Spring Sensory Bin!

It's almost spring! However, living in Florida, it's felt like spring has been here for a few weeks already. Enough so, that I have already opened up my my spring storage box full of books and activities. If you have been following my blog for a while, you know that over the past year I have been using sensory bins with my students to reach so many goals. I wanted to share with you a fun and inexpensive sensory bin that I used this past week!

One thing I love about sensory bins is that they don't have to be expensive to be functional. I got the base of my bin for $1.00. I chose to use the shredded paper grass that is typically used for easter baskets. What says "spring" more than green grass?! Some other ideas that come to mind are: rice or pasta died green, black beans to look like dirt, green yarn or cut up smoothie straws!

Next I went to my favorite place, the Target's dollar spot, to find fun spring fillers! 

Right now they have adorable felt flowers and food boxes. My friend Rachael from Texas Speech Mom has created some fun activities to use with these flower boxes. I love when I can repurpose anything to be used in more than one way, so I happily purchased these! 

While there, I also found squishy, stretchy caterpillars! These have been a huge hit with my kids. I immediately thought about using the food boxes with the caterpillars and using it while reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle!

These bins have been so much fun to use. I have used them as companions to stories we have read but also just used them for structured play activities. Sensory bins are fun to use while trying to obtain language samples because they really can elicit so much language (requesting, describing, sequencing, pretend play, etc)

   

March #SLPMustHave Sale!

If you haven't already noticed, the 7th of every month is a great day for shopping! A ton of SLPs on TpT all select one of their best, 'must have' items and set it for 50% off! This month, I have my Speech & Language Spring Bundle on sale! Want to get your March and April lesson plans set now? Snag this bundle while it is 50% off! Check out what's included…

Need some quick print and go homework sheets for this holiday season? This packet includes 10 adorable Spring and Easter themed homework coloring sheets. There are blanks provided for you or your students to write in their own targets to take home and practice.

This is an open-ended game (with an adorable Easter theme) to use to target any speech and language goal!
Print as many copies of the points/bonus cards as you wish. After your student(s) practice a target, have them choose a card from the pile. They either are awarded points, an extra turn, the game order is reversed or they lose a turn. This is an great way to spice up "skill and drill" therapy!!
Also included in this packet is a game board and blank bunny cards so you can create your own based on student need!

This is a fun & festive way to work on pronouns with your students this season. Included in this packet are interactive worksheets that target him/her/he/she/them/they! This activity is purposely left somewhat open ended so you can use it as you need. 
Here is how I use this activity:
I like to have my students practice following directions as they demonstrate their pronoun knowledge.
For example: “Give the butterfly to her.” (one step direction)
“Give the candy to him then the chick to her.” (two step directions)
“They want something blue that keeps you dry from the rain.” (inferencing)
Included in this packet are both black and white and colored pictures. I laminate the colored pictures and attach Velcro to keep it as a sturdy, use again activity (ideal for whole group.) I like to let the students have their own black and white copies they can cut, color, and glue (perfect for independent work and informal assessments.)

This is a wonderful collection of speech and language story extension activities to go with the story, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick. This activity pack does not contain the story and is not affiliated with the book. 
Here is what's inside: 
Pages 4-7: Large story sequencing Activity 
Print, cut, and laminate. Have your students “feed” the lady (page 4) as you read the story. These can also be used as vocabulary cards.
Pages 8-10: Student Story Sequence activity
Let your students demonstrate their story sequencing skills as they put the story in order. Pictures are black and white so they can color in the pictures when they are done. 
Pages 11-15: Cover The Dots!
Have your students cover the dots with chips, markers or even better- candy as they correctly practice a target word or answer a question!
Page 16: Color the Story
Have your students work on vocabulary as they color in the pictures as they read about them in the story. 
Page 17: Story Scavenger Hunt
Have your students search the story for words that contain their target sound!
Pages 18-22: Mini Book
Students can illustrate a mini version of the story. Great for story retell, articulation practice, and homework!
Pages 23-24: Prepositions
Have your students practice prepositions/ spatial skills with vocabulary from the story.
Pages 25-26: Following Directions!
Read the instructions on page 28 for your students to follow or make up your own!
Page 27-29: Compare & Contrast
Have your students Compare and contrast vocabulary words and characters from the story

You can download this bundle in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.

This bundle is valued at $10.00, but discounted to $8.00. On March 7, you can grab all of these goodies for only $4.00! Woo hoo!! Who doesn't love a good bargain? Find more SLP Must Have sale items by searching #slpmusthave on social media outlets. 

Spring & Easter Speech Craftivities!

I love craftivities in therapy just about as much as I love stories in therapy (and that is a lot!) It's amazing how much coloring, cutting, and glueing can spark up language in a child! In addition, these craftivities we make in therapy help connect parents with what we are learning about and provides great opportunity for carryover at home! I wanted to share a few of my go-to favorites for this time of year!

First up is an Easter Egg Speech Wreath! 

To make this, I used construction paper for the eggs and a paper plate with the middle cut out for the wreath (fancy schmancy!) I offered colorful paper eggs, but this student wanted to customize each egg! Then, we wrote target articulation words on each egg. Great decoration and even better speech homework!

The picture above is of easter eggs hiding in the grass! I did a similar activity to this when using the story In the Tall, Tall Grass last year. I recently saw Jenn from Crazy Speech World hid eggs in the grass instead of critters and decided this would be fun to make! To create this masterpiece I used construction paper and target words from Mommy Speech Therapy's worksheets. 

Speech-er-Pillar!

I should take stock out in construction paper. We created this little guy after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

Last but not least.... Speech Flowers!

I think this is my favorite spring craftivity. My speech room looked so colorful after I hung these up! I used paint chips from Home Depot and left over tissue paper squares that I had from another craft. The kids wrote their target words in the petals!

I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend with your loved ones!!

Speech With The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convience!

Spring has sprung! I love this time of year and I love all of the "springy" themed books and activities that can be used in therapy! If you missed my post a few weeks ago, I shared some spring time favorites! You can check that out here. One of my favorites to use this time of year is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

This classic story is perfect to teach all about growing and changing! What's even better is when we can throw some speech and language goals in the mix! 

One of my favorite activities to use for story sequencing goals is a "story in a bag!" I found some story cards on Pinterest (they are everywhere- just search "the very hungry caterpillar sequencing.") I decided to use black and white pictures so the kids can color them and personalize their story bag!

After they were finished coloring, we cut them apart and numbered them. Since they are numbered, the kids have an easier time retelling the story in the correct sequence. I love sending these bags home for homework. The kids love sharing their bags with their family and I love extra practice at home!

Let me introduce our Speech-a-Pillars!! I cannot take credit for these, I saw tons of similar ones floating around Pinterest... but aren't they cute? I pre-cut the circles and target words (simply to save time) and let the kids have fun creating their caterpillars. I printed the words from the Mommy Speech Therapy blog.

What's your favorite spring time activity?

15 Books To Get You Hoppin Into Spring!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.
Spring has finally arrived!! Good-bye winter clothes (although I do love my scarves and boots!) and hello beautiful weather! This also means that it is time to pull your spring books off the shelves and into your therapy sessions!! I called on some of my favorite SLPs and fellow bloggers to help me compile a list of the best books to read this time of year. Spring is all about growing and changing, why not let your book collection do a little growing as well!

My favorite book to read in the spring is

In the Tall, Tall Grass

Jenna from Speech Room News recommends

Tops & Bottoms

Lauren from Busy Bee Speech recommends

Happy Easter, Biscuit!

Kristin Minden recommends

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick!

Whitney from Let's Talk! recommends

Happy Easter, Little Critter!

Jenn from Crazy Speech World recommends

The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

Felice from The Dabbling Speechie recommends

Move Over, Rover!

Maureen from The Speech Bubble recommends 

The Little Red Hen

Patti Bohlman recommends

The habits of rabbits

Katie from Playing With Words 365 recommends

The Very Busy Spider

Carrie from Carrie's Speech Corner recommends 

The Very Lazy Ladybug

Teach Speech 365 recommends

The Easter Egg

Rachel Jones from Let's Talk Speech Therapy recommends

Wake Up, Bear

Miss Speechie from Speech Time Fun recommends

Spring Things

Jessica Chase from Consonantly Speaking recommends

How Spider Saved Easter

I hope this list gets you excited and motivated for spring therapy sessions! Have a favorite that didn't make it on the list? Please share it in a comment below!