10 ways To Use One Toy: Speech Therapy ideas (Z00 Animals!)
Welcome to a new series I’m going to try out. I am going to share ideas for all the different ways you can use the same toy in therapy. There are endless ways to use one item and I love stretching a toy to its limits. This is especially true if it is a toy I’ve spent my own money on or if it’s a popular toy that I know must students will enjoy playing with during a session.
The plan is simple.. take one toy, and explore at least 10 different ways to use the same toy. First up, is the Melissa and Doug Safari Truck.
Turn Taking - Engage with the student with back and forth play. Take turns pushing the toy back in forth or placing the animals where they belong.
Core Words - Establish a list of core words for a toy/activity. Engage in child led play with the toy. Focus on auditory bombardment of those core words. Provide opportunities for fill in the blank, open ended sentences, and chances for repetition.
Animal Vocabulary - Focus on identifying and labeling the animals in the toy. Compare and contrast the animals, provide the animal sounds, and play with the names of the animals by giving them alliterations for names or silly sounds. Place the animals around the toy, ask questions about the toy. If the student cannot name the animals independently, try providing two choices for them to choose from.
Hide and Seek/Describing - Hide one of the animals around the room. Describe the animal that is hidden and possibly provide clues as to where it is hidden. Try this for a couple rounds. Then ask the child to do the same - they must hide the toy and provide the clues.
Following Directions - Use the toy and the manipulatives to create a following directions activity. Focus on positional concepts (in the trunk, on the trunk, under the truck, in front of the giraffe, etc) or temporal concepts (before and after). This targets receptive language. Take turns with this activity so the student also has a chance to provide the directions to you as an expressive language task.
6. Articulation/Phonology Word Level - Try adding picture cards into the truck and pulling them out one at a time to target word level articulation. Try taping pictures or words to the backs of the animals as another way to target words. You can also place the animals around the room on top of picture cards to target the words. If the child is targeting a more general phonology goal like final consonant deletion or weak syllable deletion, you can use the animal manipulatives as your word targets.
7. Articulation/Phonology Conversational Level - Toys with multiple parts can be great for an older student who is targeting more complex articulation/phonology goals or is beyond the word/phrase level for a target. I like to ask the student to pick an animal one at a time and tell me everything they know about the animal. I let them know ahead of time that I’m listening for their targets and that I will help them along the way. Having multiple pieces to the toy/activity allows for breaks in the conversation which is a great spot to add in some reminders about targets and strategies.
8. Sequencing - A toy on wheels can be GREAT to target sequencing (first, next, then, last). I like to set up stations around the room for the truck to go to. For example, first the truck goes to the “zoo”, next the “fire station”, then to the “park”, and last to “home”. The toy can move around the room to those locations and there are many opportunities for following directions, animal vocabulary, story telling and more as the child executes the same sequence.
9. Transitional Toy - This is a fun tip for working with any LITTLE clients or clients that do not transition well to the therapy room. I LOVE to bring a toy with me and then we push the toy back to the room. This safari toy is great because you can leave the animals on the floor. On your way back to the room, ask the child to push the toy and pick up the animals on the way. This can start the conversation, introduce animal vocabulary, and help your client get back into the therapy room.
10. Facilitate Conversation - The toy is a great opportunity to open up conversation about going to the zoo. Try asking your student about the zoo or other trips while pushing the toy back and forth. You can set a timer to help the student know how long the conversation will last.
This toy pairs perfectly with our Zoo Animal activities. Further target articulation, language, and more with these activities here.
SPEECH - Zoo Animals Speech Therapy I SPY Articulation Worksheets - ALL SOUNDS
LANGUAGE - Zoo Speech Therapy - Zoo Animals Following Directions - Receptive Language
SPEECH - Zoo Animals Speech Therapy - Articulation Cut and Say Worksheets - All Phonemes
Zoo Animals Speech & Language Variety BUNDLE - Artic, Language, Social & MORE
