Do you get a lot of junk mail daily and are tired of always throwing it out? Well, with our free speech therapy coupons ideas, you can get good use out of useless mail! Enjoy!
Young children learn vocabulary best through playing. It is the most natural and functional. They learn by playing. So, while playing with the junk mail, use the following vocabulary words in sentences. Your child is listening! If they can, have them repeat a few sentences.
For more info on vocabulary learning, check out the toddler and preschool/elementary vocabulary learning pages.
If your child is not talking yet, don't worry. We can jump start his/her first words if you have an android device. Don't have Android....check out how to encourage first words with a kindle!
Is your child already talking but not talking a lot? Want more specific ideas on how to expand vocabulary? Check out our BRAND NEW eBook, Toddler Talking. We are EXCITED about it!
The ability to follow directions is a crucial language skill needed for academic and social success. It requires a person to know vocabulary, have working memory skills, and be able pay attention. Below are ideas to practice following directions while playing with coupons.
Sequential: This direction is multi-step and something has to be done first, second, etc..
Before/After: This is a temporal direction. Your child has to do something before or after they do something else. This is TRICKY!
Spatial: Give a direction with a spatial aspect (under, over, above).
Quantitative: Quantitative means quantity. Teach your child concepts such as few, one, many, a lot, etc...
Basic: Basic means one step, simple directions. If your child is having trouble. Start here!
Below are some games that target both expressive (speaking) and receptive (listening) skills. Read below for some ideas!
Comparative: You will practice "comparing and contrasting" language skills. These are important!
Sequencing Narrative: Retell all the steps needed for different activities in the sand such as:
Naming: Name all the different vocabulary words that fit into the following categories:
Sorting: Organize the mail by attributes. Below are some ideas!
A solid foundation in speech and language skills in necessary for success in reading, math, social relationships, and language arts! For more specific speech therapy activities, read more about our practice ideas based on age and skill level.
Executive functioning is our own personal CEO. Executive functioning skills are our abilities to plan, control impulses and emotions, multi-task, pay and shift attention, and organize. These are quite important as you can imagine; however, with all the craziness in schools and increase in technology use in kids, these skills aren't being fostered and that is A PROBLEM! Let's change that :)
Our executive functioning skills will continue to develop as our frontal lobe continues to grow; however, we can start things off on the right foot!
Like I've said before, there is so much technology and SOOO much academic pressure put on little ones, social skill development is lacking these days. There is no time to learn these skills, poor babies.
Social skills are essential in order to be successful in school, work, and really all aspects of life. Social skills develop from birth and grow throughout our life through experiences, observation, and direct teaching. You can demonstrate good social skills from the start through modeling.
Is your child working on saying sounds better or otherwise known as "articulation therapy?" If so, you can practice articulation skills while you play in the sand.
Below are some words to practice while playing. We created sample target words for all sounds in all word positions (beginning, middle, and end). If your child is working on any of these sounds, pick a word and practice it while you play in the sand. Very functional and easy!
Some ideas on how to practice include:
Read articulation therapy for how to do speech therapy at home and access free word lists!
For more information on specific sounds, read about our apps for speech therapy!
Sounds
Initial
Medial
Final
B
Buy
Table
Grab
D
Dump
Idea
Read
F
Fun
Unfold
Stuff
G
Garbage
Again
Catalog
J
Junk
Object
Huge
K
Collect
Looking
Pick
L
Like
Collect
Crumple
M
Image
Home
N
No
Organize
Fun
P
Pick
Coupon
Drop
R
Read
Borrow
Paper
S
See
Beside
Pass
T
Take
Little
Get
V
Value
Cover
Above
Z
Zip
Scissors
Fingers
TH
Throw
Something
Both
CH
Chair
Picture
Bunch
SH
Shuffle
Cash Reigster
Finish
I TRIED my hardest to get an adorable video of my boys because they seriously love playing with these coupons. My youngest even said some of his first words (more and paper) while playing. This time, he did say "yummy" while "feeding" me chicken. It is quite cute. They are so excited that they are just running all over but this is a glimpse at how you could use coupons with different ages (1 and 4 years old).
Sign up for our free newsletter and new ideas will be delivered right to your inbox about once a week. You are welcome!
Bridget is an ASHA certified, practicing speech-language pathologist. She is passionate about providing parents with information on child speech and language development as well as provide functional, easy activities to do at home! Parents have the power to make a real difference. Follow Bridget at Facebook and Pinterest for more fun!