It's July!! Which means it is the best month to celebrate summer! There are so many activities to choose from to celebrate summer! So, which activity theme do I have in My Speech Therapy Bag this month? Here's a clue....
I scream! You scream! We all scream for..... ICE CREAM!!!
Ice cream is a summer staple and children love it (I'll admit, I LOVE it too!) It is such a great treat to have on those hot and sunny summer days!
So, what activities do I have in My Speech Therapy Bag? Here they are along with some great speech and language targets. Want to do these activities at home? Check out the affiliated links with each activity below!
BOOK ACTIVITY
I always like to have a book activity in my speech therapy bag that goes along with my theme. I choose the book Pete the Cat Screams for Ice Cream! This is a new book within the Pete the Cat series by Kimberly and James Dean. It is about how Pete the Cat loves ice cream and he is on his way to buy some at the ice cream truck. But, his friends need his help on his way. Will Pete the Cat stop to help his friends and risk the chances of missing the ice cream truck... OR... leave his friends helpless and get his ice cream?
Speech Targets- Just like all the Pete the Cat books, this one has a few repetitive rhymes and messages that are great for children who are working on motor speech movements. "Hey Pete!" "What's your hurry?" "I can't wait" "It's getting late". These are just some examples that work on integration of movement and/or single plane of movement (i.e. "your/hurry/Pete/wait" for lip movement. "Hey/I/can't" for jaw movement).
Language Target- This book pertains to kindness and is great for social language perspective. It works great for those children who are working on learning about others nonverbal language in conversations and the feelings associated with the nonverbal language.
GAME ACTIVITY
Every child enjoys playing a fun game while they work on their speech and language targets. I found this ice cream stacking game that was inexpensive and I had to buy it knowing the children I see would love it and have so much fun! This game can be played several ways, but, the most common are 1) taking turns stacking the scoops of ice cream onto the cone until someone makes it fall and 2) seeing who can stack the most scoops of ice cream onto the cone during his/her turn.
Speech and Language Targets- This game has so much vocabulary that works great for language development and speech development. Some models include: "put on, that one, uh oh, me, you, I do, you do, help me, it's big, fall down, up". This game also targets social play skills as it promotes sharing/taking turns and managing feelings when the child wins or loses.
*Another variation to play- play "I spy" with this game. Works great for children who are working on descriptive vocabulary and discriminating amongst a group of objects. For example, "I spy a scoop that is white with orange stripes".
*Following directions variation- Give your child a one or two step direction pertaining to the types of scoops to put on the cone (i.e. First put on the chocolate scoop then put on the strawberry scoop). Take turns giving each other directions.
SENSORY ACTIVITY
Sensory activities are a must in my therapy sessions. I love to see the children create and explore within sensory activities. I usually create my own sensory bins, but, I happen to find this one on Amazon and could not pass on the price. This sensory bin allows children to pretend to scoop ice cream. It comes with multiple colors of kinetic sand, pretend sprinkles, pom poms, cones, a bowl, and a scooper.
Social Play Language- Because this sensory bin simulates an ice cream shop, it is great to pretend play. Place your order and enjoy watching your child explore and create it. For children who may prefer to utilize the bin for sensory exploring only, I like to model feelings, such as "That feels good. That feels different. I like the blue sand. I don't like that. etc". I like to also model object manipulation such as "Let's scoop. I need a cone. We need to put it on. I'm going to put on sprinkles. etc".
Ice Cream Sensory Bin
ORAL MOTOR ACTIVITY
For the children who are working on airflow, breath support, lip rounding, or tongue retraction, this Lego Ice Cream Maze is a fun way to work on it. All you need are some Legos, a small pom pom, and a sturdy straw. Build an ice cream cone out of the Legos, place a couple inside to form the maze, and have your child blow the pom pom through the maze. Change the maze after reaching the finish line and keep the fun going!
CRAFT ACTIVITY
I can not have a theme without a craft! This Puffy Paint Ice Cream Cone craft is as fun as eating ice cream! And it is super easy to make!
Items needed (all items can be found at the dollar store):
shaving cream
white liquid glue
sequins or anything small to resemble sprinkles
brown and black cardstock
black marker
paint brush
mixing cup
food coloring
How to make Puffy Paint Ice Cream Cones
Cut your brown cardstock into a triangle to resemble a cone. Take your marker and draw diagonal lines onto your brown cardstock. Glue your brown cardstock onto the black cardstock. Make sure you leave enough room on the cardstock to make the ice cream scoop.
To make the puffy paint- mix equal parts of white liquid glue and shaving cream together. Add any color of food coloring then mix.
Paint your scoop of ice cream! Take your paint brush and dip it into the puffy paint and paint your scoop of ice cream onto the cardstock.
When you are finished painting, add your small decorations to resemble toppings. We used a pom pom for a cherry on the top!
Speech and Language Targets- This craft is full of vocabulary to model for both speech and language development. Descriptors (colors, cold, crunchy cone, fluffy, etc) and actions (mix it, paint it, cut it, sprinkle, glue it) are great to model. For older children, sequencing is a great target. Have your child follow the steps above and assist with following the order of the steps and problem solving when needed.
Social Language Targets- Talking about your favorite ice cream and toppings is a fun topic to converse with your child. You can target turn taking, maintaining topic, and eye contact while making this craft.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
There are so many activities you can do this month that encourages speech and language growth. Here is a list of other activities:
Ice Cream Pretend Play- utilize the ice cream in your child's pretend food and pretend to order ice cream at the ice cream shop. Don't have pretend ice cream, check these options:
9 Piece Ice Cream Set
Melissa & Doug Scoop and Stack Ice Cream Set
Make Ice Cream- Children love experiments! Check this out and make homemade ice cream! https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag/
Ice Cream Literacy Book- I found this cute literacy book to print out about ice cream. This is great for literacy, color concepts, and repetitive motor speech movement. https://www.reallifeathome.com/ice-cream-printable-colors-book/
Ice Cream Scoop Color Sort- This is great for color concepts, counting, sorting, and fine motor skills. Grab a box/container/cookie sheet, different colored cupcake liners, matching colored pom poms, and an ice cream scoop. Have your child scoop up the pom poms and sort them by their colored liner.
National Ice Cream Day is July 21st!!!- Head to your favorite ice cream shop to celebrate!!. To really get a learning experience, visit your local dairy farm! Have your child order his/her own ice cream! This helps with carryover of speech and language skills into the community!
As always, I hope you have enjoyed this blog! I know I will enjoy these activities with all of the children in speech therapy and I hope you enjoy engaging in these fun activities this month as well.
Check out next month's blog to see what I have in My Speech Therapy Bag and more exciting and fun ideas for your home!
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