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This month’s Toy of the Month is Bubbles! I use bubbles almost everyday in my speech and language therapy sessions. Bubbles are not just for kids' playtime; they can be powerful tools for enhancing speech and language development. Let's dive into how bubbles can be utilized to promote speech and language skills and development.
Engagement: Bubbles capture children's attention, creating a playful and interactive learning environment. Use bubbles as a motivator during speech activities to encourage vocalization and communication.
Vocabulary Building: Introduce new words related to bubbles such as “pop”, “blow”, “float”, and “up” to expand a child's vocabulary. In addition, model describing words such as “big”, “small”, “messy”, and “shiny”.
Imitation: Demonstrate bubble blowing and bubble popping to encourage imitation. Model the vowel sound “oh” and “ooo” to encourage lip rounding while blowing bubbles. Model sounds such as “puh puh puh” and “buh buh buh” to encourage imitation of early developing consonant sounds.
Descriptive Language: Have children describe the bubbles using descriptive words and phrases. This can include size, shape, movement, and colors. For example, "The bubble is round and shiny," or "It's a small blue bubble."
Following Directions: Give simple instructions related to bubble play such as "Blow gently," "Pop the big bubble", and “Pop bubbles with your feet” to enhance listening comprehension.
Additional ideas:
Variety: Use colorful and scented bubble solutions or bubble wands to maintain children's interest and engagement. Explore different bubble-blowing techniques (e.g., blowing big bubbles, blowing bubbles through a hoop) to make the activity exciting and varied.
Integration: Connect bubble play with storytelling or book reading sessions. For example, read a book about bubbles and then act out scenes with bubbles.
Sing songs while blowing bubbles. Songs are very beneficial for encouraging the learning of new vocabulary, imitating words and phrases, and overall engagement. I often use familiar tunes to sing about what we are doing. For example, “This is the way we blow the bubbles, blow the bubbles, blow the bubbles. This is the way we blow the bubbles in the air” (to the tune of “Wheels on the Bus”).
By incorporating bubbles into speech and language activities, you can create a playful and interactive learning environment that supports language development in a fun and engaging way.
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