Bizzare Builder Monster Parts

A monster-building kit with a pattern sheet.

A construction-type set for making monsters. Pieces are colorful and made of a hard rubbery plastic, with a little bit of flexibility to the small pieces. There are instructions for six different monster animals on a small sheet. Pieces per monster range from three to 12.

Pieces either push into holes on the body or you put a small peg (gray pieces in image above) between the hole in the body and piece with a hole. This set comes in six different themes: dinosaurs, robots, insects, wacky creatures, plants and monster parts (this one). I have read that the pieces are interchangeable between sets.

Try this:

• Practice naming body parts as the individual works by cueing "Let's add the legs next. Now add the arms (antenna, wings, tail, etc)."
• Cue the individual by part color if he has trouble following the guide.
• Jumble the pieces, as in the image above, and ask the individual to look through them to find what he needs. 
• Sort out only the pieces that the individual will need for his model. Hand them to him one at a time and let him look at the guide to see where to add them.
• Hand the individual the pieces in the wrong orientation so that he will have to turn them, in-hand, to place correctly.
• Ask the individual to hold the body in one hand while adding the pieces with the other, instead of leaving it sitting on the tabletop.
• Let the individual make up his own monster and then describe it to you by body parts and/or color.  
• Work on visual discrimination, visual closure, visual form constancy, manual dexterity, coordinated use of both hands, fine motor control, in-hand manipulation, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation