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This month in Workbasket Wednesday I thought I would share a quick and easy work box.  You can implement it tomorrow with stuff already in your room.  Have you used puzzles in your work systems before?  I wanted to share some ways that puzzles can be used effectively as a work box.

Puzzle as a Put-In Work Box

Puzzles can make really simple put in tasks.  Put-in tasks are the simplest tasks for beginning learners. You can limit the number of items they have to put in for beginning learners.  So for instance, the puzzle below can be used for a student who just needs to put in.  Put in 3 of the pieces and put it in their system.  Then they put in the last piece in the only slot left.  Make sure you fasten the pieces into the puzzle.  That way the student won’t take the existing pieces out of the puzzle.

Increasing Difficulty

Puzzles come in all shapes and sizes, of course, so you can easily choose ones with more complex patterns.

• You can choose inset puzzles for earlier learners and free form puzzles for more advanced.
• You can also use frame puzzles but outline the pieces, like in the picture below.
• Or you can put more than 1 puzzle in a basket so the students have to sort the pieces to each one. Just remember if you do that to only include the pieces the student has to use.  That way there is a clear cue about when the work is finished.

Assure the Puzzle Stays Together

Ah, Velcro…how I love you!  You always want to make sure that the work task stays together when the student finishes.  This keeps him from completing the task, putting it in the finished basket and having it fall apart.  For most of our students they will then take it out and fix it.  And it becomes an endless cycle.  Add Velcro to the puzzle and it stays together in the finished basket.

So you can use almost any type of puzzle, so long as the student can complete it independently.  And they are quick and easy to use in your systems.  So if your student can complete a puzzle (or part of a puzzle) independently, you can put a puzzle in his work boxes tomorrow.

Link Up for Workbasket Wednesday

Have some workbasket tasks you want to share (they don’t have to be assembly tasks)?  Link up below or share them on social media with #workbasketwednesday and copy me (@reeveautism on Twitter and @autismclassroomnews on Instagram).

Looking for more ideas on work systems and how they can be used?  Check out the links below for more posts.  And, I wrote about a book about them!  Click on the book to the left for an Amazon Affiliate link (see my disclosure policy for more information about affiliate links).

[inlinkz_linkup id=661691 mode=1]

Until next time,