Recycled Guest Posts: Wise Wallet Wednesdays: Don't Throw Away those Packing Materials.

Hi! I'm Kelly from Speech2u.blogspot. I'm really excited to be participating in the dabblingspeechie's Wise Wallet Wednesdays. I know I'm always looking for a way to stretch those budget dollars (when I have a budget, that is.)  If you are lucky enough to get a budget and get materials, I'm going to show you a few ways you can use your packing materials in therapy.

1.  Packing Peanuts:  I simultaneously love and hate packing peanuts.  They are SO much fun to play in and they are SO HARD to clean up.  You could probably design a fantastic common core aligned activity related to static electricity.

If you get a big box, you can throw your little ones in it and work on concepts  like: in, out, up, down and under.  I will take my box of vocabulary or articulation objects and hide them in the box.  We can work on naming while they take the objects out of the box.  Sometimes we work on blowing the styrofoam off of our hands or lay on our backs and see if we can blow the peanuts up in the air.  

If you are a crafty type, there are a ton of craft of Craft Ideas for using packing peanuts on Pinterest.  You can glue them onto a snowman or I love this sheep craft idea from Mommy Doodles:  

2.  Air Pillows:  Air pillows seem to be replacing the packing peanuts.  I think the warning labels say that these are not toys for children-but in the care of a responsible Speech Language Pathologist they can be a lot of fun.  

You can separate them and put them on the floor and have a blowing race from one end of the room to the other.  Adding a "card deck" or "worksheet" station at each end of the room prevents this from becoming a completely pointless activity.  Also, you don't want to do this with kids who spit when they blow.  It's more of them than you would think.  

I like to cut out pictures for articulation practice and then tape them on the bags.  We practice our sounds a certain number of times (like 10) and then they can try to jump or step on the bags to pop them.  You need to hold onto the kids hands when they do this because some of them are tricky to pop-and they are slippery.  No need for anyone to break a leg in speech therapy.  

And yes, I have a high heeled tape dispenser.

3.  Traditional Bubble Wrap.  This stuff can be addicting.  It's fun to just lay a big roll of it on the floor and have Pre-K kids walk across it to hear the "popping noises."  I also use this one with worksheets:  

This is a Super Easy one-Just place the Bubble wrap on top of the worksheet.  Students say a row of words and then pop the bubbles on that row.  

Sometimes I just place larger picture cards under the bubble wrap.  For this activity, we were practicing CV combinations-the client had to say the CV word the same number of times as the bubbles on the card.  This would work great with Super Duper cards as well.  

It's also a fun way to work on multiple choice questions by pinching the correct answer!  For this activity I used Teach Speech's  Who, What, where, and When Questions with Visuals product.

Those are a few of the ways that I have used packing materials in my therapy room.  Do you have other ideas for how to use packing materials?  I'd love to hear from you here: 

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Whole Body Listening: Sponge Bob Style

Whole Body Listening is a concept that was introduced by Susanne P. Truesdale and first written about in the Language Speech and Hearing Services in the Schools.

It teaches children the skill of listening by breaking down what each part of the body does.  For example, our hands help us to listen by being quiet or staying in our lap.  Our brain helps us listen by thinking about what the speaker is really saying.

It's brilliant because the skill of listening is really complex.  But when we break it down, we can really help by giving our students and clients specific feedback about what we want them to do to "listen."  It's also a skill that can be taught to all children, which would make it a perfect lesson to use if you are pushing in to a classroom.

Here are a few resources and crafts that I've used when teaching this concept.

1.  Can you Listen With Your Eyes by Nita Everly
I didn't realize that this book was out of print when I made up my picture above.  I liked using it for preschool children.  Linguisystems has a variety of Early Social Behavior Books which are printed on coated behavior which makes them great for holding up over time.

2.  Whole Body Listening Larry:  I love the illustrations in this book.  There are two different versions-one for listening at home and one for listening at school.  You can find them at Socialthinking.com

3.  Whole Body Listening Picasso Style:  This is how I've typically introduced it.  I cut out different "body parts" and have the child I'm working with glue on the pieces.  We talk about each part, and write out what they do as we are making the craft.  To make it quicker, you could type in what each body part does and then have the child glue that on.   I liked using their words as we were making it but in a group I would probably do it differently.

4.  Whole Body Listening Sponge Bob style.  I had one client who loved Sponge bob and who I didn't think would be able to sit still for my typical activity.  But he did really well when I incorporated his special interest.  In this one, I printed off the concepts and had him glue them on the back.

It usually takes a few weeks for my clients to understand the concepts.  Once they do, I can give them more specific feedback about what they need to do for the rest of the year.  (Example, I'll start when I see that your eyes are listening.  Or Did your brain listen and think about what I was saying?  I love how your hands are listening right now.  They are right in your lap.)  It's also fun to practice these skills within listening games/activities.

How about you?  What are you doing to help your students or clients learn good listening skills?

Snowman Protein Shake Container Card Eaters

Like many people, I find it easy to fall into a love/hate relationship with my body.  In my twenties, I spent too much time obsessing over my hair-I wanted it to look just like a character on General Hospital.  But no matter how much I tried or where I got my hair cut, I couldn't get the perfect amount of volume in my hair.  As it turns out, the actress had cut her hair short and the producer's made her wear a wig for the entire year.  It's pretty hard to compete with a wig.  I've been working out in the early AM for about a year and a half and have gotten so much stronger.  My balance is better and household tasks (like gardening) have gotten so much easier.  This year, I'm working more at bringing my eating under control.  As it turns out once you are 40, it becomes a little harder to shed those extra baby pounds.  Technically, these are my pounds since my "baby" is now 5.  Anyhow, I try to focus on the positive while still trying to achieve my goals which was what the above little pep talk was about.

If you've hung in there, this post is not really about losing weight or getting fit.  It's about what to do with all of those extra protein powder containers, you might end up with when your gym has convinced you of the importance of a daily protein or Kale shake.  

I know we are all sick of Winter-so you might want to wait until next year for this project.  I love having different options for card eaters.   Originally, I wanted to do a Storm Trooper card eater but the paint markers I chose, didn't work very well.  I think the first one, looks like Breaking Bad's Walter White t shirt I saw.  Definitely inappropriate for the younger crowd.   

1.  Cut slit in the top of the container.  

You will notice a ton of smudges in this picture-this is because I tried to do this with an Exacto knife. The plastic on this was REALLY strong-and the knife kept getting stuck as I was trying to cut it out. I would try with a sturdier tool (maybe a Dremel?) next time!

2.  Cut out shapes.

This allowed me to break into some of my old scrapbooking supplies.  I stopped scrapbooking when my son was born.  I've mentioned this before, but apparently I only enjoyed scrapbooking about vacations and crazy college parties.  It's probably not a good sign when you decide to hide your scrapbooks from your son.  Now that the big scrapbook store by me has closed, I don't know that I will take it up again.  I used the circle cutters to cut out the eye shapes, buttons and the brim for the hat.  

3.  Cut out the carrot nose and attach all of the parts with glue dots. 

That's it-besides cutting the slit, it was pretty easy and the kids loved it.  What characters would you try to make using these containers?  I'd love to hear about it below!  If you liked this post, please consider sharing it with others by pressing the Pinterest or Twitter buttons below!  

The Speech Gobbler: A reinforcement turkey craftivitiy

I saw an occupational therapist making something like this with each of her clients and thought this could be a fun way to work on different therapy targets with a Thanksgiving theme.  Have you ever looked at the difference between therapy crafts made during speech therapy sessions versus occupational therapy sessions?  I usually prep before hand by cutting out the shapes and laying out the activities.  Of course this is due to my desire to maximize therapy time not secondary to my inner Martha Stewart who doesn't like crafts to be completely imperfectly.  Of course the Occupational therapists always have the kids draw the shapes and cut them out so they look a little different. 

I called this Henry the Homophone turkey because I wrote out some homophone pairs on the clothespins.  The client picks a clothespin, I would say a sentence and they would have to pick the correct homophone and then define the other one.

Here's how you can make your own:

1.  Get your supplies.  I tried to find colored clothespins but I couldn't so I ended up picking up some Sharpie Wood markers to color my own.  This took a lot of time.  I think turkeys can have brown feathers too, right?  Sometimes I just can't let it go.  

2.  Cut out some kind of turkey shape.  I really liked the brown glitter paper I found.  My turkey has some BLING!

 3.  Add a beak and nose if desired.  I just cut these out of cardstock.  Then I laminated it for durability.

 4.  Add the eyes and clothespins.  I LOVE googly eyes.  So fun to really put on anything in speech therapy.  Add them to your travel coffee mug and tell your kids that you just need to talk to Mr. Coffee for a minute.  

5.  Decide on your therapy targets or leave blank.  I wrote on one side and left the other side blank to use it as a reinforcer game for drill activities.

Are you making any crafts for Thanksgiving?  Are you better at letting your clients or students complete their own crafts?  Or do you like to have mini-masterpieces leave your speech room. If you liked this post, please consider sharing it with others on Pinterest or Facebook by clicking on the buttons below.

Halloween Paper Craftivities: Rerun

Do you come up with new Holiday activities or do you tend to have your same Holiday activities that you use year after year?  I definitely have some of my favorite activities that I use.  I used to LOVE to scrapbook.  I'd go on Scrapbooking weekends, or all night Scrapathons.  I have a whole bunch of beautiful scrapbooks that I created.  Then I had a kid and stopped.  Does that make me a horrible mom?  I think you are supposed to at least shower your first kid with beautiful scrapbooks and baby books, right?  Not me.  Apparently I only like to scrapbook kegger parties and exotic vacations.  

But what do you do with your extra scrapbook supplies that you've hoarded over the years?  I try to use them up in Speech therapy crafts.  (the exotic vacation supplies at least.)  Here is a rerun of a post I did last year for 2 Paper crafts that I make each year:

I was at Archivers (a scrapbook store) a few years ago (when I still had time to scrapbook.)  They have die cut machines which allow you to punch shapes out of scrabooking paper.  One of the punches was of a fence and the other one I made was of a house with a door that you can open.

Last week, we used these shapes to make Halloween paper crafts, focusing on following directions, stating directions, requesting supplies, and articulation/intelligibility.

1.  Five Little Pumpkins:
















I glued the "gate" onto blue paper and also cut out the 5 little pumpkins rhyme using a cloud shape before the therapy session.  In the past, I've used different stickers to make the pumpkins. Last year I found a really cool pumpkin hole puncher on clearance that included 3 different stamps to decorate the pumpkins.  Here is how I used it in therapy:

1.  Requesting: punch out the pumpkin, I do it, you do it, I want the pumpkin stamp, (ready, set...) GO.
2.  Labeling locations: Put the pumpkin on the fence, under the moon, next to the cloud etc.
3.  Following directions (for this I hid the five pumpkins)  The child had to find the pumpkins I hid (ex. find the pumpkin under your chair) and then bring them back to glue onto the gate.
4.  /s/ Blends: stamp, stick, sticky, Spooky, scary,
5.  Emotions: I had my social skills kids work on drawing different emotions on the pumpkins
6.  Articulation homework:  After we were finished, I highlighted all of the sounds/words I wanted the parents to work on in the poem.

2.  Spooky House
I used the house die cut and punched out a bunch of houses onto black scrapbooking paper.  I took pictures of some of the kids making scared faces (always get consent for photos first) and then printed them off using the contact sheet portion.  It worked better to print the pictures off on photo paper, regular copy paper printed too dark.  I also wished I'd taken a picture of the whole child and printed it off even smaller so that their whole body fit in the door.

I put the child behind the door and then glued everything onto the blue paper.   Then the child got to add the stickers to the picture.
1. Emotions:  We practiced making scary faces and talked about what different parts of our face do when we are scared.  We also talked about strategies for what to do when things are scary.
2.  Articulation:   Kid'n'Kaboodle had a variety of fingerplays and I varied the poem based on what sounds I was working on with the child.
3.  Vocabulary: I didn't have a lot of stickers, but it was also a good activity for naming or requesting.
4.  Role playing: We also talked about how to go trick or treating. We could practice knocking on the door, opening it, saying trick or treat and then getting candy.

Make your own: Superhero Card eaters

Who knew that something so easy as can with a hole in it would be motivating in Speech Therapy?

I've used Super Duper's animal buddies before when I am doing drill work.  It's pretty fun for my younger kids.  There are four animals on the box and you can feed the animals their favorite foods.

It's especially hilarious if the animals hate it and make horrible retching sounds if you feed them the wrong foods.

I wanted something for my older clients.  The Occupational therapists that I work with use coffee containers with an X cut out on the top and have their clients work on finger strengthening by pushing pom pom balls through the lid.  I wanted to use something like that but with a design, which is how I came up with Superhero card eaters:

Clip art by ReviDevi

MATERIALS:

• Empty Can with Lid (I chose Pringles because they are delicious and small enough to store easily-but a coffee can might work better since you could put larger articulation cards in the top.  
• Duck Tape
• Clip art with Superhero or other design
• Power point or other graphics software
• Sticker Paper 

STEP ONE:  Eat pringles.  I love pringles.  I was planning to make 3 or 4 different cans for this post, but my husband didn't realize that I wanted to save the empty cans we ate during a road trip.  *sigh*  I guess I'll have to eat more pringles.  

STEP TWO:  Cover can in Duck tape.  I love that there are so many different kinds of Duck tape-I saw Justin Bieber tape on clearance a few weeks ago.  I didn't get it but wished I had as I have several Belieber's on my caseload.  

STEP THREE:  Create Super hero Head.   Create circles the size of your can in Power point or another graphic's  program.

You can download these circles I made for the smaller Pringles can HERE.

I purchased some Super hero clip art with big heads from ReviDevi on Etsy.  I added the clip art in Power point and resized it until the head was in the middle of the picture.  I printed it off on sticker paper.  Due to copyright and trademark laws, I don't use these images in products that I sell.  

Clip art by ReviDevi

STEP FOUR: Cut out Superhero head and attach it to the lid.  

Clip art by ReviDevi

The pringle lids were a little small (and the mouth in the artwork was at the bottom.)  My next ones I make, I would center the mouth more towards the middle or pick different clipart.  But it works pretty good for putting small tokens or money in them.  

Clip art by ReviDevi 

Clip art by ReviDevi

How have you used old cans in therapy?  I'd love to hear about it.  If you found this post helpful, please consider sharing on Pinterest or Facebook by clicking on the buttons below.  

Dollar Spot Christmas Trees

So I found these cool oversized sticker sheets in the Dollar Spot at Target.  I got a Christmas Tree, a Gingerbread House, and a Snowman.  I laminated them so that I could use with more than one student.

We used the Christmas Tree in therapy this week and had a LOT of fun.  I wrote some articulation words on the ornaments before I laminated them.  If I had to do it again I'd probably just laminate the ornaments and then write on them with a wet erase marker.

In addition to articulation, we also worked on:

• Receptive identification of adjective + noun.  (Show me the red striped ornament.
• Receptive identification of clauses (Show me the yellow ornament with a snowflake.)  
• Comparatives (Show me the longest strand of lights.)
• Following multistep directions, before/after directions and directions containing spatial concepts.  

I really liked being able to vary the directions depending on the student.  Here are some of the directions we used:  

• Put a red ornament on after you put on a purple ornament.
• After you put on the red striped ornament, put on a purple star ornament.
• Before you put on the yellow ornament, put on the shortest garland.
• Find the plain yellow ornament and put it next to one of the purple striped ornaments.
• Find all 4 snowflakes and put them in the middle of the tree.
• Find a yellow ornament with a snowflake on it and put it between 2 strands of lights.
• Find 2 red striped ornaments below the longest strand.
• Put the purple ornament above the garland after you put on the yellow ornament.
• Put three ornaments on the tree.
• Put the red ornament under/above the garland.  

It was a really fun activity.