Using Play Based Task Boxes in Special Education, PreK and Kindergarten

Young children develop best through play! Play isn't just something they do for fun; it's how they learn about the world around them. It's hands-on, engaging, and helps them develop skills in all of the developmental domains.

But you know what else is important in classrooms? Organization and structure!

Taxes boxes helps us provide play based activities that are both organized and structured. This not only helps students to be successful, but also helps us too!

Task boxes are easy to prep, easy to store and make setting up play based centers or bin systems in your preschool, kindergarten or special education SO EASY! Just pull out the box you want to use and you’re ready to go.

Here are some of my (and my students) favorite hands on, play based task boxes!

1. Build a Potato Task Cards

These Build a Mr Potato Head printable task cards include 38 different task cards for building and sequencing the popular Mr. Potato Head or Mrs. Potato Head toy.

They are great for task boxes or activity centers, to teach students about ordering, following directions, and body parts.

They are such a fun task box activity to use throughout the school year or to maintain previously learned skills in your ESY activities in the summer!

2. Block Patterning Task Cards

This play based task box printable includes 20 unique task cards that model how to build AB Patterns using Mega Blocks, Duplo, Snap Cubes, Lego, or any other type of connecting block.

These block patterning task cards are great for preschool morning tubs, special education bin systems, play based kindergarten math centers, montessori shelf activities, ECSE task boxes, and more!

3. Snap Cube Number Building Task Cards

These number building snap cube task cards are perfect for play based math centers, hands on math activities, morning tubs, or early finisher activities in preschool, prek, kindergarten, special education and autism classrooms.

The printable includes a task box label, snap cube number building task cards from 0-20, and step-by-step visual instructions for students written with first, next, then language paired with Boardmaker visuals.

I love that this task box activity only requires snap cubes, which are easy to find as most schools already have them.

4. Dot the Alphabet Task Box

Using these A-Z alphabet task cards, students can practice letter formation, letter recognition, and their fine motor skills. They can be used as mini playdough mats, with do-a-dot markers, mini stamps, bingo chips, and with many other tools and manipulatives.

This printable includes:
✪ 26 task cards scaled to fit 4x6 in. task boxes
✪ task box labels
✪ visual instruction cards for five different activities that can be done (first, next, then)

5. Number Road Tracing Task Box (Adapted Book Style)

These car themed number tracing task cards help students learn proper number formation from 0 up to 10.

Do your students lose track of which task card they've completed? Do they do better with structure? This is why I decided to create adapted book style task cards! These adapted book task boxes make understanding what to do very clear to students. They open the book and see visual instructions broken down into 4 easy to understand steps (with first, then, next, then language). They then flip through the book until they reach the final page, which tells them they are finished!

A parking lot folds out, and students can place their cards on the corresponding numbered parking spot, if they wish to.

These task cards work well with mini cars, which you can purchase at Dollar Tree for $1.25, and most toy stores.

You can also choose to use the task cards without creating an adapted book, if you prefer.

6. Name Beading Task Box

Want to try out my play based task boxes?
Check out this free name beading task box!

Not only does this task box help students learn to spell their name, but beading is a also a fantastic activity for developing fine motor skills!

Beading promotes the use of a pincer grasp, improves finger dexterity, and enhances hand-eye coordination. Beading is a fun and engaging play based activity that helps to develop the fine motor skills students will need as they begin to print, color, cut and more!

The printable includes a task box label scaled to fit 4x6 inch boxes, visual instructions written in first, next, then format and blank name cards for you to write your student's names onto.

Want to grab a bundle of my 10 best selling play based task boxes at a heavily discounted price?

Check out my Play Based Task Box Bundle by clicking here!