Welcome Alex!
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Technology Thursday – My Play Home
Toy Tuesday
Memory Card Games
Memory card games can be used to work on several different areas, and for children that have a bit of a competitive streak, a fun way to engage them in a learning task! So many of the children I’ve worked with are often enticed to play as they are determined to get more matches than me, or Mum or Dad!
I use memory card games to develop language and to make an articulation activity a bit more exciting.
- Many memory card games come in different categories, which is great for working on vocabulary knowledge for areas such as animals/transport/fruit etc.
Children turn the card over and try to name the picture. To extend this I might ask if they can think of other things that could be within the category or group.
They could also use the word in a sentence.
- Articulation cards can be duplicated and used in a memory game, turn the card over and say the word or use it in a sentence.
The website www.busybeekidsprintables.com have free printable memory games in a range of categories.
Technology Thursday- Super Duper apps
Technology Thursday
Technology Thursday this week has been inspired by Super Duper Inc. apps!
These apps are just like the ‘fun decks’ that you will see in our office, they are a set of flash cards that teach different skills for example: problem solving, grammar, vocabulary and sequencing just to mention a few.
They are designed to use them as co-shared apps, meaning you and your child/ students work together when playing them.
They also give you the option to keep data on how your child/ student is going and select/deselect the cards you want to use that day.
Usually they retail for around $5-$7 and kids love them because you’re using the ‘Ipad’!
Happy learning 🙂
Toy Tuesday – Humpty Dumpty Wall
Toy Tuesday
The Humpty Dumpty Wall!: 5 tips and tricks for how to use this to motivate kids to do home practice!
A staple in my office for some of you an your children that have seen me for a long time and it’s safe to say kids NEVER get sick of this game! It is often brought out of the cupboard with lots of cheers and enthusiasm, the perfect way to start a session when you are about to work on something tricky!
The aim of the game is build the wall and knock out the bricks without knocking Humpty down! When playing with preschool aged kids (particularly boys!) they love just knocking Humpty off the wall, however the older kids (school aged and even some adolescents!!) put a lot of strategy work into the game making it pretty fun even for the parents to watch!!
This game is played in variety of ways….
1. As a motivator for working on sounds: say a sound or a word and you get to put some bricks on the wall, once built you play. It also helps to reinforce when kids get a sound or a word perfectly by giving extra bricks.
2. A team work game: play in pairs and take turns knocking out the bricks
3. Rapid Automatic Naming: pick a topic and name something that goes in that topic, each time putting a brick on the wall, see how quick you can get to the top.
4. Reinforcing social behaviour, for example when kids are ‘whole body listening’ they get to put a brick onto the wall and play when they have built it all.
5. As a reward! Kids may simply get this in my office for completing sheet work, a really tricky task or the whole session!
This game can be a little tricky to find, I usually see them at the ‘Toy Sale’ in June/ July at Big W and Target usually for around $25. My tip pop it in a box so you don’t lose the pieces if so it’s a pretty cheap investment, I’ve had mine for about 6 years 🙂
Happy playing
Technology Thursday – Chatterpix
Chatterpix
Can literacy be fun? Of course it can by using this amazing app!
Chatterpix is an app that I use very often for my clients that have literacy issues or are reluctant to tell stories. The idea of the app is that you take a picture, ‘draw’ (with your finger) a mouth on the picture and then record your ‘story’
Some ways we use this at our clinic are for kids to retell what they did during the day, retell a story book, explain to parents what we did in group that day. The greatest part of this app is the kids love it and you can export your picture and story and send them via email or text message!
A nice way to make literacy tasks fun, rather than just sitting down and reading and best of all it’s FREE!
Want more ways to make literacy fun for your child? Call us on 0435 151 959 to find out how we do it
Toy Tuesday – Pop up Pirate
Pop up Pirate
A game found in every Speech Pathologist’s activities cupboard!
Pop – Up Pirate is a favourite activity I pull down in most sessions as children just LOVE it. So much so, that I know many parents have since bought this fun game as their children keep asking to play it! (Big W sell it for $15)
I use Pop – Up Pirate in a variety of ways;
- As a warm up activity in social skills groups so everyone can share in the enjoyment (or is it fear??) when the Pirate Pops Up.
- To practice taking turns and to learn the names of people in a group. For example, you may ask a child to say the name of the child whose turn it is next.
- To provide opportunities for children to make requests ‘Can I have…’, ‘I want…’
- Another great activity to ‘spice’ up articulation practice, your child can put a sword into the barrel each time they say a sound or a word.
- For those doing smooth speech fluency therapy, it’s a good way to practice gently starting a sentence and lengthening vowels with the repetitive phrase ‘…can I have the blue sword’.
Social Detective App – Technology Thursday
Technology Thursday keeps with our theme of social skills this week
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/social-detective/id975189305?mt=8
This app is a great start to helping your child understand the concept of ‘Social Thinking’. It helps children and adults explore some of the key concepts we cover working on social skills in individual and group sessions.
My advice: these apps should be played together with your child to help them get the most out of understanding these concepts.
Call me on 0435 151 959 to find out more about how we use Social Thinking in sessions.
Toy Tuesday – Bubbles
Toy Tuesday – Shopping List Game
‘Toy Tuesday’
‘The Shopping list game’ by Orchard Toys
For those that have ever seen my toy cupboard it is FULL of Orchard products! I love the way their toys are made, they are sturdy, have great pictures and vocabulary selections and last for ages!
One of the first Orchard toys I ever bought was way back 11-12 years ago! ‘The Shopping list game’ can be adapted in so many ways:
1. Developing ‘I’ sentence structures: for example: ‘I got …..’, ‘I bought…….’
2. Developing prepositions such as ‘in’: for example: ‘The apples go in the trolley’
3. Syllable segmenting, for example: ‘apples’ has two syllables ‘a’ + ‘pples’
4. Asking questions such as: Do you like…..?
5. Turn taking and practicing waiting for your turn.
Happy playing Tara
Toy Tuesday – Mr Potato Head
‘Toy Tuesday’
‘Mr Potato Head’
Mr Potato head gets a real work out in my office! This game can be adapted to lots of different ages and kids love it!
Here are some of my favourite ideas:
1. Learning body parts, match the parts to your self and name them on Mr Potato head.
2. Practicing verbs: make the potato heads and then get them to do different actions, it’s great for kids developing action words and is a really fun and practical way to do this!
3. Sequencing skills: make the potatoes and then draw or use picture prompts to retell the order that you put the body parts on
4. Conversational play: practice getting the potatoes to talk to each other, you can practice greetings e.g. ‘Hi Potato, how are you?’ or asking questions: ‘Would you like to go for a walk?’ (Potatoes then walk together).
5. Emotions: most sets come with ‘happy’ and ‘angry’ eyes, you can also turn the mouths upside down to make them sad and give the potatoes tongues sticking out for silly faces!
6. Encouraging imagination and description: make ‘silly’ potatoes with things in the wrong places, kids love this!! They can then describe them to you.
Have another idea? I’d love to hear it, comment below.
Want more tips or to find out how we can help you?
