around)
Math Facts Task Boxes: Who Are They For?
I like these task boxes for younger students because they typically play with the plastic eggs. While you could use them with older students, you would need to consider if they were age respectful for those students. There are lots of ways you can mix them up. And students put the completed eggs into the egg carton and it closes at the end. So it meets the characteristics of a good work task that stays completed when put in the finished basket.
Math Task Boxes with Eggs Video Tutorial
Tips for Math Fact Task Boxes With Plastic Eggs
You can set this task box up for addition, subtraction, multiplication or even division. Just make sure that your answers in the egg carton don’t overlap with more than 1 egg, as that would be confusing.
To make the task more complex, and keep students from memorizing answers, you can change up the answers. In the picture below, you’ll see the carton with the yellow letters. Those are super sticky notes cut into little squares. They will stick for one or two rounds with the task. They make it possible to easily change the answers over time.
Depending on how many math problems your students can complete within the time, or how many they can handle without getting frustrated, you can choose how many eggs to give them. You can just give them the number of eggs to complete. If you have less than the places in the carton, then only put answers on that many slots in the carton. Otherwise the student will think he is missing something.
An alternative is to cut the egg carton in half and only have them match 6 eggs. Want a harder task? Use a 24-egg carton. Or use 2 egg cartons.
You could also boost the complexity of the task boxes by having the student put items inside the egg that matches the answer to the problem. So in the picture above, the student would put 9 items in the egg that says 7+2 and 5 items in the one that says 2+3.
Need more ideas for task boxes? Check out the resources below.
More Workbasket Wednesday Resources
Looking for more ideas on special education work boxes or work systems and how they can be used? Check out the links in Resources below for more posts. And, I wrote about a book about them!
Buy From Amazon (including Kindle) (see my disclosure policy for more information about affiliate links).
GET ALL THE VISUALS AND ORGANIZATIONAL TOOLS YOU NEED to start independent work in your classroom.
These kits include an e-book with directions on setting up independent work systems and using the materials included, data sheets for tracking progress, visuals for the special education work boxes and schedules, what’s next visuals, and mastery sheets to keep track of which students have mastered which task.
![Independent Work-3 Ways It can Become Your Best Classroom Management Tool [A sorting task in a shoebox to sort nouns from verbs on popsicle sticks into plastic cups]](https://autismclassroomresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BLOG-22208-3-Ways-Task-Boxes-and-IW-Help-Classroom-Management-2-768x644.jpg)
