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Top 10 Speech and Language Toys for Little Ones

November 02, 2018

With all the new fangled gadgets and gizmos, iPhones and iPads and Legos galore, we thought we’d go back to the basics and share with you some of our favorite toys for little ones. The list is endless but we narrowed ours down to a few things that not only we love, but that kiddos love as well. You can facilitate some great communication interactions and also work on some other important skills and your child won’t even realize that they are “working” on their development. Here are a few of our favs and why we love them:

Bubbles

Bubbles are hands down always a favorite of little ones. What’s not to love? We like to use the old school design of simply bubbles and a bubble wand. This way your child keeps coming back to you to interact, has to take turns and is likely to ask for help, a very important social communicative intention. You can also work on fun comments like ready, set, blow; pop; big; little; wow; up; down and more. Also, we recommend a “no spill” bubble tumbler, which is one of the best kid inventions of all time: http://www.amazon.com/Little-Kids-Inc-093539001594-Original/dp/B00000K163/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1365775992&sr=1-3&keywords=little+kids+bubble+tumbler

Mr. Potato Head

Another big time favorite of kids. We love Mr. Potato Head for many reasons but especially since he helps our kids work on learning body parts in a fun naturalistic way. Check out our blog on teaching body parts: https://www.kidspeakdallas.com/kidspeakblog/teaching-body-parts Mr. Potato also encourages finger and hand strengthening as well as simple pretend play skills. Mr. Potato Head can pretend to dance, run, whatever his heart desires. They also now make many different versions of Potato Head like a pirate, princess, Santa and even Darth Vader. Too much fun.

Books

Now this is a given. Start to read to your child as soon as they are born and don’t stop. Books are full of language and can be a calming joint attention activity between you and your child. Point to the pictures as you talk. Describe the pictures. You don’t always have to read the book word for word. Break it down to your child’s level of understanding and expression. They will naturally learn vocabulary, grammar, rhyming and so much more. You can also base a weekly learning theme around a book which will provide your child even more learning opportunities to develop the language.
Check out our blog “The Power of Books”https://www.kidspeakdallas.com/kidspeakblog/the-power-of-books for more tips on how to pick out appropriate books for your child, how to make it a learning experience and a list of a few of our favorite children’s authors.

Balls

Many of us, like our children, are visual learners, auditory learners or a combination of the two. Sometimes we forget about kinesthetic learning. Little ones LOVE to play on big bouncy balls. Help them bounce on their bottoms, roll on their tummies and even roll it back and forth to mom, dad, brother or sister. You will be surprised at how much language will come out of your child once they are moving.

Blocks

Who doesn’t love building towers and then crashing them down? We love these big chunky light weight blocks for little hands http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Cardboard-Blocks/dp/B000A12YBW. They help promote constructive play skills as well as problem solving, joint attention and communication. Make up a “build a tower” song and then knock it down together. Your child will think it’s the greatest thing on Earth!

Play-Doh

Play-Doh gives your child endless possibilities. First of all, it will provide them with nice sensory input as well as encourage fine motor skills and strengthening. Second, you can work on many different social communicative intentions like asking for help, protesting, commenting, securing attention, directing attention, requesting and engaging in conversations. We like to start out teaching our children to simply manipulate the dough with their hands by squishing, rolling and pushing. Then we like to add in Play-Doh tools like rolling pins and dough scissors. Kids love to use different cookie cutters like letters, numbers, vehicles and animals. Once they have the constructive part of the play down, then you can add in simple symbolic play by having their shapes perform actions and making pretend cookies or pizza. If you are hesitant about Play-Doh due to the messiness factor, try playing outside or have your child wear a smock and put a table cloth on your table and a sheet on the floor for easy clean up. Encourage your child to help with the clean up!

Fishing game

A simple fishing game is such a fun way to introduce early game play. We start out helping little ones by putting the fish on the floor and using one fishing pole while taking turns. This structure and sitting in little chairs seems to help too. Kids’ language seems to explode because they love this activity so much. You can work on turn-taking language, calling each others’ names (securing attention), using “look” (directing attention) and the kids love to comment about all the different kinds of fish (color, shape, size, type). The fishing game can be a physically tricky activity so your little one will likely need some help. Give them the hand over hand help that they need and then fade away the assistance as appropriate. We got our fishing game at Lake Shore Learning: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C895%2C379&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1365777827885 .

Also check out our blogs Games Galore for some more Game Ideas https://www.kidspeakdallas.com/kidspeakblog/games-galore and Strategies for Learning Turn Taking to help while playing games https://www.kidspeakdallas.com/kidspeakblog/strategies-for-learning-turn-taking

Music

Like books, music is full of language. Kids LOVE music. CDs, iTunes, Kidzbop are all great but YOU are even better. Having fun music time with your child is one of the best learning opportunities you can provide. Slowly sing songs to and with your child and encourage as much interaction as possible. Use simple props like little toys or stuffed animals when you can. We love visual “song boards” and the kids seem to learn the vocabulary even faster when the visuals are added to the songs. You can purchase your own song boards at our online store: https://www.kidspeakdallas.com/store/song-board Check out our blog “If Only Life Was a Musical” for even more ideas on how to incorporate language learning and communication through music: https://www.kidspeakdallas.com/kidspeakblog/if-only-life-were-a-musical

Water Colors

Your child will love this change from crayons and markers. You can work on so much language with water colors: turn-taking language, more, look, calling your name, commenting and conversations. Sometimes water colors can be physically challenging, so give your child hand over hand assistance as needed and then fade away the help. Also the sequencing of the steps can be tricky. Make up a fun song about the steps “water, paint, paper” and sing as you paint.

Farm

Most kiddos love animals. A toy farm is a great way to introduce early symbolic play skills as well as communication. They will have so much fun learning the farm vocabulary (animal names, eat, drink, sleep, play, run, hungry, thirsty, up, down, etc.) and having the animals pretend.

You may also find our 10 Tips to Promote Language Through Play Blog to be helpful https://www.kidspeakdallas.com/kidspeakblog/10-things-to-do-during-play-to-promote-language-skills

If you are uncertain if your child is ready for any of the above activities, we suggest trying them out with your child to see how they do. Is the activity safe? Is your child attending and engaged? Does your child need some assistance? You know your child the best so just try and see how it goes. We hope you have fun helping your child learn with our top 10 speech and language toys!

~KidSpeak, LLC

The Power of Books

October 26, 2018

Reading books with your child starting at an early age is by far one of the most incredible gifts you can give. Why? Not only do books promote pre-literacy skills but they are also one of the BEST speech and language activities you can do with your child! How is this? Books are filled with both LANGUAGE and VISUALS and they address TONS of social skills as well. When you read a book with your child, you are working on: language comprehension, joint attention, eye gaze for social referencing, securing attention, social commenting, conversation and more! The fact that children’s books have illustrations helps up capitalize on providing visual supports paired with verbal language…..which is not only extremely beneficial for children with autism spectrum disorders/language disorders/learning difficulties, but for all children.

So how do we pick the best language learning books for our for our little ones? Here are some things to look for when browsing at the bookstore:

Clear and Simple

Nice clear and simple illustrations, nothing too busy or abstract. Not too many pictures on one page.

Variety

Give your child a variety of different books by different authors and illustrators. We have had quite a few children come to KidSpeak and they are only interested in one particular book. It is important to expose our children to many different books that touch on different language and social skills

Steer Clear

Stay away from too many books that have buttons and make noise. These can be great for your child’s break time but sometimes the sounds can be distracting and can divert their attention from you; therefore, the social interaction is limited or even nonexistent.
Stay away from too many “first word” books or picture labeling books. Again, these can serve a purpose for your child’s development but books with a story or books that address some sort of theme or concept tend to be more linguistically rich and provide many more social opportunities when reading with your child.

Be Adaptable

Don’t worry if the language within a book is too complex for your child. If you like the illustrations and theme, you don’t have to read the book word for word. Simplify the language by describing the illustrations.

If attending to books is hard for your child, start out slow. Hold the book to where the illustrations are within your child’s visual field. Try making up a song using simple language to go along with the illustrations. Point to the pictures while you sing. It’s okay if your child wants to walk around the room while you read or sing, they are still listening! Keep practicing and as your child becomes more familiar with the routine, they are likely to start coming closer and closer to you and the book…..becoming more involved in the social interaction. Once your child starts attending more and eye gazing more, then rotate in a new book while still keeping the familiar book a part of your child’s routine. Once your child starts attending even more, read the words to your child instead of singing and maybe even help them point to the pictures with you.

So how do we pick the best language learning books for our for preschoolers/early elementary kids? Here are some things to look for when browsing at the bookstore:

Nice clear illustrations that focus on characters actions/thoughts/feelings – we love it when the characters are talking or in action so you can talk about all of our social learning concepts.

Don’t worry if the language within a book is too complex for your child.If you like the illustrations and theme, you don’t have to read the book word for word.Simplify the language by describing the illustrations and build up to reading the book the way it is written.

So how do we pick the best language learning books for our for elementary/middle school kids? Here are some things to look for when browsing at the bookstore:

Combination

For this age we look for a combination of books: chapter books and series books that build characters and the story AND picture books/comic books that focus on social skills,

Using What Helps

We then incorporate all of our Social Thinking© concepts, comprehension activities and more while we read.

Here are just a few of KidSpeak’s favorite children’s authors!

We like to start off with:

Eric Carle: Everyone knows Brown Bear and Hungry Caterpillar….but he has so many wonderful other books too! www.eric-carle.com/home.html

Donald Crews: colorful and simple illustrations with transportation themes and more.

Lucy Cousins: author of the Maisy series and there is even a fun website where you can print off Maisy coloring pages, recipes and play Maisy games. www.maisyfunclub.com

Jane Yolen: has a really cute Dinosaur series that addresses great concepts like colors, numbers, being a good friend, going to the doctor and more

Denise Fleming: great themes, language and illustrations and she has her own fun website as well http://denisefleming.com/

Jimmy Pickering: has a wonderful series on the four seasons, which can be a difficult abstract concept to teach

Then we move towards:

Deborah Diesen: has created a wonderful series with the Pout Pout Fish that has bright and colorful illustrations that focus on feelings, holidays and more.

Rachel Bright: has an adorable series with her Love Monster! All of her books do such a great job of talking about feelings, problem solving and more.

Audrey Wood: has wonderful books that great illustrations that focus on feelings, thoughts, families, letters, numbers, and more www.audreywood.com/

Sherri Duskey Rinker: has create great books focusing on trucks, trains, and more. One of our favorites is Good Night, Good Night Construction Site

Todd Parr: has an adorable series about Otto the dog and several books about feelings and emotions….he has a great website with activities too www.toddparr.com

James Dean: has the wonderful word of Pete the Cat. www.petethecatbooks.com/

Natasha Wing: has the amazing series of the “Night before….”. These are great to help prepare kids for holidays and big events. She has wonderful pictures and great rhymes in her books. www.natashawing.com

Mo Willimas: Piggie and Elephants books have such simple illustrations but help us teach so many different valuable social learning skills like perspective taking, others thoughts, other feelings, false beliefs and more. http://pigeonpresents.com/books/

Julia Cook: has so many different books that we LOVE. Many of her books focus on behavior, life skills, making and sustaining friendships, emotional health and more http://www.juliacookonline.com/

Then we like to move towards Chapter/Series Books like:

Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson http://www.mercywatson.com/

Mary Pope Osborne’s The Magic Tree House https://www.magictreehouse.com/

Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid http://the39clues.scholastic.com/

Coco Simon’s Cupcake Diaries http://simonandschusterpublishing.com/spotlight-series/cupcake-diaries/

Collaboration of Authors for 39 Clues http://the39clues.scholastic.com/

Have fun reading books with your child as you build your relationship with them and teach them language and socialization at the same time!

-Laura and Amanda
KidSpeak, LLC
www.kidspeakdallas.com

Halloween Playdough: The Language Learning Way

October 19, 2018

Halloween will be here before you know it, and what better way to celebrate than by engaging in a fun activity with your child?!

Making this Halloween-themed play dough together is a great way to work on speech and language skills like sequencing, following directions, Halloween vocabulary, core vocabulary, constructive play skills, social communication, and much more!

Here’s what you need:

Ingredients:

-2½ cups flour measured, plus more for adding in later if needed

-½ cup salt

-3 tablespoons oil (canola will work)

-3 tablespoons cream of tartar

-2 cups water

-Red and yellow food coloring (or the color of your child’s choice)

-Optional – pumpkin pie spice

Other Materials:

-Large bowl

-Smaller bowls for measuring ingredients

-Spoon, whisk, or spatula to mix dough

-Visuals: You want to have out all the visuals that your child is currently using or working on using. A few great ones are: waiting, my turn, help, and more.

Steps:

1. Get all of your ingredients out and ready to use. You can narrate where you are going to get each item (i.e., “Flour is in the pantry!” or, “We need water from the sink!”). Your child can help gather the materials. This is a great naturalistic activity that will help increase receptive language, following directions, independence and more.

2. Have an adult carefully boil the water. During this time you can have your child color/water paint/paint a Halloween (1 – 3) color pages while you wait for the water to boil.

3. With your child, measure all ingredients into separate bowls. Your child can help you either measure the ingredients; dump the ingredients in bowls, or both! Narrate or sing about what you are doing… “Put the salt in the bowl, in the bowl!” Remember, this increases their language!

4. Add food coloring to the water to reach your desired color. For fun, Halloween-themed orange play dough, add five drops of yellow food coloring and five drops of red food coloring. Stir with a spoon and adjust as needed. Remember to be careful – the water will be hot! Talk about the colors you are adding, then watch and enjoy the water change colors!

5. Put all of the ingredients in your large bowl. Start with the dry ingredients, then add in the liquid ingredients.

6. Grab a spoon or mixing tool and mix the play dough! A song will help a child attend to or participate within the task as well as comment about what you are doing… “This is the way you mix the dough, mix the dough, mix the dough. This is the way you mix the dough. Mix, mix the play dough!” An adult may check the temperature to see if it is safe to mix with your hands.

7. Check the texture of the play dough. If it’s too sticky, add more flour. If it’s too dry, add some oil. With an older child, this may be a great time to work on vocabulary to describe different textures as well as problem solve how to achieve the ideal texture.

8. Knead the dough until all the flour is mixed in and the texture is not too sticky or too dry.

9. Let the dough cool.

10. While the dough is cooling off, clean up together! If you need more time then try to play Halloween Dress Up or a Halloween Game.

11. Finally, time to play!

Here are a few additional tips for encouraging speech and language within this activity:

General vocabulary:

There is a lot of great vocabulary you can introduce while you make the dough as well as playing with the dough. Flour, salt, help, water, careful, hot, color names, mix, stir, knead, sticky, squish, roll, in, out, push, and more…the possibilities are endless.

Halloween-specific vocabulary:

With a set of cookie cutters, you can introduce a lot of different Halloween vocabulary….ghost, bat, pumpkin, haunted house, and more. Even without cookie cutters, you can use your imagination and create these Halloween characters.

Play skills:

Creating shapes, characters, and more with play dough will help increase your child’s constructive play skills. You can also work on your child’s symbolic (pretend) play skills by pretending while using your child’s play dough creations (i.e., using a play dough ghost to play “pretend trick or treat”).

Requesting and making choices:

When playing with play dough, give your child multiple opportunities to request and make choices – i.e., “Mommy, I want the pumpkin cookie cutter”.

Directing attention:

As your child is playing with the dough, help him show others what he has created – i.e., “Look Daddy, I made a pumpkin!”

Older children:

This activity is great for sequencing, following directions, and describing how to do something. First, use a visual to talk about the steps you will soon perform. Be sure to use your sequencing words (i.e., first, next, then, last, finally, etc.). Then, help your child follow the recipe, stepping in when adult help is needed. After you’ve made the play dough together, help your child describe the steps to a peer, sibling, or other adult.

We hope this play dough activity helps put your family in the Halloween spirit while working on play and language skills. Happy Halloween!

Play dough recipe taken and modified from: http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/01/playdough-recipes-i-love.html

~KidSpeak, LLC

Pretend Hallowing: Playing for Practice

October 12, 2018

With Halloween coming up we are all looking forward to all the fun festivities with our kids: costume parties, pumpkin patches, haunted houses and trick-or-treating to name a few. One tip we always give our parents when it comes to helping their child be successful during holiday events is to PRACTICE. Since these events are something we only do once a year, practicing to make it a familiar routine will help them participate within each activity when the big day actually comes. How do we do this? Pretend play is an excellent way to help your child become familiar with different things they may come across during Halloween time. Pretend play also naturally builds vocabulary, social language and social skills.

For example, if your child attempts trick-or-treating on the night of Halloween without any previous practice, this can be overwhelming. Their street and yard will look different. There will be kids everywhere in unusual (and sometimes scary) outfits, masks and face paint. There will be lots of noise. It will probably be dark, which your child may not be used to. Then there is the safety factor of walking to each house. There’s the anticipation of wondering who in the world is going to answer the door and what is going to happen. This may cause some anxiety or uncertainty. There’s the concept of not being able to eat all the candy as soon as you receive it. So many elements to trick-or-treating! Practicing in advance will help your child work through all these unfamiliar elements and be the most prepared they can be. Some things might still be difficult, but you are giving your child tools to do their best on a special social day.

Here are a few fun examples of Halloween and fall-inspired pretend play activities that will help your child become more familiar with everything as well as build on their vocabulary and social skills within each activity:

Pretend Dress-up With Halloween Characters

Playing pretend dress-up with Halloween characters helps your child become more familiar with wearing a costume and with some of the characters they may see at parties or trick-or-treating. Start by gathering some costumes and accessories of familiar Halloween characters. Then create simple pretend routines for each character. Model each pretend routine first and the then let your child take a turn.

Here are a few ideas:

Frankenstein: mask, black t-shirt and old blazer

Pretend: Hold arms out in front, stomp around, and say, “Errr!”

Witch: black gown, witch hat and broom

Pretend: get on broom, fly around on broom and say, “Eeeeeee!”

Ghost: white sheet with two holes cut out for the eyes

Pretend: hold arms out on sides and say, “Oooooo!”

Black cat: cat ears or cat mask and tail

Pretend: crawl on the floor and say, “Meow!”

You can add in any characters you wish and make the pretend play as simple or as complex as you would like, depending on your child’s level of pretend play skills. Your child may not want to wear the items initially. This is okay. The more they watch you wear the items and they more you allow your child to touch and manipulate the items freely, the more likely the will be willing to try them on.

Pretend Pumpkin Patch Activities

Going to a pumpkin patch is a favorite fall activity for many families. Playing pretend pumpkin patch at home can be a fun way to practice. First gather all the materials you will need and then set them up. You can set up each station of the pumpkin patch in different rooms or in different areas of one room.

Here are a few ideas:

Pretend Hayride

Materials: cardboard box or laundry basket, pretend hay

Set up: Put the pretend hay in the basket or box

Pretend: Have the child get in the “wagon” and the adult push the child around for the hayride. As they ride talk about things they see along the way, “Look pumpkins!” You can also use an actual wagon if you have one.

Pretend Corn Maze

Materials: masking tape, pretend corn or pictures of corn

Set up: Put the masking tape on the floor in a maze formation. Then put the pretend corn or pictures of corn along the maze

Pretend: Walk along the line and talk about the corn you see along the way, “Look yellow corn!”

Pretend Pumpkin Patch

Materials: pumpkins and gourds with different shapes and sizes, basket for the pumpkins

Set up: Arrange the pumpkins and gourds on the floor or a table

Pretend: Walk around the patch talking about the pumpkins, “Look big pumpkin!” Then pick out a pumpkin and put it in the basket. You can also practice taking pictures of your child with the pumpkins and gourds if you want to take pictures of your child at an actual pumpkin patch later.

Pretend Trick-or-Treating

Practicing trick-or-treating is a great way to help your child prepare for the big day and it is something you can do with the whole family. There are a lot of different ways to do this at home.

Materials: Halloween decorations (this can be as simple as pictures printed or cut out of a magazine), costume, goodie bag or basket, small toys the child already has

Set up: Put up the Halloween decorations around the door of different rooms in the house. Have one family member wait in each room with a toy. Then close the door.

Pretend: Have the child dress up in their costume. One parent can walk the child around to each room. Have them knock on the door and say, “Trick-or-treat!” The family member then opens the door and puts the toy in their bag. You may have to model this a few times. After you go to every room. Walk back to the starting room to talk about all the goodies they got, “Look! Blue truck!”

Transaction Support Helpers

Providing your child with some transactional supports throughout these pretend play activities is a great way to help your child attend to the activity, increase their understanding and comment within each activity.

-Visuals: Since our kids think in pictures, providing them with visual supports will help them immensely. One visual to use would be a “how-to” list for the activity. We use the Boardmaker® software to create play activity boards like the ones seen in the pictures. You can also write out a list and use stick figure pictures. You can use these not only with the pretend play, but also during the actual event.

To purchase your very own pretend visual collection, check out our KidSpeak Store at (scroll to middle of page for Custom Visuals): http://kidspeakdallas.com/products-page

-Singing: Singing is an incredible support for our kiddos. You can sing about what you are doing in the activity to help them attend and understand the routine. For example, within pretend trick-or-treat you can sing (to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”), “We’re walking to the door, walking to the door, walking to the doooor, and now it’s time to stop.” You can also sing songs related to the theme of the activity: Five Little Pumpkins, It’s Halloween, Three Little Witches and lots more.

-Videos: Try videoing your child engaging in the above pretend play activities and then watch them together. This is a very helpful visual and cognitive support that will help your child remember the routines and have positive social memories and associations with the routines. For instance, if you practice and play pretend trick-or-treating AND watch videos of your child doing so, they will be much more likely to engage in actual trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Playing these pretend activities with your child is a fun way to help be successful during Halloween. The more you play and practice these activities the more they become a familiar routine, which will help increase their understanding and enjoyment during the real event. We hope you and your family enjoys these activities and has a Happy Halloween!

~KidSpeak, LLC

A Fa-BOO-lous Halloween Craft

October 05, 2018

Each year we try to post 1 -2 new Halloween Art Activities because is a ton of language opportunities in art and even more in Halloween art!

At office we do A TON of art with all of our kids……but each kid is working on different skills. These skills include: vocabulary skills, theme related vocabulary skills, fine motor skills, following written directions, following verbal directions from teachers, following verbal directions from peers, sequencing skills, preposition skills, problem solving skills, visual spatial skills, a handful of social communication skills (i.e.: making choices, asking for help, taking turns, requesting, commenting and much more), and so much more!!

In our blog today we want to show you all the great things you can work on while making a Halloween Ghost!!!

First things first…..you need to get all your supplies:

Black paper

White Tissue Paper

Cotton Balls

Glue

Scissors

Any visuals you want to use during this activity

Next…..be prepared

Example: Many of our kids need to see an example of what they are doing so that they can 1) understand what they are doing and 2) help them put everything together. For younger kids you many only need 1 example but for some older kids if you are working on them making “different” ghosts then you may want to have a few examples.

Before you start make sure you have all your pieces cut out and ready to go or have templates for your kids to cut out: eyes, mouths, etc.

Visuals -- make sure that you have your visuals for the activity ready to go.

Remember the MORE prepared you are the easier the activity will flow – which means you will be able to hit all your target areas!

Now it’s time to play and create your ghosts. Remember you can get creative and make different colored ghosts!

Next let’s talk about all the GREAT Concepts/Skills you can work each day:

Fine Motor

As an SLP we are not OT’s so we are not “teaching them their fine motor skills” but we can help them with this skill and support what their OT is working on (collaborating with other professionals is always a must). For our kids that have difficulty coloring/gluing/tracing/cutting…..this activity may be hard. For these kids we sing/chant while we color and glue about what we are doing such as “squeeze squeeze squeeze -- squeeze squeeze squeeze -- squeeze squeeze squeeze – squeeze the glue out” (with the liquid glue). We also take turns coloring/cutting/tracing/gluing. By taking turns with your child this helps increase their attention to the activity, understanding of the skill, and much more!

Beginning Social Communication Skills

They can work on making choices for different color eyes/mouths or different shapes such as: “black eyes or blue eyes”, “circle eyes or square eyes”, and more. requesting “I want the blue ghost”; asking for help “help”, “help open”, “help open glue”; taking turns “my turn”, “it’s your turn”, “it’s Manda’s turn”, “my turn glue”; directing attention “look”, “wow look at the colors”; commenting “wow”, “cool”, “I like….” and more.

Social Pragmatic Skills

Here are a few ways to turn this simple activity into a more social activity with peers: 1) have the children work together in pairs and take turns; 2) have the children work in pairs focusing on one child doing the activity and one child in charge of the supplies….this way they have to request/listen/respond to their peers…..then they can switch; 3) have 2 or more make a few together where they make a “group plan” on how they are going to color each coffee filter and then follow through with their plan; and more.

Compliments

If your kids are not yet ready to work in pairs then doing parallel play but working on pausing and giving compliments is a great way to work on monitoring our peers, listening to our peers and more. When we work on compliments we first work on the phrase “I like + object” such as “I like your cool ghost”. Next we work on “why” such as “I like + object, because….” Such as “I like your ghost because it’s cool!”. Next we work on giving a compliment on our peers “actions” and combining the information from above such as “I like the way you cut out a silly ghost face, it’s so cool!”

Following Direction Skills

You can have the kids complete this activity by following written directions, visual directions, verbal directions from the teacher and even verbal directions from their peers.

How To’s

One of our favorite things to work on is “how tos” where the kids create the activity, then they tell their partner “how to” create the same activity (the goal for it to look the exact same) using their words only. A lot of our kids do a great job when they can use their actions…..but when they use their words only this opens up the door for us to work on helping them understand communication breakdowns and repair them.