Facial Expression Magnets

One of the difficulties people with an ASD can face is recognizing facial expressions. It is therefore helpful to provide exposure to different facial expressions in a safe "practice" environment. Facial expression magnets can be a fun way to learn about facial expressions.

It's cheap and easy to make, too! I used a pizza pan from the dollar store as the surface to stick the magnets to. The pizza pan also makes a great surface to play with play dough on. I bought a self-stick magnet square from the dollar store, printed out some clip art of facial features that I found with google images, stuck the paper to the magnet square, and cut it out. That's all! 

You could use this tool in several ways. You could just let the child make faces with the magnets to become familiar with facial features. You could make an expression and have the child try to copy it using the magnets. You could arrange the pieces to show an emotion and then have the child name the emotion. You could name an emotion and have the child create a face that shows that emotion.