Monday, April 18, 2011

Easter Eggs

My therapy kids LOVE hunting Easter Eggs!

Text borrowed from: Speech Therapy Ideas
What’s fun, inexpensive, and versatile for therapy activities?  Plastic Easter eggs!  All of the ages I work with (from 3 to 19 years old) enjoy our egg games.  It could be that I make prizes part of the activities or just that it’s something we only do for about one week each year.  Whatever the reason, we all have a great time in the sessions. 

What goes into the eggs?
Depending on the child or group you are working with, you can change the stimuli (pictures, words, directions to follow, etc.) and prizes that go into the plastic eggs.  For example, for young children, I cut out stickers to put in some of the eggs.  For older students, I put papers in the eggs that say “pick again”, “candy”, or “extra point”.

What do you do with the eggs?
Here are a few different ways that you can use the eggs in your sessions.
1. Egg Hunt – Before the session begins, hide the eggs around the room.  Have the child or children hunt for the eggs and put them in a bowl.  When all the eggs have been found, they open the eggs one at a time, saying the target word or following the directions on the paper inside the egg.  Finding prizes in random eggs keeps it fun and exciting.  If time allows, let the child(ren) hide the eggs for the next group or client.
2. Pick a Good Egg – Have the clients take turns picking eggs from a big bowl or basket.  They say the target word or sentence or get a prize like in the Egg Hunt game. 
3. Up, Down, and All Around – Plastic eggs can also be used for working on prepositions.  For a receptive task, place a few eggs relative to an object (e.g., on, in, next to) and have the child point to the one that is in the place you describe.  For an expressive task, place one egg relative to an object, and have the child tell you where the egg is (e.g., “in the basket”).

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