Toy Spotlight- Presents
Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite toys to have on hand in speech/language therapy sessions— the Learning Resources Counting Surprise Party presents. They are a hit with a wide variety of ages and they can target so many speech and language skills. Remember, there is not just one way to play with toys. There are 10 different colored presents, each with a small object inside. We want to keep the toy fun, and extend the play as long as possible so let’s explore ideas behind just opening and closing each present.
Let’s talk play ideas. We want to follow the child’s lead but we can always introduce new play schemes and see if they are interested.
I like to put all the presents into a big bag. We can shake the bag, make a guess which color we will pick, and then pull one out and see if we were right. Then shake the box, open it up and see what’s inside! We can talk about the function of that object (fly, hop, drink, etc.), and then we can act it out. Once all the presents are out, you can sort into categories (animals, transportation), have a tea party (see my Instagram video), or have each animal drive the truck and plane! Endless possibilities.
Hide the presents around the room. Go searching for them and talk about where they were hiding (behind the books). I also like to make a game about cleaning them up. Notice that each object has a color corresponding to its box. Can your child find the match? Maybe your child loves numbers— I will start to line some up and search for what number is missing!
Have a birthday party. Give each present to a different person or stuffed animal and target pronouns or following simple directions (give the blue present to bear). Try switching out the objects with things you have at home, or leave one empty and see what language we encourage from that!
Speech/Language targets:
I already touched on a few language targets in my play scheme ideas, but let’s recap. I encourage many families to think beyond colors, numbers and drilling noun labels. Here are some skills to keep in mind as you’re playing and modeling language:
exclamatory and core words: wow! uh oh! oh no! yay! mmmmm, beep beep, ouch, wheee, animal sounds, more, open, out, off
object/function: what do we do with each item, or what can that item do. All action words (drink, fly, waddle, jump, spin, hop, drive, sleep)
qualitative concepts: big, small, fast, slow, fun, loud, quiet, hungry, empty
spatial concepts: in, on, under, behind, beside, around, up, down, between, next to, out, off
speech targets: pick 1-2 words with your child’s target sound and incorporate it into play (maybe it’s the final /k/ in “yuck”) and each animal tries the tea and says “yuck!”. OR switch out the objects for pictures from your SLP and get some good practice in!
Have you tried this toy before? Do you have any other fun ideas? Check out this video for one example!!