Hey everyone! I wanted to build off of Allies previous blog a bit and talk about ways to shake up your day and use fun experiments and activities to do with the weather warming up! As Allie said, we are living in a world that is not like we are used to. Many of us are home trying to juggle work, kids, household chores/upkeep, and the every day of life that keeps on going. The schedules are busy and often times, we just rush to or are thinking about the next activity/appointment (virtual) without processing or thinking of what we are currently doing. I want to give us permission to relax and do an activity with the family that is fun and we can enjoy in the moment! Below I have listed a few activities and experiments below that I or some of my families have done that we have found simple and fun and even just 5-10 minutes can make this heavy world a little lighter! I will also give some tips on how to focus on language with these activities, but just engaging and being active within the activity will help with the interaction and relationship!
- Ice Block treasure hunt: Take a bucket and fill it with water and then some age appropriate sized toys and put them in! You could use smaller items you have around the house currently, or order some new toys! Then, put the bucket in the freezer to freeze overnight. The next day when the weather is nice, take the block outside and use simple tools (with supervision) to break the ice away and find the hidden items! You can also do this in an ice cube tray with smaller items! To make this language rich, you can talk about the items you see (describe them before and after you get them out), talk about what you are doing with the tools, and what the ice is doing and what it feels like!
- Board games: Dust off the old board games from the closet and play a quick game! It doesn’t have to be elaborate or long and you can make it as goofy or serious of a game as you want! You can also modify them to be simpler for young kids! You would be surprised at how young they pick up on games and turn taking with games! You can work on colors or shapes if there are pieces they are playing with, work on sounds that may come up in the game, work on turn taking and interaction for language!
- Have a craft competition/show where there is a theme and everyone needs to design something within that theme (summer foods, vehicles, sports, etc.) with a set number of items. Everyone should get access to the same items and you can help those that need it! To work on language, you can have them ask for help when they need, describe what they made and why when they are finished, and make guesses on why others chose what they did!
Again, these are trying times that we are working through right now, so speech and language may not be on the forefront of your mind. We want to be here to remind you of how you can build it into your current routines (see Allies previous post) and shake up the routine if you need to with a fun activity to reconnect with each other in a different way! If you need any more help or support, please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us for activities or ideas!
We miss you all and cannot wait to get back into your homes!
~Amber
