Mr R is in his first speech therapy group at the moment. Having been through this programme already with Mr T, I know from experience that the activities given really do help over time – despite not seeming at first glance to be anything to do with speech! So I thought I would blog each homework activity in case the ideas can be useful for anyone else to try with their little ones.
Our first weeks activity was a blowing bubbles activity. You take a tray (as you can see, I just used a wide flat-ish bowl, it’s quite flexible) and add some bubble liquid or washing up liquid. I added a bit of water to the washing up liquid in mine, but it is more than 50% washing up liquid which is why it’s red due to my Pomegranate flavour Fairy Liquid. I quite liked the coloured effect to keep it more interesting
Using a straw, blow down to create bubbles in the liquid. Even though it’s something quite simple, it did grab Mr R’s attention and the aim is to help develop that shared attention. Once your child is engaged and interested in watching the activity, you then have that chance to start introducing some key words – for eg: Bubble, Pop, Wow.. or anything else which is suitable. The key is to keep your language simple and not overload with overly complex sentences!
After a little while Mr R wanted to put his train in there so that was the end of the focussed activity really as he then goes off on his own agenda but he concentrated well upto then! You can let your little one blow down the straw too to have a turn, but Mr R did try this and end up sucking instead – so it depends whether or not they can manage it.
When I first started slt with Mr T I have to admit I did wonder how much impact will these kind of activities have on speech – but it all helps with attention, listening and shared attention building the basics which you can build on, without that they can’t learn to speak!
If you want a more thorough post on Speech and language strategies and book recommendations, you may like these tips on helping your child’s speech and language or for another speech and language activity check out our home made shakers.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
Any sort of bubbles are such great fun x
Bubbles are so much fun. My children love blowing the bubbles onto paper so they make their very own bubble pictures 🙂
How old is your little one? My eldest just turned 2. Sometimes I think we try too hard or have too much expectation from them and they will do things when they are ready. I have been teaching her for months to count 1-10, and we got as far as 5 and she was ok for a while then she forgot or mixed them up. So I left it for a few good months, then one day she was playing and she counted form 1-10, in the right order! I was amazed as we haven’t actually been working on numbers for such a long time. I still have no clue where she picked it up. We do not have a T.V and I very rarely put cartoons and stuff on for her to watch on my laptop. But she did!
I bet your little one had so much fun with bubbles though, I loved it as a kid x
my youngest is just turned 2 as well. because we have autism in the family already with the older children i’m not a fan of just leave them and see if they do it when they are ready. if they do – then all well and good but if not, then its a lot of time wasted when early intervention could have made a difference. numbers 1-10 at 2 is good though mA! my little one is not anywhere near that he only has a few words
Aww I used to be a carer so I have worked with autistic children and I understand, I am now a primary school teacher and I have 2 autistic children in my class, I am really struggling with them to be honest but I am trying new approaches with them. I was really frustrated at first as their autism was not picked up in the previous school and they were just treated as being lazy. So, alhumdulillah if you can help your children InshAlllah. I read before the best time to expose your child and to drill them with language and stuff is before they turn one, this is meant to be the highest point in their developmental stage. All kids are different though, my nephew is 3 now and a proper chatterbox but he could not talk at all when he was 2.5 and he doesn’t have speech problem or anything, some kids just take longer. x
Great idea – my little girl is just starting to learn a few words so I will be watching with interest.
Thanks for linking up to our Parenting Pin-it Party. That looks great fun!
I love how speech therapy is not all about bombarding children with cards with big words on it (which is what I thought!). I remember doing his bubble activity at school because I loved it so much. After we’d blown lots of bubbles we took a plain piece of paper and put it over the top so there was a pretty pattern created! 🙂
Happy to have found you through #PocoLo! This seems like a fun activity that I must try with my toddler. It’s interesting how play can help in speech development. Lovely blog you have and love the pics too!