Hey, guys! In my last post, I talked about using different
themes to plan for speech therapy. For the first couple of weeks of therapy
this year, we went with cupcakes. I like to call the theme “sweet speech”
because it has a nice ring to it, but the focus was really on cupcakes rather
than ice cream, cookies, candy, etc. We had lots of fun using the following
ideas.
Books:
Play:
We used silicone cupcake cups, candles, and sequins with
play dough to “make” cupcakes. This worked well for sequencing, describing, and
also targeted some fine motor skills. This activity provided reinforcement for
all skills as well. For example, following a speech turn, a child would receive
the play dough. She could try rolling the dough into a ball and then shaping it
into a cupcake while the next child had his speech turn. It could also be
turned into a game by using the candles. I used the Make Dice app on my iPad to
determine how many candles a child would get after her turn. Whoever had the
most candles won the game. You can also find an articulation freebie to go with play dough
cupcakes from Sounds Like Fun on Teachers Pay Teachers here.
Life Skills:
Full disclosure-I did not
use this particular activity this time, but I wanted to give you all
(especially middle and high school peeps) another option. It is, of course,
actually baking cupcakes. Using recipes and cooking activities in speech therapy,
particularly in push in services, is a great way to reinforce language and life
skills. Almost any language goal and many articulation goals can be targeted during
cooking lessons. Sequencing, following directions, requesting, commenting, vocabulary,
and positional concepts are just a few!
Games:
Mia McDaniel has a fun Cupcake Quick Drill game on Teachers Pay Teachers that is great for any skill and any age.
Find it here.
Craftivities:
Craftivities:
As always, dozens (maybe even hundreds) of craftivities can
be found on Pinterest. I am partial to
crafts that are made of simple shapes and are quick to assemble. We
used
die cuts and paper punches to cut out the shapes for this one from scrapbook
paper. These quick progress notes work well for all cupcake craftivities. You can
download them free by clicking here. Some other ideas can be found on my SpeechSnacks Pinterest board.
Multiple Activities:
Sounds Like Fun included a couple of games as well as other activities in Speech and Language Pack: Cupcake.
Multiple Activities:
Sounds Like Fun included a couple of games as well as other activities in Speech and Language Pack: Cupcake.
Carryover:
Because of time constraints, I was not able to actually bake cupcakes with any of my groups. However, we did get a chance to practice cupcake decorating! We used those mini party cake muffins that come four to a pack in a box of five packs. Each student received one muffin. We took turns targeting speech goals, then requesting things to add to our “cupcake”: icing, sprinkles, etc. This activity was definitely the favorite since everyone got to eat the cupcake after!
Because of time constraints, I was not able to actually bake cupcakes with any of my groups. However, we did get a chance to practice cupcake decorating! We used those mini party cake muffins that come four to a pack in a box of five packs. Each student received one muffin. We took turns targeting speech goals, then requesting things to add to our “cupcake”: icing, sprinkles, etc. This activity was definitely the favorite since everyone got to eat the cupcake after!
If you have any other tips or fun ideas that go well with a
cupcake theme, please comment below. Have a great week!
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