FUN and GAMES

Sometimes the difference between success and “Just forget this!” when working with your child is whether or not they are having fun.  Believe me, it isn’t always easy getting a little child interested in working on speech and language skills.  Are YOU excited by the prospect of working on something that is hard for you?  Me neither!   But, everybody  LOVES to have fun, so why not pair these two things together?  You can work on that pesky speech/language stuff and do something fun at the same time!  Here are some tried and true ideas…

• USE CONTAINERS, BOXES and BAGS.  This seems really goofy, but boxes, bags and plastic containers are like magic when you are practicing skills with your child.  Looking at a page of pictures is kind of boring, but copy those pictures on cardstock, cut them out and pull them out of an interesting bag one by one and voila’… your child can’t wait for the next picture!  Another way to use containers is to cut a large slot in the lid of a plastic container and have your child drop small blocks, checkers, etc into the slot for each good try.  Gather some different containers that you have around your house and make your own brand of magic!

• BALLS and BASKETS.  Sitting still is a problem for some kids.  Have you noticed this too??  Speech and language tasks require fine control of small muscles, listening carefully and focusing on some very subtle things for a few minutes at a time.  It’s enough to make an active boy or girl bounce right off the wall.  Instead of peeling them off the ceiling, offer them a ball to throw into a basket each time they stop long enough to attempt a speech task.  Use a small SOFT ball (like a Nerf ball or a Koosh ball) so that they can catch it and so that your lamps remain unbroken.  Try using a small laundry basket as your target, and remember to keep it far enough away so that they have to throw, but close enough so that they don’t miss very often.  YOU keep control of the ball in between throws, so that your child has an incentive to focus on the speech task.  You can give extra tries if your child misses the basket, but don’t give more than three tries or you’ll find you’ve lost control of the game.

• GO “BOWLING”.  This is a similar idea, again using a ball.  This time, you might want a heavier ball, but it should still be small enough and soft enough for your child to handle safely.  If you have plastic bowling pins at home, great!  You can also use empty, rinsed out 2 liter plastic pop bottles (the smaller ones don’t stay up very well), potato chip cans or any tall, slim plastic containers.  (Gerber’s toddler cookies come in a tall plastic canister, for example.)  Every time your child makes an attempt at a speech task, s/he gets to go bowling.  Set up the pins between each try and keep control of the ball after your child’s turn is over.

• CARS, TUBES and RAMPS.  If your child loves Matchbox cars, grab a handful and put them into a container, box or bag.  Set up a ramp or, better yet, several ramps, using flat items (a notebook or piece of cardboard)  propped up on small boxes (like the ones in your pantry?).  If you have an empty paper towel tube, you can use this to roll the cars through to start them down the ramp.  Every time your child attempts the speech or language item you present, they get to pick a car and roll it down the ramps.  Remember, YOU get the car after each turn and place it back in the box.

• BOARD GAMES.  IF your child is ready for and enjoys board games and table activities, you can incorporate the “speech job” into the board game.  Before each turn, your child repeats a word or names a picture or whatever, and then takes their turn at the game.  You take turns too, just as you would when playing the game normally.  Some fun board games we have played at school include The Fishing Game, Don’t Break the Ice, Don’t Spill the Beans,  and Ants in the Pants.  If you play a longer game like Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders, watch for signs that your child has had enough of the speech task.  You can always play the first half of the game with the speech jobs and the second half without.

I hope you get the idea.  There are many more fun activities that you can invent or discover to make practice fun for your child.  Keep it light!  Don’t be afraid to abandon or alter your activity when the need arises.  DO try to engage your child for at least 5-10 minutes in fun speech activities at least a few times each week.