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Tagged with 'parents'

Indoor Camping Adventure!

Time to bring outdoor fun indoors during this springtime sequester. Make the best of it by planning a family camping adventure inside with the three “F’s” of fun: forts, flashlights, and food. With no bugs and access to running water, sounds like a perfect combination for some memorable family time! 

Below are ideas to plan your overnight, indoor excursion – complete with a delicious S’mores recipe!   

FORT 

If your family is already campers, you can always pop your outdoor tent inside. Fill it up with sleeping bags and you’ve got a home away from home…inside your home.

  

No tent? No problem! Build your own fort. Have the kiddos grab these supplies for creative, engineering fun: 

  • Folding or kitchen chairs 
  • Blankets 
  • Sheets 
  • Pillows 
  • Books (for weight) or clips 
  • Twinkle lights 

Set up chairs about 4-5 feet a part, backs of chairs facing each other. Throw blankets down on the “floor”. Make it as fluffy and comfortable as possible. Drape a sheet over the chairs as a roof. Secure the ends of the blanket wit heavy books or clips. String up twinkle lights as your stars, or grab your Primary Science® Shining Stars Projector to shine the heavens on the walls of your fort.

FLASHLIGHTS 

Turn of the lights and let the fun begin. Have the kids grab their flashlights or lanterns and host a shadow puppet show or flashlight scavenger hunt. Shine the lights across each other and play flashlight limbo (the light beams serve as a pole). And if space allows, play everyone’s favorite nighttime summer game: flashlight tag!

 

Grab the Pretend & Play® Camp Set - complete with battery-operated lantern – creates the perfect glow for all your indoor camping needs.  

 

FOOD 

Plan for an indoor picnic during your campout. (Bonus! No chance of rain!) Have the children help you pack it all in an actual basket! Or maybe you can fire up the grill outside for some real campsite food. Either way, spread out a blanket by your tent and make it special. 

Since no campsite is complete without this mainstay, here’s a S’mores Dip recipe, minus the fire!  

Ingredients: 

  • A skillet 
  • ½ tablespoon of butter 
  • 1 ½ cups of chocolate chips, or 5 chocolate bars diced up 
  • 15 jumbo marshmallows cut in half, or a quarter of a bag of mini-marshmallows 
  • Graham cracker squares 

(Little ones can help prep this delicious treat, but be sure all handling of the skillet and oven are done by a grown-up). 

Place the dry skillet in the oven and turn on to 450 degrees. In the meantime, chop your chocolate (if using actual bars) and measure out your marshmallows. 

Once the oven has reached the desired temperature, take out the hot skillet with an oven mitt. Again, keep little hands away from this part! The skillet will be extremely hot.

Throw your pad of butter in the skillet and swirl it around.  

Pour in your chocolate, and top with your marshmallows. If you are using jumbo marshmallows, you can place in a uniform pattern around the skillet to ensure every inch is covered, just sure to steer clear of the hot pan. 

Place in the oven for five to seven minutes. Break up your graham crackers into “dippable” serving pieces. 

Remove dip from the oven and let the skillet sit on the counter for a good 10-15 minutes. Because your skillet is your serving dish, you’ll want it to cool off. Enjoy! 

After everyone is fed, takes turns playing cards like Go Fish, or an old-fashioned game like Charades or Telephone. And just because there isn’t a campfire doesn’t mean there can’t be stories. Bring out your favorite books to read by flashlight or lantern.

 

The idea is just to be together…and make some fond memories during this unique time! 

Happy Camping! 

Indoor Camping Adventure!

Time to bring outdoor fun indoors during this springtime sequester. Make the best of it by planning a family camping adventure inside with the three “F’s” of fun: forts, flashlights, and food. With no bugs and access to running water, sounds like a perfect combination for some memorable family time! 

Below are ideas to plan your overnight, indoor excursion – complete with a delicious S’mores recipe!   

FORT 

If your family is already campers, you can always pop your outdoor tent inside. Fill it up with sleeping bags and you’ve got a home away from home…inside your home.

  

No tent? No problem! Build your own fort. Have the kiddos grab these supplies for creative, engineering fun: 

  • Folding or kitchen chairs 
  • Blankets 
  • Sheets 
  • Pillows 
  • Books (for weight) or clips 
  • Twinkle lights 

Set up chairs about 4-5 feet a part, backs of chairs facing each other. Throw blankets down on the “floor”. Make it as fluffy and comfortable as possible. Drape a sheet over the chairs as a roof. Secure the ends of the blanket wit heavy books or clips. String up twinkle lights as your stars, or grab your Primary Science® Shining Stars Projector to shine the heavens on the walls of your fort.

FLASHLIGHTS 

Turn of the lights and let the fun begin. Have the kids grab their flashlights or lanterns and host a shadow puppet show or flashlight scavenger hunt. Shine the lights across each other and play flashlight limbo (the light beams serve as a pole). And if space allows, play everyone’s favorite nighttime summer game: flashlight tag!

 

Grab the Pretend & Play® Camp Set - complete with battery-operated lantern – creates the perfect glow for all your indoor camping needs.  

 

FOOD 

Plan for an indoor picnic during your campout. (Bonus! No chance of rain!) Have the children help you pack it all in an actual basket! Or maybe you can fire up the grill outside for some real campsite food. Either way, spread out a blanket by your tent and make it special. 

Since no campsite is complete without this mainstay, here’s a S’mores Dip recipe, minus the fire!  

Ingredients: 

  • A skillet 
  • ½ tablespoon of butter 
  • 1 ½ cups of chocolate chips, or 5 chocolate bars diced up 
  • 15 jumbo marshmallows cut in half, or a quarter of a bag of mini-marshmallows 
  • Graham cracker squares 

(Little ones can help prep this delicious treat, but be sure all handling of the skillet and oven are done by a grown-up). 

Place the dry skillet in the oven and turn on to 450 degrees. In the meantime, chop your chocolate (if using actual bars) and measure out your marshmallows. 

Once the oven has reached the desired temperature, take out the hot skillet with an oven mitt. Again, keep little hands away from this part! The skillet will be extremely hot.

Throw your pad of butter in the skillet and swirl it around.  

Pour in your chocolate, and top with your marshmallows. If you are using jumbo marshmallows, you can place in a uniform pattern around the skillet to ensure every inch is covered, just sure to steer clear of the hot pan. 

Place in the oven for five to seven minutes. Break up your graham crackers into “dippable” serving pieces. 

Remove dip from the oven and let the skillet sit on the counter for a good 10-15 minutes. Because your skillet is your serving dish, you’ll want it to cool off. Enjoy! 

After everyone is fed, takes turns playing cards like Go Fish, or an old-fashioned game like Charades or Telephone. And just because there isn’t a campfire doesn’t mean there can’t be stories. Bring out your favorite books to read by flashlight or lantern.

 

The idea is just to be together…and make some fond memories during this unique time! 

Happy Camping! 

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school-break-trips-from-home

School Break Trips from Home!

[Updated on 3/17/21] Even though we're staying inside these days, we've still got ways to explore the wide world from home! Add some extra fun to your spring break plans with these virtual field trip ideas, which let you and your kids travel to museums, zoos, and even outer space from the comfort of your living room.

Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems

It's not every day that you get the chance to take a drawing lesson from one of the world's most beloved children's book authors. Usually, that is. With kids out of school, author Mo Willems (creator of the Pigeon series, Elephant and Piggie, and more) is hosting a lunchtime drawing program on YouTube that connects kids with their artsy side every afternoon. 

Virtual Museum Tours

Have you ever wanted to take your kids to the world's great museums and architectural sites? Thanks to Google Arts & Culture, you can do with without ever leaving the house! Their Museum Views collection lets you take virtual tours of more than 3,400 sites across the United States and around the world. You can even treat your little learners to a trip to the Boston Children's Museum!

Story Time with Michael Chabon

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon knows that what the world needs now is a good bedtime story. That's why he's spending his evenings at home reading the classics of children's literature, voices and all. Available on Youtube, the author's series updates every evening; past selections include Olivia, The Story of Ferdinand, and Harry the Dirty Dog.

Cincinnati Zoo Home Safaris

Although we can't go to the zoo right now, we can bring the zoo home online! At the Cincinnati Zoo, keepers are hosting daily Home Safaris to introduce viewers to the wild, wooly worlds of their animal residents. Tune in on Facebook Live each day, and you might meet hippos, cheetahs, rhinoceroses, and more!

Dutch Hollow Dairy Farm

A trip to the farm is always enlightening, even from the comfort of your home! Take your kids on this virtual tour of New York's Dutch Hollow Dairy Farm for an inside look at the secret lives of cows. Produced in cooperation with the American Dairy Association, the tour is geared for kids in grades K-4.

Ellis Island

As America faces its current challenges, we can take this opportunity to reflect on the nation's status as the world's melting pot. With Immigration: Stories of Yesterday and Today, the folks at Scholastic have put together a virtual tour of Ellis Island, the immigration station that welcomed more than 12 million future Americans between 1892 and 1954.   

International Space Station

When it comes to virtual field trips, you're not limited to places here on Earth! Led by the astronauts stationed there, these virtual tours of the International Space Station give you and your kids an inside look at the scientific goings-on happening far above the planet.

Yellowstone National Park

It's springtime, which means our national parks are waking up from their long winter slumbers. Thanks to the National Parks Service, you can take a virtual visit to the country's oldest park. The tour takes you to seven different sites around the park, including the Mud Volcano, the Mammoth Geyser, and the Flower Paint Pot.  

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Adventure under the sea with this virtual visit to one of America's premiere aquariums. Thanks to the live cams set up around the Monterey Bay Aquarium, you can catch glimpses of animals from jellyfish and penguins to sharks and sea otters. There's even a feed that shows you the open waters of the bay itself!

Discover Ancient Egypt

As you explore these virtual field trips, don't miss the opportunity to travel back in time! Discover Ancient Egypt brings one of humanity's most storied societies back to life with cool interactive online recreations. Explore 3D temples, learn about the pyramids, or even study hieroglyphics! 

At Learning Resources, we're here to help you make the best of this challenging time. Stay safe and healthy, and check back with our blog for more tips and learning ideas as the situation unfolds.

school-break-trips-from-home
School Break Trips from Home!

[Updated on 3/17/21] Even though we're staying inside these days, we've still got ways to explore the wide world from home! Add some extra fun to your spring break plans with these virtual field trip ideas, which let you and your kids travel to museums, zoos, and even outer space from the comfort of your living room.

Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems

It's not every day that you get the chance to take a drawing lesson from one of the world's most beloved children's book authors. Usually, that is. With kids out of school, author Mo Willems (creator of the Pigeon series, Elephant and Piggie, and more) is hosting a lunchtime drawing program on YouTube that connects kids with their artsy side every afternoon. 

Virtual Museum Tours

Have you ever wanted to take your kids to the world's great museums and architectural sites? Thanks to Google Arts & Culture, you can do with without ever leaving the house! Their Museum Views collection lets you take virtual tours of more than 3,400 sites across the United States and around the world. You can even treat your little learners to a trip to the Boston Children's Museum!

Story Time with Michael Chabon

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon knows that what the world needs now is a good bedtime story. That's why he's spending his evenings at home reading the classics of children's literature, voices and all. Available on Youtube, the author's series updates every evening; past selections include Olivia, The Story of Ferdinand, and Harry the Dirty Dog.

Cincinnati Zoo Home Safaris

Although we can't go to the zoo right now, we can bring the zoo home online! At the Cincinnati Zoo, keepers are hosting daily Home Safaris to introduce viewers to the wild, wooly worlds of their animal residents. Tune in on Facebook Live each day, and you might meet hippos, cheetahs, rhinoceroses, and more!

Dutch Hollow Dairy Farm

A trip to the farm is always enlightening, even from the comfort of your home! Take your kids on this virtual tour of New York's Dutch Hollow Dairy Farm for an inside look at the secret lives of cows. Produced in cooperation with the American Dairy Association, the tour is geared for kids in grades K-4.

Ellis Island

As America faces its current challenges, we can take this opportunity to reflect on the nation's status as the world's melting pot. With Immigration: Stories of Yesterday and Today, the folks at Scholastic have put together a virtual tour of Ellis Island, the immigration station that welcomed more than 12 million future Americans between 1892 and 1954.   

International Space Station

When it comes to virtual field trips, you're not limited to places here on Earth! Led by the astronauts stationed there, these virtual tours of the International Space Station give you and your kids an inside look at the scientific goings-on happening far above the planet.

Yellowstone National Park

It's springtime, which means our national parks are waking up from their long winter slumbers. Thanks to the National Parks Service, you can take a virtual visit to the country's oldest park. The tour takes you to seven different sites around the park, including the Mud Volcano, the Mammoth Geyser, and the Flower Paint Pot.  

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Adventure under the sea with this virtual visit to one of America's premiere aquariums. Thanks to the live cams set up around the Monterey Bay Aquarium, you can catch glimpses of animals from jellyfish and penguins to sharks and sea otters. There's even a feed that shows you the open waters of the bay itself!

Discover Ancient Egypt

As you explore these virtual field trips, don't miss the opportunity to travel back in time! Discover Ancient Egypt brings one of humanity's most storied societies back to life with cool interactive online recreations. Explore 3D temples, learn about the pyramids, or even study hieroglyphics! 

At Learning Resources, we're here to help you make the best of this challenging time. Stay safe and healthy, and check back with our blog for more tips and learning ideas as the situation unfolds.

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Developmental Activities to Fill your Easter Baskets!

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!
Developmental Activities to Fill your Easter Baskets!
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!
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Gears! Gears! Gears! Mini Lessons

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.

Click here to download your STEM.org Gears!Gears!Gears! Mini-Lesson One

@autismadventures83

 

Click here to download your STEM.org Gears!Gears!Gears! Mini-Lesson Two

 

Click here to download your STEM.org Gears!Gears!Gears! Mini-Lesson Three

Learning Resources 

 

Click here to download your STEM.org Gears!Gears!Gears! Mini-Lesson Four

Cycle Gears    

Gears! Gears! Gears! Mini Lessons

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.

Click here to download your STEM.org Gears!Gears!Gears! Mini-Lesson One

@autismadventures83

 

Click here to download your STEM.org Gears!Gears!Gears! Mini-Lesson Two

 

Click here to download your STEM.org Gears!Gears!Gears! Mini-Lesson Three

Learning Resources 

 

Click here to download your STEM.org Gears!Gears!Gears! Mini-Lesson Four

Cycle Gears    

 READ MORE
Teacher Tips: Ten-Sided Learning Dice
Teacher Tips: Ten-Sided Learning Dice
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Learning at Home through PLAY for PreK-1st Graders
Learning at Home through PLAY for PreK-1st Graders
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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. 

What does the Peekaboo Learning Farm include?

  • 5 colorful barns
  • 5 adorable finger puppet farm animals (cow, horse, pig, chicken & mouse)

How do you use the Peekaboo Learning Farm?

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?

  1. 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."
  2. 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?").
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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?

  1. 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....)!
  2. Farm animal vocabulary:  Talk about the different farm animals in each barn, and see if your child can label them.  
  3. 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?"
  4. 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?"
  5. 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.
  6. 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?

  1. 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?

  1. Turn taking: Develop turn taking abilities by asking your child if you can have a turn opening the barns.   
  2. 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. 

What does the Peekaboo Learning Farm include?

  • 5 colorful barns
  • 5 adorable finger puppet farm animals (cow, horse, pig, chicken & mouse)

How do you use the Peekaboo Learning Farm?

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?

  1. 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."
  2. 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?").
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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?

  1. 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....)!
  2. Farm animal vocabulary:  Talk about the different farm animals in each barn, and see if your child can label them.  
  3. 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?"
  4. 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?"
  5. 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.
  6. 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?

  1. 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?

  1. Turn taking: Develop turn taking abilities by asking your child if you can have a turn opening the barns.   
  2. 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!
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