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Easter is right around the corner! This means many of you will be out there buying all of the fun things to fill your kiddo’s baskets up! As therapists working in child development, we are often asked during the holidays for a list of recommended activities, games, and products for different age groups.Below, I put together some of my personal favorites! They are all tried and true activities that are loaded with so much developmental skill stimulation for the varying age groups. I hope you will find this list helpful when choosing gifts to add to your baskets.
Infants
This is the perfect opportunity to fill up their baskets with some sensory stimulating play items! Infants love looking in the mirror, and the All About Me Mirroris the perfect size to prop up in front of them as they get their tummy time in for the day. It is also the perfect size to take on the go for some developmentally stimulating play during restaurant, park, and shopping outings!
18Months – 2 Years
There is a TON of development that occurs between 18 months and 2 years, but often times you can continue to use the same toy throughout this time – just with a little adaptation as they develop more advanced skills. Some of the things this age group really enjoys are open/close concepts (containers, pots, pants, etc) – the Peakaboo Learning Farm is a fun way to engage them in color concepts, open and close, animals, as well as number concepts. The animals also turn into finger puppets which is a great way to work on finger and hand muscle development.
2-3 yrs
The “I’LL DO IT!” stage! These kiddo’s seemingly want to do EVERYTHING themselves. For this age group, I recommend activities that include lots of opportunities for independently succeeding in a task. Plastic Easter eggs that have patterns or designs so that they can find and match pairs, small bubble sets that allow their little finger to hold and blow themselves, small crayons for their small hands, chalk for outdoor play and building up those foundational handwriting skills, Alphabet Blocks are great for color identification, fine motor coordination, as well as for simple letter recognition tasks – I recommend starting with the letters of their name so that they can visually recognize their name when they start school. Peg Friends Stacking Farm is a fun way to encourage visual motor integration as well as early building and matching skills.
3-4 yrs
This age group we look at a lot of the school readiness skills. Some of the activities that I really like are fine motor strengthening skills and the Froggy Feeding Fun game provides lots of opportunities to increase intrinsic hand muscles by squeezing the froggys mouth open. As they approach 4, the Alphabet Acorns game is great for letter recognition, visual perceptual tasks, as well as more advanced find motor coordination! Try adding the letters into a sensory bin for some added visual figure-ground searching skills.
5-7 yrs
For this age group, activities that have academically pertinent tasks built into a fun game is always a sure hit! Sight Word SWAT turns sight words into a fun fly swatting game. Try placing the words on both horizontal and vertical surfaces. Or you can even hide them around the room for some added visual scanning skills. The whole family can join in on the fun making it an engaging and fun task to learn new words. Penguins on Ice turns math concepts into a fun activity using colorful penguins as manipulatives which is great for fine motor practice as well. If your 5-7’s have younger siblings, this is a fun activity for the young kiddos as well – instead of practicing math concepts, they can build patterns, work on color recognition, or even just simple fine motor manipulation!
8+ years
For the 8+ year old’s, on- the- go activities are always great as these kiddo’s tend to have busier schedules and limited “play” time. Mental Box Go! is a great visual perceptual thinking game for any downtime. Easy to carry with you and play anywhere, anytime! Geoboards are also a fun, easy activity to set up. Use rubber bands to create shapes, patterns, designs, etc. These activities also provide lots of opportunity for social participation and engagement such as problem solving together which is a great developmental skill.
While this is a short list of just some of the fun basket fillers that have great developmental value, I hope this article has helped you in deciding what fun skills you will be filling your baskets with this year!
Easter is right around the corner! This means many of you will be out there buying all of the fun things to fill your kiddo’s baskets up! As therapists working in child development, we are often asked during the holidays for a list of recommended activities, games, and products for different age groups.Below, I put together some of my personal favorites! They are all tried and true activities that are loaded with so much developmental skill stimulation for the varying age groups. I hope you will find this list helpful when choosing gifts to add to your baskets.
Infants
This is the perfect opportunity to fill up their baskets with some sensory stimulating play items! Infants love looking in the mirror, and the All About Me Mirroris the perfect size to prop up in front of them as they get their tummy time in for the day. It is also the perfect size to take on the go for some developmentally stimulating play during restaurant, park, and shopping outings!
18Months – 2 Years
There is a TON of development that occurs between 18 months and 2 years, but often times you can continue to use the same toy throughout this time – just with a little adaptation as they develop more advanced skills. Some of the things this age group really enjoys are open/close concepts (containers, pots, pants, etc) – the Peakaboo Learning Farm is a fun way to engage them in color concepts, open and close, animals, as well as number concepts. The animals also turn into finger puppets which is a great way to work on finger and hand muscle development.
2-3 yrs
The “I’LL DO IT!” stage! These kiddo’s seemingly want to do EVERYTHING themselves. For this age group, I recommend activities that include lots of opportunities for independently succeeding in a task. Plastic Easter eggs that have patterns or designs so that they can find and match pairs, small bubble sets that allow their little finger to hold and blow themselves, small crayons for their small hands, chalk for outdoor play and building up those foundational handwriting skills, Alphabet Blocks are great for color identification, fine motor coordination, as well as for simple letter recognition tasks – I recommend starting with the letters of their name so that they can visually recognize their name when they start school. Peg Friends Stacking Farm is a fun way to encourage visual motor integration as well as early building and matching skills.
3-4 yrs
This age group we look at a lot of the school readiness skills. Some of the activities that I really like are fine motor strengthening skills and the Froggy Feeding Fun game provides lots of opportunities to increase intrinsic hand muscles by squeezing the froggys mouth open. As they approach 4, the Alphabet Acorns game is great for letter recognition, visual perceptual tasks, as well as more advanced find motor coordination! Try adding the letters into a sensory bin for some added visual figure-ground searching skills.
5-7 yrs
For this age group, activities that have academically pertinent tasks built into a fun game is always a sure hit! Sight Word SWAT turns sight words into a fun fly swatting game. Try placing the words on both horizontal and vertical surfaces. Or you can even hide them around the room for some added visual scanning skills. The whole family can join in on the fun making it an engaging and fun task to learn new words. Penguins on Ice turns math concepts into a fun activity using colorful penguins as manipulatives which is great for fine motor practice as well. If your 5-7’s have younger siblings, this is a fun activity for the young kiddos as well – instead of practicing math concepts, they can build patterns, work on color recognition, or even just simple fine motor manipulation!
8+ years
For the 8+ year old’s, on- the- go activities are always great as these kiddo’s tend to have busier schedules and limited “play” time. Mental Box Go! is a great visual perceptual thinking game for any downtime. Easy to carry with you and play anywhere, anytime! Geoboards are also a fun, easy activity to set up. Use rubber bands to create shapes, patterns, designs, etc. These activities also provide lots of opportunity for social participation and engagement such as problem solving together which is a great developmental skill.
While this is a short list of just some of the fun basket fillers that have great developmental value, I hope this article has helped you in deciding what fun skills you will be filling your baskets with this year!
Discover the possibilities Gears! Gears! Gears! brings to your early STEM curriculum. Aligned to CSTA standards, these printable classroom activities from STEM.org will help your little learners discover the world of engineering games as they discover endless building possibilities.
Discover the possibilities Gears! Gears! Gears! brings to your early STEM curriculum. Aligned to CSTA standards, these printable classroom activities from STEM.org will help your little learners discover the world of engineering games as they discover endless building possibilities.
The Learning Resources Peekaboo Learning Farm is my daughter's new favorite toy, and I can't say that I'm surprised! It makes learning so much fun, and there are a multitude of ways to play with it. Her favorites include making me sing Old McDonald while she opens up each barn and matching the animal finger puppets to the pictures in one of her farm themed books (Click here for our favorite!). Like I said...so many opportunities.
The Peekaboo Learning Farm includes numbered, colorful barns that can be used to work on color identification, counting, matching, sorting, and more. Children are able to develop their fine motor skills by opening the colorful barns to find a farm animal finger puppet inside. The Peekaboo Learning Farm even encourages children to engage in imaginative play.
Where can I find it?
You can find it at Learning Resources HERE or at Amazon HERE.
How can you use the Peekaboo Learning Farm to encourage speech and language development?
For receptive language development?
Following directions: Make following directions fun with the Peekaboo Learning Farm. Have your child follow directions, such as, "give me the chicken," "open the blue barn," or even "take out the mouse and make him eat."
Answering Yes/No questions: Before having the ability to answer Wh- questions, your child must be able to answer yes/no questions regarding things they want, objects, and actions. If your child is working on the concepts of yes and no, ask your child, "do you want the blue barn?" You could also make it a little silly to see if your child can answer yes/no questions regarding the function of the Peekaboo Learning Farm (Examples: should I eat the barn? should I kiss the cow? should I open the barn?). Want another fun idea? Pair this toy with a farm themed book. Look at the animals on the pages of the book, and ask your child if they match the animals in the barns (i.e., "Is this a pig?").
Answering Wh- questions: Work on who, what, where & why questions while playing. Build comprehension by asking your child questions like "what is the mouse doing?," "who is in the red barn?," "where is the pig?," "why is the pig sleeping?" etc.
Understanding spatial concepts (in/on/off/out): Work on these early developing spatial concepts by having your child take the roof off the barn, putting the roof on the barn, taking the animals out of the barn, or putting the animal back in the barn.
Building memory skills: Play a memory game! Hide the animals in the different color barns, and see if your child can remember which animal is in which barn. Then have your child hide them for you to guess!
For expressive language development?
Practice animal sounds: Learning animal sounds is fun, plus animal sounds are often comprised of early developing sounds, making them easier for children to say! Encourage your child to imitate you saying each animal sound. You can even try singing Old McDonald while opening up each barn. Be sure to pause at the end of the song, and wait for your child to fill in the blank (Example: here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a....)!
Farm animal vocabulary: Talk about the different farm animals in each barn, and see if your child can label them.
Requesting: Have your child request for the barns, animals or to open each barn. Depending on how much expressive language they have, they could use a simple word such as, "open" or "more," or a phrase or sentence like, "I want open" or "Can I have the purple barn?"
Commenting: Encourage your child to comment throughout play. Model appropriate comments while playing with your child. Use language like, "I see a blue barn, what do you see?"
Use of prepositional phrases: Place the animals in different locations and have your child use phrases to describe their locations. Put them in the barn, out of the barn, on the roof, or behind the barn.
Vocabulary of action words: Pretend that the animals are doing different things and ask your child what each animal is doing. Depending on your child's vocabulary, you can focus on simple verbs like eat, sleep, and drink, or be more creative and use of verbs like swing, hop and slide.
For play development?
Pretend play: These barns provide so many pretend play opportunities. Children can use their imaginations to pretend that the animals are eating, sleeping, playing, or even having a birthday party! The possibilities are endless!
For social language development?
Turn taking: Develop turn taking abilities by asking your child if you can have a turn opening the barns.
Asking questions: Model appropriate questioning during play by asking your child questions like, "What barn do you think the cow is in?" or "What is your favorite color barn?" Encourage them to ask you questions back!
Toys for Talking- Peekaboo Learning Farm The Learning Resources Peekaboo Learning Farm is my daughter's new favorite toy, and I can't say that I'm surprised! It makes learning so much fun, and there are a multitude of ways to play with it. Her favorites include making me sing Old McDonald while she opens up each barn and matching the animal finger puppets to the pictures in one of her farm themed books (Click here for our favorite!). Like I said...so many opportunities.
The Peekaboo Learning Farm includes numbered, colorful barns that can be used to work on color identification, counting, matching, sorting, and more. Children are able to develop their fine motor skills by opening the colorful barns to find a farm animal finger puppet inside. The Peekaboo Learning Farm even encourages children to engage in imaginative play.
Where can I find it?
You can find it at Learning Resources HERE or at Amazon HERE.
How can you use the Peekaboo Learning Farm to encourage speech and language development?
For receptive language development?
Following directions: Make following directions fun with the Peekaboo Learning Farm. Have your child follow directions, such as, "give me the chicken," "open the blue barn," or even "take out the mouse and make him eat."
Answering Yes/No questions: Before having the ability to answer Wh- questions, your child must be able to answer yes/no questions regarding things they want, objects, and actions. If your child is working on the concepts of yes and no, ask your child, "do you want the blue barn?" You could also make it a little silly to see if your child can answer yes/no questions regarding the function of the Peekaboo Learning Farm (Examples: should I eat the barn? should I kiss the cow? should I open the barn?). Want another fun idea? Pair this toy with a farm themed book. Look at the animals on the pages of the book, and ask your child if they match the animals in the barns (i.e., "Is this a pig?").
Answering Wh- questions: Work on who, what, where & why questions while playing. Build comprehension by asking your child questions like "what is the mouse doing?," "who is in the red barn?," "where is the pig?," "why is the pig sleeping?" etc.
Understanding spatial concepts (in/on/off/out): Work on these early developing spatial concepts by having your child take the roof off the barn, putting the roof on the barn, taking the animals out of the barn, or putting the animal back in the barn.
Building memory skills: Play a memory game! Hide the animals in the different color barns, and see if your child can remember which animal is in which barn. Then have your child hide them for you to guess!
For expressive language development?
Practice animal sounds: Learning animal sounds is fun, plus animal sounds are often comprised of early developing sounds, making them easier for children to say! Encourage your child to imitate you saying each animal sound. You can even try singing Old McDonald while opening up each barn. Be sure to pause at the end of the song, and wait for your child to fill in the blank (Example: here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a....)!
Farm animal vocabulary: Talk about the different farm animals in each barn, and see if your child can label them.
Requesting: Have your child request for the barns, animals or to open each barn. Depending on how much expressive language they have, they could use a simple word such as, "open" or "more," or a phrase or sentence like, "I want open" or "Can I have the purple barn?"
Commenting: Encourage your child to comment throughout play. Model appropriate comments while playing with your child. Use language like, "I see a blue barn, what do you see?"
Use of prepositional phrases: Place the animals in different locations and have your child use phrases to describe their locations. Put them in the barn, out of the barn, on the roof, or behind the barn.
Vocabulary of action words: Pretend that the animals are doing different things and ask your child what each animal is doing. Depending on your child's vocabulary, you can focus on simple verbs like eat, sleep, and drink, or be more creative and use of verbs like swing, hop and slide.
For play development?
Pretend play: These barns provide so many pretend play opportunities. Children can use their imaginations to pretend that the animals are eating, sleeping, playing, or even having a birthday party! The possibilities are endless!
For social language development?
Turn taking: Develop turn taking abilities by asking your child if you can have a turn opening the barns.
Asking questions: Model appropriate questioning during play by asking your child questions like, "What barn do you think the cow is in?" or "What is your favorite color barn?" Encourage them to ask you questions back!
Kids may rejoice when school’s out of session, but as a mom, you may be wondering how you can balance their day’s activities between guilty pleasures (hello, screen time!) and wholesome activities. Whether your kiddo is under the weather, or you’re stay-cationing this Spring Break, here are 4 mom-approved activities that feed your child’s brain AND are easy to do when you’re staying in.
Fine Motor Foto Fun
Are your kiddo’s scissor skills just OK? Here’s a fun way to practice the fine motor movements that help them make the cut, with the added benefit of puzzle play that enhances critical thinking and problem solving.
Here’s how:
Find a collection of photos from magazines or family snapshots, or even by printing images from your computer. If you wish, glue the photos to cardstock or laminate them for extra durability.
Help your child draw guide lines on the photos to divide them into two or more large pieces, depending on their age and skill level. Lines can be freehanded or traced using stencils, like those included in our Trace Ace Scissor Skills Set.
Have your child cut the pieces out using child-safe scissors, practicing following the guidelines.
Have fun playing with your new puzzles. The more photos in your collection, the more of a challenge it will be to put each individual puzzle together!
(Photo Credit: Lina Awshee)
Letter Look and Learn
Reinforce letter recognition and sounds while building critical thinking skills with a letter scavenger hunt around the house. Plus, this activity will get them up and moving!
Here’s how:
Give your child a set of letters A-Z. Use Letter Blocks, Magnetic Letters or DIY your own set by writing each letter on an index card.
Set your child loose inside the house to find items that start with each letter of the alphabet and mark them with the corresponding letter.
Have your child take you or another family member on a tour of their letter hunt as they collect up their letters from A to Z.
Other ways to play:
If you have more than one child to play, challenge them to complete their letter hunt first. Once an item has been marked with a letter, it can’t be used again, so they’ll have to find another item for that letter!
To make the activity a little more challenging if your child is ready, have them carry a notebook and write out the name of the items they find to practice handwriting and spelling skills. Then, ask them to use each word to write a complete sentence or create a story using all of the words!
Dual Dice Duel
Everyone’s played the card game War – time to give it a math-tastic twist. If you have four dice around the house, you can have yourself a math duel. Here’s how to play:
Give each player two dice – or for extra fun, try using one Jumbo Dice In Diceper player instead!
Depending on the player’s math skill level, decide if you’ll be practicing number recognition/value, addition or multiplication.
Each player rolls their dice.
If playing for number recognition and value, each player calls out their number rolled from left to right. For example, if you roll a 4 and a 5, your number for that round is 45. The player with the higher number wins that round.
If playing for addition or multiplication, add or multiply your two dice together. The player with the higher total wins that round.
The first player to get 10 points wins!
Other ways to play:
Add more dice to the game to make it even more of a challenge!
Try Polyhedral Dice with 8, 10 or more sides for more complex challenges!
Use multi-colored dice, and assign each color a function – Add your red dice number, subtract your blue dice number, and so on, to get your total for the round.
Magnet Match
While the kids are circling the kitchen for their fourth round of snacks, put them to work at the fridge with Magnetic Uppercase & Lowercase Letters and a homemade worksheet!
Here’s how:
Using a blank sheet of construction paper, write the alphabet A-Z in marker. Create one sheet with the letters in order and another jumbling them up at random. You can also create and print this out on your computer!
Attach the paper to your fridge using a magnet, clip or removable tape.
Using magnetic letters, have your child match the letter to a magnet, covering the letter on the paper with the corresponding letter magnet.
Other ways to play:
Ready to learn upper and lower case letters? Mix in both cases using our Magnetic Uppercase and Lowercase Letter set.
Take the game to the next level by creating additional sheets spelling out short words, or print out photos of words and have your child spell them in letter magnets.
Kids may rejoice when school’s out of session, but as a mom, you may be wondering how you can balance their day’s activities between guilty pleasures (hello, screen time!) and wholesome activities. Whether your kiddo is under the weather, or you’re stay-cationing this Spring Break, here are 4 mom-approved activities that feed your child’s brain AND are easy to do when you’re staying in.
Fine Motor Foto Fun
Are your kiddo’s scissor skills just OK? Here’s a fun way to practice the fine motor movements that help them make the cut, with the added benefit of puzzle play that enhances critical thinking and problem solving.
Here’s how:
Find a collection of photos from magazines or family snapshots, or even by printing images from your computer. If you wish, glue the photos to cardstock or laminate them for extra durability.
Help your child draw guide lines on the photos to divide them into two or more large pieces, depending on their age and skill level. Lines can be freehanded or traced using stencils, like those included in our Trace Ace Scissor Skills Set.
Have your child cut the pieces out using child-safe scissors, practicing following the guidelines.
Have fun playing with your new puzzles. The more photos in your collection, the more of a challenge it will be to put each individual puzzle together!
(Photo Credit: Lina Awshee)
Letter Look and Learn
Reinforce letter recognition and sounds while building critical thinking skills with a letter scavenger hunt around the house. Plus, this activity will get them up and moving!
Here’s how:
Give your child a set of letters A-Z. Use Letter Blocks, Magnetic Letters or DIY your own set by writing each letter on an index card.
Set your child loose inside the house to find items that start with each letter of the alphabet and mark them with the corresponding letter.
Have your child take you or another family member on a tour of their letter hunt as they collect up their letters from A to Z.
Other ways to play:
If you have more than one child to play, challenge them to complete their letter hunt first. Once an item has been marked with a letter, it can’t be used again, so they’ll have to find another item for that letter!
To make the activity a little more challenging if your child is ready, have them carry a notebook and write out the name of the items they find to practice handwriting and spelling skills. Then, ask them to use each word to write a complete sentence or create a story using all of the words!
Dual Dice Duel
Everyone’s played the card game War – time to give it a math-tastic twist. If you have four dice around the house, you can have yourself a math duel. Here’s how to play:
Give each player two dice – or for extra fun, try using one Jumbo Dice In Diceper player instead!
Depending on the player’s math skill level, decide if you’ll be practicing number recognition/value, addition or multiplication.
Each player rolls their dice.
If playing for number recognition and value, each player calls out their number rolled from left to right. For example, if you roll a 4 and a 5, your number for that round is 45. The player with the higher number wins that round.
If playing for addition or multiplication, add or multiply your two dice together. The player with the higher total wins that round.
The first player to get 10 points wins!
Other ways to play:
Add more dice to the game to make it even more of a challenge!
Try Polyhedral Dice with 8, 10 or more sides for more complex challenges!
Use multi-colored dice, and assign each color a function – Add your red dice number, subtract your blue dice number, and so on, to get your total for the round.
Magnet Match
While the kids are circling the kitchen for their fourth round of snacks, put them to work at the fridge with Magnetic Uppercase & Lowercase Letters and a homemade worksheet!
Here’s how:
Using a blank sheet of construction paper, write the alphabet A-Z in marker. Create one sheet with the letters in order and another jumbling them up at random. You can also create and print this out on your computer!
Attach the paper to your fridge using a magnet, clip or removable tape.
Using magnetic letters, have your child match the letter to a magnet, covering the letter on the paper with the corresponding letter magnet.
Other ways to play:
Ready to learn upper and lower case letters? Mix in both cases using our Magnetic Uppercase and Lowercase Letter set.
Take the game to the next level by creating additional sheets spelling out short words, or print out photos of words and have your child spell them in letter magnets.
Learning Resource's Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog isn't just adorable, it's another great toy for facilitating both fine motor and speech and language development. With this toy, children are encouraged to build counting, sorting and color identification skills. Another plus...this simple toy is quick to pick up, as the quills can be stowed away within the hedgehog's body and it can be easily wiped clean.
What does Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog include?
2 piece hedgehog
12 peg shaped quills
How do you use Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog?
Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog has lost his quills! Children can take turns putting the hedgehog's peg shaped quills into his back and then pulling them right back out. In addition to all of the speech and language skills listed below, this toy can help children build:
Fine motor skills
Counting skills: Have your child practice counting each quills or placing them in numerical order. There are numbers on each quill!
Sorting skills: Practice sorting the quills by color or make it even more complex by having your child sort them into warm vs. cool color categories
How can you use Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog to encourage speech and language development?
For receptive language development:
Following directions: Build your child's ability to follow directions by telling them which quill to put in or take out (Examples: "put the red quill in!" or "take the purple quill out!").
Understanding spatial concepts (in/on/off/out): Work on these early developing spatial concepts by having your child take the quills out of the hedgehog, put the quills on the hedgehogs back and in the hedgehog's body. You could have even more fun by pretending the hedgehog lost all of his quills and hide them around the house! Have your child look for the quills and talk about where they found them (Examples: under the couch, in the sink, behind the bookshelf).
Understanding quantitative concepts (all/none, more/less, most/least, one/all): Count the quills with your child and take turns placing the quills in the hedgehog's back with your child. Talk about whether you or the hedgehog have most of the quills (or who has the least amount of quills.)
@my_sensorium
For expressive language development:
Labeling colors: This hedgehog's colorful quills are a perfect way to help your child learn their colors! Label each color while your child is playing with the different colored quills. Bring in other toys that are the same colors as the quills and sort them so your child can generalize the color names to other items! (*Side note-Children begin to recognize colors at around 18 months and continue to develop this skill through 2 years of age. By three years of age, your child should be able to label at least one color).
Requesting: Hold the quills so that your child must request in order to get one. Whether they have a little bit of language or a lot of language, you can work on requesting in the following ways:
If your child's not yet talking: Ask your child "who want's it?" and have your child gesture place their hand on their chest to gesture for "Me!" If they don't gesture independently, take their hand to help them perform the gesture and say "me." Children learn best through our models!
If your child only has a little bit of language: Encourage your child to use one word to request. Have them use words like "me," "more" or even "quill" to ask you for each quill.
If your child has some phrases: Support your child's use of phrases to request by working on "I want" phrases. First, model these phrases for your child by asking your child for the quills by saying, "I want quill" or "I want red." Then encourage your child to do the same!
If your child is perfecting their language: Work on grammatically correct questions with your child. Have your child ask for each quill by saying, "can I have a quill?" or "may I have the red quill?"
For play development:
Functional use of objects: Your child can practice demonstrating the functional use of objects, by putting the quills in and then taking them out.
Pretend play: Inspire your child to be creative in their play. Pretend that the hedgehog has lost all of his quills in a forest. Imagine that the hedgehog has found his way to a farm and needs the farm animals to help him get them back. Don't be afraid to get silly!
For social language development:
Turn taking: Take turns putting the quills in Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog with your child. Pause before it's your turn, and see if your child will tell you that it's your turn to put a quill in!
Joint attention: Build joint attention while holding up the quills, putting the quills in or taking them out. See if your child will look at you, look at the quill, and then back at you. This joint attention, or shared interest, is an important early milestone of language development.
Asking questions: Model appropriate questioning during play by asking your child questions like, "What color do you like?" or "Where do you think we should look for the quills?" Encourage them to ask you questions back!
Toys for Talking - At Home with Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog! Learning Resource's Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog isn't just adorable, it's another great toy for facilitating both fine motor and speech and language development. With this toy, children are encouraged to build counting, sorting and color identification skills. Another plus...this simple toy is quick to pick up, as the quills can be stowed away within the hedgehog's body and it can be easily wiped clean.
What does Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog include?
2 piece hedgehog
12 peg shaped quills
How do you use Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog?
Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog has lost his quills! Children can take turns putting the hedgehog's peg shaped quills into his back and then pulling them right back out. In addition to all of the speech and language skills listed below, this toy can help children build:
Fine motor skills
Counting skills: Have your child practice counting each quills or placing them in numerical order. There are numbers on each quill!
Sorting skills: Practice sorting the quills by color or make it even more complex by having your child sort them into warm vs. cool color categories
How can you use Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog to encourage speech and language development?
For receptive language development:
Following directions: Build your child's ability to follow directions by telling them which quill to put in or take out (Examples: "put the red quill in!" or "take the purple quill out!").
Understanding spatial concepts (in/on/off/out): Work on these early developing spatial concepts by having your child take the quills out of the hedgehog, put the quills on the hedgehogs back and in the hedgehog's body. You could have even more fun by pretending the hedgehog lost all of his quills and hide them around the house! Have your child look for the quills and talk about where they found them (Examples: under the couch, in the sink, behind the bookshelf).
Understanding quantitative concepts (all/none, more/less, most/least, one/all): Count the quills with your child and take turns placing the quills in the hedgehog's back with your child. Talk about whether you or the hedgehog have most of the quills (or who has the least amount of quills.)
@my_sensorium
For expressive language development:
Labeling colors: This hedgehog's colorful quills are a perfect way to help your child learn their colors! Label each color while your child is playing with the different colored quills. Bring in other toys that are the same colors as the quills and sort them so your child can generalize the color names to other items! (*Side note-Children begin to recognize colors at around 18 months and continue to develop this skill through 2 years of age. By three years of age, your child should be able to label at least one color).
Requesting: Hold the quills so that your child must request in order to get one. Whether they have a little bit of language or a lot of language, you can work on requesting in the following ways:
If your child's not yet talking: Ask your child "who want's it?" and have your child gesture place their hand on their chest to gesture for "Me!" If they don't gesture independently, take their hand to help them perform the gesture and say "me." Children learn best through our models!
If your child only has a little bit of language: Encourage your child to use one word to request. Have them use words like "me," "more" or even "quill" to ask you for each quill.
If your child has some phrases: Support your child's use of phrases to request by working on "I want" phrases. First, model these phrases for your child by asking your child for the quills by saying, "I want quill" or "I want red." Then encourage your child to do the same!
If your child is perfecting their language: Work on grammatically correct questions with your child. Have your child ask for each quill by saying, "can I have a quill?" or "may I have the red quill?"
For play development:
Functional use of objects: Your child can practice demonstrating the functional use of objects, by putting the quills in and then taking them out.
Pretend play: Inspire your child to be creative in their play. Pretend that the hedgehog has lost all of his quills in a forest. Imagine that the hedgehog has found his way to a farm and needs the farm animals to help him get them back. Don't be afraid to get silly!
For social language development:
Turn taking: Take turns putting the quills in Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog with your child. Pause before it's your turn, and see if your child will tell you that it's your turn to put a quill in!
Joint attention: Build joint attention while holding up the quills, putting the quills in or taking them out. See if your child will look at you, look at the quill, and then back at you. This joint attention, or shared interest, is an important early milestone of language development.
Asking questions: Model appropriate questioning during play by asking your child questions like, "What color do you like?" or "Where do you think we should look for the quills?" Encourage them to ask you questions back!
All cooped up at home? Now is the perfect time to disinfect your home and teach your kids healthy habits to keep things clean. And, if you’re of the spring cleaning persuasion, tidy things up! But whether you’re scrubbing the floorboards and shaking out rugs or just doing your weekly cleanup, you don’t have to do it alone! Kids as young as two can help with simple chores, which gives them a sense of accomplishment and belonging! Plus, you’re priming them to pitch in as they get older. Read on for some age-appropriate chores and motivation.
Preschoolers Can…
Yes, they require a bit of supervision, but with your encouragement and guidance, two-, three-, and four-year-olds can help you:
Pick up toys and put them in a basket – Add a layer of learning (and make it more fun!) by asking them to pick up anything red first, then blue, then green. Or anything soft, then hard.
Take their dirty clothes to the laundry basket – Count the pieces together as they go in, e.g., one shirt, two shirts… Or shoot a quick game of hoops with your balled-up socks!
Help feed and care for the family pets – You may not trust your little one to fill the water bowl, but they can hold the hamster while you clean the cage and fill a scoop of dry food.
*Bonus idea! Pretend play sets, like New Sprouts® Clean It!, is perfect for imaginary play and give little kids a way to enjoy the cleaning fun!
Kindergartners Can…
Again, you’ll need to be on hand to help, but four- and five-year-olds can be hand helpers when it comes to chores like:
Keep craft supplies tidy – A place for everything and everything in its place! Putting away pencils, markers, glue, and scissors is easy with the Create-a-Space™ Mini-Center, a portable craft station that’s easy to store! If you need a more prominent organizer, try the Create-a-Space™ Storage Center.
Setting the table – You set out the glasses and plates, then show your kiddo where to put the silverware and napkins.
Sorting the laundry – Little kids are great at sorting the laundry! Show them what counts as white, medium, and dark, and leave the rest to them.
Big Kids Can…
Many six- and seven-year-olds are old enough to handle simple chores without supervision. A chore chart can be motivating at this age to manage tasks like:
Making their bed – Don’t expect miracles here; practice makes perfect! Pulling the sheet, blanket, and comforter up and placing pillows at the top is an excellent start.
Emptying trash cans – Show your kids how to start with the biggest can and carry it to the smaller ones around the house, dumping as they go.
Putting their laundry away – You fold, they stash or hang!
Bigger Kids Can…
Older elementary-school-aged kids can do so many things! Aside from managing their schoolwork, brushing their teeth, and getting dressed for school, these kids can:
Wash dishes – Yup! The day has come! Fourth and fifth graders can rinse and load the dishwasher and scrub dishes and silverware (skip the knives and delicate dishware).
Vacuum and rake – Whether indoors or out, your older kids can easily run the vacuum and rake. Plus, if they’re doing it, they can’t complain about the noise it’s making when you’re doing it!
Run the washer and dryer – You may not want them folding quite yet, but big kids can toss a load in the washer, add detergent, and turn the machine on.
In Conclusion,
Although it may be easier to do things yourself, the sooner you make chipping in with chores an expected part of your kids’ routine, the easier yours will be in the long run. A good rule of thumb is that kids can follow as many instructions as years they are old. For example, a three-year-old may be able to pick up their shoes, put them in the closet, and close the door. A timer is also a great motivator, as is a clean-up song. Choose something you love, play it loud, and work as long as it plays. When the music’s over, so is the clean-up!
All cooped up at home? Now is the perfect time to disinfect your home and teach your kids healthy habits to keep things clean. And, if you’re of the spring cleaning persuasion, tidy things up! But whether you’re scrubbing the floorboards and shaking out rugs or just doing your weekly cleanup, you don’t have to do it alone! Kids as young as two can help with simple chores, which gives them a sense of accomplishment and belonging! Plus, you’re priming them to pitch in as they get older. Read on for some age-appropriate chores and motivation.
Preschoolers Can…
Yes, they require a bit of supervision, but with your encouragement and guidance, two-, three-, and four-year-olds can help you:
Pick up toys and put them in a basket – Add a layer of learning (and make it more fun!) by asking them to pick up anything red first, then blue, then green. Or anything soft, then hard.
Take their dirty clothes to the laundry basket – Count the pieces together as they go in, e.g., one shirt, two shirts… Or shoot a quick game of hoops with your balled-up socks!
Help feed and care for the family pets – You may not trust your little one to fill the water bowl, but they can hold the hamster while you clean the cage and fill a scoop of dry food.
*Bonus idea! Pretend play sets, like New Sprouts® Clean It!, is perfect for imaginary play and give little kids a way to enjoy the cleaning fun!
Kindergartners Can…
Again, you’ll need to be on hand to help, but four- and five-year-olds can be hand helpers when it comes to chores like:
Keep craft supplies tidy – A place for everything and everything in its place! Putting away pencils, markers, glue, and scissors is easy with the Create-a-Space™ Mini-Center, a portable craft station that’s easy to store! If you need a more prominent organizer, try the Create-a-Space™ Storage Center.
Setting the table – You set out the glasses and plates, then show your kiddo where to put the silverware and napkins.
Sorting the laundry – Little kids are great at sorting the laundry! Show them what counts as white, medium, and dark, and leave the rest to them.
Big Kids Can…
Many six- and seven-year-olds are old enough to handle simple chores without supervision. A chore chart can be motivating at this age to manage tasks like:
Making their bed – Don’t expect miracles here; practice makes perfect! Pulling the sheet, blanket, and comforter up and placing pillows at the top is an excellent start.
Emptying trash cans – Show your kids how to start with the biggest can and carry it to the smaller ones around the house, dumping as they go.
Putting their laundry away – You fold, they stash or hang!
Bigger Kids Can…
Older elementary-school-aged kids can do so many things! Aside from managing their schoolwork, brushing their teeth, and getting dressed for school, these kids can:
Wash dishes – Yup! The day has come! Fourth and fifth graders can rinse and load the dishwasher and scrub dishes and silverware (skip the knives and delicate dishware).
Vacuum and rake – Whether indoors or out, your older kids can easily run the vacuum and rake. Plus, if they’re doing it, they can’t complain about the noise it’s making when you’re doing it!
Run the washer and dryer – You may not want them folding quite yet, but big kids can toss a load in the washer, add detergent, and turn the machine on.
In Conclusion,
Although it may be easier to do things yourself, the sooner you make chipping in with chores an expected part of your kids’ routine, the easier yours will be in the long run. A good rule of thumb is that kids can follow as many instructions as years they are old. For example, a three-year-old may be able to pick up their shoes, put them in the closet, and close the door. A timer is also a great motivator, as is a clean-up song. Choose something you love, play it loud, and work as long as it plays. When the music’s over, so is the clean-up!
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