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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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!  

Tuesday Turkey Leftovers: 3 super quick crafts

I love holiday weeks because I can pick 1-2 activities and use them with most of my clients.  It saves on my planning and set up time.

I pick up little activities as I see them in the store.  This year I went a little bit crazy for Thanksgiving.  So instead of saving myself prep time, I'm using more of it to set up all the activities I decided to do.   My turkey leftovers is a bunch of the activities that I decided to use.  I'm using most of these at Thanksgiving dinner too!  

I started the month making some Pom pom turkeys.  Yesterday I made individual batches of stuffing with some of my feeding clients.  It took a little while to figure out the correct measurements for single servings.

Single Serve Stuffing
Ingredients:

• 1 Container of Stove top stuffing.
• Butter
• Water

Add 1/2 cup of stuffing mix to microwave safe bowl.
Add 1/4 cup water to bowl.
Add 1 tablespoon of butter to bowl.
Heat at one minute intervals until done.

Turkey Cookies: 
I had picked up these sugar candies at Michaels when they were 50% off.  We are using them tomorrow in therapy to address sequencing, subject-verb agreement, and summarizing/explaining.

Thanksgiving Trail Mix:  

I used peanuts in the trail mix but I should have replaced it with a cereal like Kix.  Cheaper and safer in this day of peanut allergies.  

We made this with some of my social language kids based on an activity suggested during the Preschool Social Thinking class I took.  I put each ingredient in a separate bowl along with some random ingredients we wouldn't be using (other nuts, raisins, shredded coconut.)  I spread the bowls out on the table and gave each child a plastic bag.  On their turn, they had to watch my eyes to see what to add to the bag to make the mix.  

Thanksgiving trail mix

• Nuts or Cereal like Kix or Cheerios.
• Dried Cranberries
• Butterscotch chips

Put the ingredients in a bag and shake the bag to mix it up.  

Turkey K Cups: 

We got a Keurig machine at my work a few months ago.  As a manager, I try to get small treats or gifts for my staff at Holiday times.  I started looking for K-cup crafts but couldn't find the ones I was looking for so decided to make my own.  I got a sampler packet of K-cups for (kind of) cheap on Amazon.  Then I made the Turkey K cups.  I think this would be a great idea for Place Cards at Thanksgiving if you had a Keurig machine at home.  Just add the name of each individual.  After dinner, they can take their K cup in to brew their own cup of coffee!  

I printed off the turkey feather and cut them out and attached to the top of the K cup using removable double sided sticky tape.  Then I drew some eyes, the waddle and a turkey beak on the bottom of the K cup.

Do you want to make your own: Download the Turkey feather backs by clicking HERE.  

I hope you enjoyed this post.  If you did, please consider sharing it with others on Pinterest or Twitter by pressing the buttons below.

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.  

Third Thursday Three-for-All {linky party}

Welcome to the first 3rd Thursday 3 for all!  It's my first attempt at a linky party-they are way more fun than the old Home Interior's parties.  Does anyone remember those?  They sold not-my-style decorations for the home.  Think a giant framed painted picture of a girl and her dog-with a coordinating shelf and then a girl and a doll figurine.  Maybe with some matching wall candles to complete the tableau.  

It's pretty easy for me to fall into a routine where I use the same material in the same way every single therapy session.  Originally this was going to be Five new ideas for Friday but I'm feeling a little less motivated here at the end of the summer.  Three seemed like a more manageable number.   

One thing I absolutely love about speech language pathologists is that we often have access to the same or similar materials-BUT everyone uses it in a slightly different way.  Wouldn't it be great to have a variety of resources and ideas for using therapy materials in the same place?  That's where the "for all" part comes in.  It's a linky party.  If you have an old post you've done on popsicle sticks/tongue depressors or a new one, you are welcome to link up!  If you don't have a blog-that's okay-You can comment and write your suggestions below!  

You are welcome to use the graphic above on your blog-please link the picture back to Speech2u.blogspot.com.  Also please add a link at the end of your blog back to this post so that people know how to link up.  Links can be added for the next two weeks.  

This Month: I'm sharing different activities I've done using popsicle sticks or tongue depressors.  I use these for a lot of different games.  Last year, there were so many great blogs talking about different ways to use popsicle sticks.  Here's three ways, I've used them.

Emotion Sorting Sticks:
1.  I had some left over colors after making Jenna from Speech Room New's French Fry Articulation.  I'm terrible at getting things for free.  The first time I went to McDonalds, I felt bad so I bought three meals for the family and then asked if I could get some extra fry containers that I could use in Speech therapy.  "No." said the counter server.  So then I asked if I could buy some fries but just hold the fries and give me the container.  "Sorry" he said.  I ended up sending our receptionist over to get some containers.  She got them right away.  I wrote different feelings, thanks to my thesaurus, on the leftover craft sticks and put them in an empty peanut butter jar container.  I can work on sorting emotions or my kids can pick a stick from the jar and tell a story about when they or someone else felt that way.

Articulation practice

I use the tongue depressors for these-if you get the pediatric or infant tongue depressors they are smaller shaped like a popsicle stick.  I think one of these might be my idea-but the rest are ideas I've picked up over the years-if it's your idea, please let me know so I can credit you!  

1.  Tongue tip elevation for /t/, /d/, /n/ and /l/.  Have the client bite on the stick with their back molars.  While looking in the mirror have them practice elevating their tongue to say their alveolar sounds.  This helps to stabilize the jaw and I will use this with my clients who are producing their sounds interdentally or blading.  

2.  Graded jaw openings:  Turn the popsicle stick sideways (vs. flat) and talk about how we don't need to make all of our speech sounds with a mouth much wider than that.  You can over-exaggerate how our speech sounds if we make really big mouth movements.  Kids love this.

3.  Inhibiting movement:  I had a client who was producing /n/ for /i/.   Yikes.  Where's the research article that helps me fix that?  I've been trying to use the popsicle stick to inhibit elevation while providing parameter prompts to facilitate an /i/.  

Make Puppets: 

I bought these super hero number counting sets through Teacher's Notebook before I started making products.  I laminated them with 7mm laminating film so they are sturdy and cut around the artwork.  Then I used heavy duty glue dots to attach them to the popsicle sticks:

I use them for motivation, to work on pronouns and practice conversational skills with my clients.

What are your favorite ways to use Popsicle Sticks?  Link up below!

Light Box Therapy

Last year, there was a plethora of postings about using your own light table during therapy.  I saw postings on Play at home mom, Testy Yet Trying and Speech Room News. 

This was also around the time that I started having some anxiety about the lack of fun sensory experiences I'd given to my then three year old.  Had I used all my fun-ness in speech therapy????  I used to be an awesome mom who had great ideas for behavior management, developmentally appropriate activities, and fun outings for the family.  Then I had my own kids.  As it turns out, sometimes I prefer checking my Facebook status to whipping up a batch of fresh Kool-aid play doh.  I bought a sled this year and have taught my young son various ways to express the idea that it is too cold to go sledding.  Although now I just justify this as teaching him the skill of being bored and good self regulation. 

BUT the light table I could do.  Pretty much any project that could also benefit my speech clients gets a green light.  I used Testy Yet Trying's tutorial and bought some of the materials suggested by Play at Home mom.  My only suggestion if you go this route is to avoid spraying the paint in the garage next to your husband's car.  Spray paint travels pretty far.  Whoops.

The light table was fun for my son and in therapy but I struggled with how to use it effectively to target goals.  I brought it back this year to work on joint attention.   I put some colored sand in the bottom of a clear container and we worked on taking turns drawing in the sand, looking at each other and commenting.

Some of my other clients saw the light table and wanted to play too.  So we ended up with these activities:

I used a sheet of articulation cards from Testy Yet trying and put it on the light box.  (Note this is NOT the lightbox I made.  Shortly after making the light box, a dollar store went out of business and I got this Fiskars craft light table for 5.00)   We started by saying each word.  Then I put my sand tray on top. 

Now they had to uncover each one using a carrier phrase. 

Another way we used the light box was by putting 2 picture cards on the light box.  We would say the targets (in this case it was he/she)  Then I'd cover the pictures with the sand.  Could they remember where the card was located?  Then we practiced the targets again. 



I used some simple three picture sequence cards.  First I put out the cards and had them tell me what the "MAIN idea " was.  (going swimming in a backyard pool)  Then I had them sequence the cards in order.  For this activity we did the order going up and down similar to schedules that they were familiar with.  As they sequenced the cards, I modeled simple sentences.  Then we put the sand on top and the students uncovered each photo and described what was happening in each picture. 

I still have a bunch of clients who are working on temporal directions.  For this activity, I had them draw in the light box.  (Before you draw the circle, draw a square.)  You could also adapt this by having the kids complete a more complex drawing with you giving the steps.  Ed Emberley books have some great simple drawings that you could use in the sandbox. 

I'm thinking it would be fun to work on with emotions too.  You could draw the circle and have them draw in the eyebrows, mouth etc.  Or you could try to "change" people's emotions by drawing over pictures of real people.  I could see this being really motivating: (Let's see what the Math teacher would look like if they were really mad....) 

What other ways have you used a light box in therapy? 

Hot lips and Octopus hangers...

I spent too long at Target this week because I was avoiding going back out into the FREEZING cold.  I ended up with some fun Dollar Spot crafts for Articulation or language cards.  Check out these cute animal clips.  They come in a set of 3.  I used them for articulation today, but you could easily use them for following directions activities.

I also got some "hot lips" clips for working on bilabial sounds.

The Octopus hanger is my ALL TIME favorite for Articulation Drills.  I hang it on a long string in my therapy room.  The children have to say the card a certain number of times before the Octopus will "eat" their card.  Then they have to say each card again (maybe in a sentence) as they take the cards down at the end of the activity.  I got the Octopus hanger at Ikea last year for under 10.00.  Well worth the money.

Happy Monday!

How to make your own HE/SHE card decks

I came across a great website last fall called: http://www.senteacher.org.  It's an FREE site that allows you to print certificates, flashcards and some therapy materials.  If you work with students on emotions, you definitely want to check this site out.  There is an option to create a "Facial Fan," Thought Bubbles to print out and  Face Spinners for Emotion Recognition.  Awesome!
There is also a program called AAC cards which allows you to create choice cards easily.

I have a resourceful coworker who had created their own cards for receptive identification of he and she.  So, when I saw this program, I thought it would be a great way to make my own set of cards.  Here's how you can make YOUR own...

Go to http://www.senteacher.org/Print/Other/  Click on the AAC cards to start.

On the left side of the screen, you can type in your search keywords.  For this project I generally tried the present progressive form (ex. drinking) first to see if I would get results for both a boy and a girl.  If not, I would try boy drinking or he drinking.

You can also add the labels on the pictures by using the cream box on the right.  I couldn't find a way to save these, so this is an activity you need to complete and print off immediately.  The first two search boxes correspond to the first line of pictures.  Once you activate the search the program does a quick internet search of images in the flashcard box.

Continue creating sets of 4 rows of he/she cards until each box is filled.  Then print out on cardstock, laminate and cut out.  Repeat until you have a full deck of cards.

Here's how I use it in therapy:
1.  Receptive Identification: "Show me/Point To/Touch She is sneezing"
2.  Contrast practice: "She is sneezing." "He is sneezing"
3.  Verb tense forms
4.  Building verb vocabulary.  This one is fun to have them say the verb and then pretend to do it themselves.

Tell me, is this something that would be helpful for you to use?

Prefix, Root Words and Suffixes

I forgot to include this activity in my posts regarding prefix, suffixes and root words.  Going along with the toolkit idea from my TPT download, you can use nuts and bolts to practice meanings.  I went to the local hardware store and picked up a handful of nuts and bolts.  I was looking for a double bolt where I could place the root word on and add a nut on either side.  The only ones I found were blunt edged on one side with a pointy screw on the other side.  Although it would likely be a fun activity, I try to avoid materials that would impale me.

Anyhow, it's pretty simple-the key is to get the largest bolts you can find, then write the names of the prefixes, root words and suffixes you want to practice.

Overall it was a pretty cheap activity, coming in under 5.00.

Build a Word: Prefix, suffix and Root Word Towers

Last fall there were a lot of spelling and sentence building duplo block ideas on Pinterest.  I started thinking about using the same idea with building blocks.  I scored a big bag of Megablocks at the Goodwill for a few dollars.  I also had a few address labels left over from Christmas.  I downloaded the Avery Template for the labels and typed in a variety of root words, prefixes and suffixes.  The labels were too big for the blocks so I cut them in half.

Then I sorted the Megablocks into three colors: red (root words), yellow (prefixes), and blue (suffixes).  I attached the labels to each side of the block.

Voila!  Your very own word making tools!