Don't you just love when you score a really, really good find for therapy? I live for the moments when my brain is racing with numerous ideas of ways to use a particular item that I find around the house or at the store (or when my child opens a birthday gift!) This exact thing happened the other day while at one of my homes away from home... Target's Dollar Spot!
Have you spotted this race track tape at your local Target yet? This tape is fantastic. And only $1! The possibilities are literally endless. But here are a few ideas and ways to use it in therapy with your students or at home with your kids to increase speech and language skills.
Smooth vs Bumpy Fluency Roads
Articulation Race Track
Race to Vocabulary Words
Have your students drive their cars down
the track that leads to new vocabulary words. Or even better, line multiple
words or objects up along the road and have the kids name them as her or she
drives to them.
Sentence Expansion Expressway
Have roads of multiple length represent
different sentence length. Write words under the tape (stick this tape right on
a dry erase board!) and have your student(s) read the words as he/she drives
over/past them. Add to the road as your student adds more words to their
sentences. The visual of longer roads and longer sentences is a great thing!
Have a smooth road and a bumpy road
(crumple the tape up a bit) as a visual for fluent and dysfluent speech. You
could also have your cars drive slow or fast to visually represent their rate
of speech.
Babbling Boulevard
For those little ones you are working
with, get them to imitate early sounds and single words with their cars. They
can tell the car to "go!" say "vroom!" as it races, and
"beep!" the horn at other cars.
Line up articulation cards around the
race track and have your student practice the words before he or she can move
on. The KaPow! cards work perfect for this! (With these cards you could target almost any goal!)
Preposition Parkway
This tape goes on (almost) any surface.
So have your track go "under" chairs, "over" tables, and
"around" the desk. The kids will have a blast driving on a not so
typical race track and get to practice using positional words. This is also a great opportunity to work on following directions.
Social Skills
There is never a bad time to practice good social skills. Have your students practice turn taking and using good manners as they take turns giving directions or sharing a vehicle to drive on the track.
Expressive Language
through Pretend Play
This is how I used the tape at home with
my own children. I made a road in our playroom and used the kids’ toys to
create a town with them. We had a farm, police station, grocery store,
hospital, and school. They used dolls and superheroes as the townspeople. It
kept them entertained for hours!
This tape is so much fun! If you happen to find it at your local Target, stock up!! If you have other fun ways to use this tape, please share! Happy racing!!
