Changing things up

Puzzles

There is a post about playing with puzzles. In there, it discusses how to get them to request pieces and to label them. You can put the pieces in a sensory bin for some added fun. I love my sensory bins, but I’ve also been learning some new things while co-treating with OT lately. It’s fun to break out of my speech box, see some OT activities, and adding my speech touch to them.

Use painter’s tape-

Put the tape across the puzzle piece and tape it to a sheet pan or table. Then they have to peel off the tape to get the pieces off. It makes it interesting, works on their fine motor skills and pincer grasp.

Get up and move-

Put the pieces around the room for them to go get and come back with. A tunnel is always a fun way to get moving. Put the puzzle board on one end and the pieces on the other. They go back and forth to complete the puzzle. You could even use the painter’s tape to tape them to the walls around the room. Ask them to find a certain piece and bring it back. That works identifying and on 2-step related directions.

Books

Books are great and books with repetition are awesome to help really drill in that language and new words. You don’t just have to sit while you read a book either. I learned this while playing with my friend. It was so much fun. Although it does take some planning.

Go on a bear hunt-

I love the book “We’re going on a bear hunt”. The repetition in it is great. Then it's descriptive and has the movements right in there “Splash splosh!”through the water. When I did it at my friend’s, we added some speech goals in there as well. I printed and laminated some random bears I found online and then small pictures with the Speech sound, in this case /s/. We put the bears up around the house and went on a bear hunt. He said his /s/ word when we got to each bear and then again as we went back through. He practiced his /s/ sound in a fun way that wasn’t just sitting and doing drills. For littler ones just doing the movements with them will be fun and the repetition will be great. If you don’t have the book, I found a page with the words here and it has some other ideas as well.

Copy and print pictures-

You can copy pictures right out of the book (as long as you use it for personal use only, copyrights disclaimer lol). You can make pieces for the book with whatever book you’re using. You can print the main character or important item on each page, so they have something to find or match to the page to keep them engaged and attended.

Make it your own-

I love the Brown Bear, Brown Bear books. You can copy and print the animals from the book. You can have them match the picture to the page. Or they can pick the animals in the order they want without the book. Brown bear could always see the green frog instead of the red bird. Here is a printable and they can color the animals whatever color they want and still do the story their own way. It’s a good book to work on animals and colors. I’ve also seen things online with real pictures of the animals in different colors, although a blue dog and purple cat were a bit of a stretch. I do love using real pictures whenever possible though.

In case you wondered this is what you were when you go on a Bear Hunt. Yes I even dress the part.

What book do you like to change up? How do you change or expand things to make change up therapy?