Easter is a great time for encouraging language development during play! Easter eggs are exciting for kids because they only come around once a year and they know that there is something fun hiding inside. Here are some ways that you can help support your child’s speech and language skills using Easter eggs:
- Articulation: Practicing speech sounds might not be the most exciting homework; however, you can make it exciting with Easter eggs! Place different amounts of pom poms or write a number on a piece of paper and hide it inside of an egg. Afterwards, hide the eggs around the house and have your child find an egg. Once they bring the egg back to you, open it up and reveal the amount of pom poms or the number hiding inside. This will be how many times your child has to say their speech word to practice their sounds! This is perfect to use with the homework provided by your speech therapist.
- Vocabulary: Easter eggs are perfect for hiding small objects or tiny erasers that resemble vocabulary words like food, animals, or vehicles. You can take these items, hide them in the eggs, and then hide the eggs around the house. Have your child collect the eggs and ask them “What is that?” when they open the eggs! You can also do this with printed pictures of vocabulary words that your child is working on.
- Verbal Routines: Finding Easter eggs is a great time to practice the verbal routine of “where are you?” while looking around the house. You can also practice “ready, set, go” as you roll the eggs down the hallway or even down a slide!
- Following Directions: Have your child help hide the eggs using 1 or 2 step directions. For example, you can hand your child an egg and say “Place the egg on the couch” or make it harder and say “Can you find the pink egg and hide it under the pillow.”
The ideas for using Easter eggs to support speech and language are endless! If you have concerns about your child’s speech and language development, please contact one of our speech pathologists at T.E.A.M 4 Kids at our Avondale, Surprise, or Peoria clinic.
Katie Pell, MS, CCC-SLP