Last week I did some shopping! Not necessarily back to school shopping, but I will use that excuse with my husband to justify deliveries. I just happened to be browsing Amazon (shocker, right?) and noticed that Learning Resources had a lot of their products on sale. I am a huge fan of Learning Resources educational toys. I have found so many fun ways to use these items in speech so I thought I'd share what I got!
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience. This means that if you purchase something using my link, I may make a small commission (which is always extremely appreciated!)
First up,
Rainbow Ice Cream Cones! My students love all things food related, so I knew this ice cream set would be a hit. It's designed to teach colors and work on fine motor skills. But there are so many things you can do with this set. Pretend/dramatic play, following directions (taking ice cream shop orders), requesting, counting, using "more," spatial concepts (on top!)
The next item is a Math Cube set. No, I don't teach math and you wouldn't want me tutoring you child in math, but these cubes can be used so many different ways. Imagination/creative play elicits so much expressive language. Let your students play and stack and see what they come up with. I have also had a to of luck using these with smash mats. We stack the cubes on top of the pictures for each production and get a ton of articulation practice that way (tallest tower wins!) These are very easy to wipe down and keep clean as well.
How adorable are these Shape Sorting Cupcakes?! I do have a lot of little ones on my caseload so working on colors and shapes is a bonus with their language skills. This past week we pretended we worked at a bakery and took cupcake orders. We also had to make sure we put the cupcakes in the oven to bake (be careful, it's hot!) and delivered the cupcakes to the customers (boy and girl Little People figures). I also plan on pairing these with the story, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff
I have had my eye on the Farmer's Market Color Sorting set for a long time now. This set is very engaging for teaching colors and sorting. But the pieces that come with the set are great for creative play. Combine with a cash register (I personally own this one) and you are all set to play supermarket with your students.
Last, but not least! This one is not from Learning Resources, but I just had to have it. The Big Pop Game Board has been so much fun. It was hard to bring it to work because Kameron was loved using it at home. For him, I was able to sneak in some addition practice with it by him adding up the dice to see how many bubbles he got to pop on his turn. In speech, this has been a hit with my articulation students. They practice a target before the roll the dice and take a turn. The game didn't come with instructions and is incredibly open ended. You and your students can make up your own rules on how to play the game!