Speech Building at the Park
Get outside for some fresh air and learning opportunities! Your local park provides so many fun opportunities to grow your little ones language and language modeling.
Here are some park vocabulary words great for modeling/practicing:
-Verbs: climb, slide, walk, crawl, go
-Basic Concepts: up and down, over and under, big and small
-Following Steps: first, now, do, stop
Sharing with everyone a simple speech game to play at the park, in the car, or in your cozy house!
-Play “I Spy” to target language skills (vocabulary description, i.e., I spy something small and sharp).
-Target articulation skills (find objects with target articulation sounds!)
-Colors: To practice colors, find everything that is a certain color.
-Grammar: Practice a target verb such as “I see,” or “I discovered”Indoor Movements
Fine Motor Skills Fine motor skill activities are aimed at developing and strengthening the small muscles of the hands and wrists.
Strength Activities
Play with clothespins and practice opening/shutting using alternate fingers, pinning around a piece of paper, pinning up toys, etc.
Practice cutting patterns using kid-safe scissors
Play with playdough, putty, clay, modeling foam, etc.
Knead bread or cookie dough then roll with a rolling pin
Practice squeezing a spray bottle or water gun using different fingers
Practice punching holes using a hole puncher
Pop bubbles from a bubble pack
Use tweezers to pick up and sort small objects like beads or puffballs
Squeeze a stress ball
Fill one bowl with water and leave one empty, then have your child practice soaking a sponge and wringing out the water into the other bowl
Finger Isolation Activities
Practice using index finger to draw in sand, shaving cream, a steamy window
Play with finger puppets
Practice hand motions for songs like “Baby Shark”
Play finger soccer and thumb war
Finger paint
Play with a toy cash register, calculator, toy phone, etc.
Play with toy musical instruments that require fingers (clarinet, recorder, piano, etc.)
Practice buttoning and snapping
Practice tying shoes
Play with stickers
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