DIY Puzzle

The Do-It-Yourself Puzzle is another activity I learned by observing someone else.  Once I saw it, I knew I had to use it in my own practice!

The speech-language pathologist I observed printed a picture that related to season. Then she cut up the puzzle into six pieces and wrote a number on the back of each. Here is an example below:

  

After the student completed a task (said a target word five times, said a sentence, answered a question, followed a direction, etc.), he/she rolled a die. The student then earned the puzzle piece that corresponded to the number on the die. The goal is to complete the puzzle! If you are working with small groups, have a puzzle for each student. If possible, I recommend printing each puzzle on a different colored paper to avoid confusion.

If you don't have a printer in your building, have the students draw their own pictures and make their own puzzles!

Don't have a die? Don't put numbers on the pieces and have the student select randomly.

I work in an elementary school and even my older students liked this! They were excited to figure out what the puzzle picture was and made guesses with each piece they earned.

This activity also works well with students with behavioral needs, since they can visually see how many turns are left before the activity ends. You can also choose any picture you want to increase student motivation. For example, use a racetrack scene for a student who loves cars.

Have you used DIY Puzzles before? If not, I hope you'll give it a try and let me know how it goes!