Playdoh

I absolutely LOVE playdoh! I use it all of the time in therapy.  Not only can we target fun actions and words like squish, roll, cut, poke, and more, we can target articulation, making choices, naming objects, requesting, and so much more!

Making choices - I have my kiddos make choices for everything when we play with playdoh.  They have to request which color they want - ex: red or blue.  They have to tell me whether we should open or close the playdoh.  They can ask me to roll the playdoh into a ball or snake, or to roll it into a big ball or little ball.  I'll ask the kiddos if we should cut the playdoh or tear it, there are so many possibilities to increase the verbalizations through choices!

To extend the choices activities I will bring in other toys.  One of my favorites is cookie cutters.  I'll have the child make a choice between playing with the heart or circle cookie cutters or make choices between various animals shapes.  Other toys I've brought into the play include cars that crash down the playdoh, or trains that we transport the playdoh in.  Other ideas to extend the play: pretend cooking with bowls, spoons, rolling pins, plastic silverware, etc (increase the vocabulary - mix, in, spoon, bowl, stir, hot, cold, cook, and so many food items).  I've used toy microwaves to "cook" the playdoh food we've made.  I'll have the child learn some social skills such as to "wait" for the food to be ready or his/her turn and we work on "sharing" the food with his/her parent(s).

Requesting - Most of my kiddos cannot open a container of playdoh independently so I give the child the playdoh container and wait.  Most of the time I get some sort of request out of the kiddo to "open", "help" etc.  Of course I accept verbal or signed requests.  Many times after I roll playdoh into a ball I'll have requests for more balls. 

Articulation - I use snakes all of the time to focus on the /s/ sound.  Playdoh is perfect for making snakes!  After making big or little snakes:) we practice the snake sound.  The snakes hiss their /s/ around the table.  Snakes can slither along the table until they stop at a shaped letter or one made from a cookie cutter (a vowel).  When the snake hisses to the vowel, the snake produces the /s/ plus the vowel - creating a CV combination.

Naming - my absolute favorite playdoh activity currently is one with eggs.  I find miniature items from my kid's toy box.  I find different colored counting bears, tiny animals, miniature food items, clothing accessories, etc.  I've also purchased various sets of themed buttons from craft stores (packs of buttons that have musical instrument buttons or 4th of July button sets, etc).  I hide the small item inside the playdoh and shape the playdoh like an egg.  We then talk about the egg and how we can "crack" it.  I normally withhold a bit and wait for the child to request the egg or to request to crack the egg.  I can also make a few eggs at a time of different colors, to work on choices.  After the child requests the egg, I let him/her crack the egg and see what is inside.  The anticipation at this point is normally pretty high so the child is excited and motivated to open the egg and name the object inside! If spontaneous naming doesn't happen, I'll prompt with, "what is it?"  I will further prompt with a choice if needed, "is it a ___ or a ____?" 

Pronouns

I have a fun kiddo who is just not into the traditional cards/drill type activities.  She responds much better to play.  So to teach pronouns today, that's exactly what we did - we played!  We collected some characters that were male and female.  We had Beast and Mickey as our males and Anna and Elsa as our females.  We were working on producing possessive pronouns - his and hers.  I had placed items in a bag and had my kiddo take turns pulling items out and naming them.  The she got to pick who to give the item to.  Beast ended up with motorcycles and helicopters (we got to work on introducing new vocabulary and multi-syllable words as well), Anna with microphones, walkie talkies, etc.  After reviewing the vocabulary we talked about how each character had the item so the item was "hers" or "his".  I then cued her to use a 4 word sentence (minimum) to describe who had what item and that the item was his/hers.  "The microphone is hers"  or "The motorcycle is his".  To prompt I started with giving choices is it his or hers, but reduced the verbal prompts quickly. I did continue to prompt by putting the item on the character as if I was giving the character the items to show possession. 

My kiddo enjoyed the activity.  She was an active participant in the naming, decision making, and play of the activity (Mickey rode the motorcycle, Anna sang in the microphone, etc).  We will definitely be re-visiting this activity again!