Last week, I posted about how I LOVE to use manipulatives in therapy. You can check that post out HERE. Today I wanted to share 2 other kits that I have made and use in therapy all the time.
Spatial Concepts Kit:
You can address spatial concepts with almost any task, but I wanted to come up with a kit that I could use to work on drilling different concepts. When I got married, I ended up getting three different cookbook holders for my kitchen. It was probably the kind of gift that everyone thought you would like but never purchase for yourself. It was a good gift. I had a friend who got three different plastic canvas tissue holders from people for her wedding. I like kitschy stuff so I’d probably be pretty excited for one-but not three-and probably not as a wedding gift.
One of the holders was a two piece one from Williams-Sonoma. Generally, I would not use any products from there in therapy but the base was perfect as it had three grooves in it.
I was at a craft store and started picking up these painted wooden shapes which fit perfectly into the grooves. I use the board to work on in front/behind/in back of, forward, next to, between as well as left and right concepts.
I love to use action figures to work on spatial concepts so when I saw these busy books by Disney, I picked up a Toy Story and Princess version. Each book came with 12 figures and a play mat which is PERFECT for directions. You can purchase them on Amazon for about 12.00. I just looked and they’ve added a few sets including Super Heroes and Cars. I just picked up the Superhero one for a road trip we are going on with my little guy. I wasn’t using the books so I donated them to Goodwill. You could probably do story reenactment though. **UPDATE-One of my SLP peeps, Jessica from Consonantly Speaking AND the super awesome Speechie Freebies gave me some great information about how you can get these books at Barnes & Nobles for around 8.00-plus you can use your teacher’s discount!! Thanks Jessica for such great information!**
I also scour the dollar stores for interesting containers. They have some pretty awesome pencil cases out there as well. So now, we practice working on putting the action figure in the sparkling shoe or under the apple. I use action figures to work on a lot of different concepts.
Big/Little-sizing kit
I lucked out with this one. One year, Target had a set of over sized and tiny office supplies. I was able to get a lot of paired objects. I also printed off colored photos of objects-some Big and some smaller to use for picture identification. Some other objects I included:
- Bigger/smaller action figures
- Pocket books I found in Happy Meals along with the regular sized books
- Board Books and standard sized books
- Key chain games and regular sized games
- Bigger dice and regular sized dice.
- Kids shoes/clothes vs. adult sized shoes/clothes
Have you created any kits to use in therapy? I’d love to hear what you created. Let me know by commenting on this post. If you found this post helpful, please consider sharing on Pinterest by clicking on any of the photos above.
Loving the posts on your Kits! I need to get organized!
Thanks!
Just wondered what you used for the wooden platform? Where did you buy something with slates like that? THese a wonderful ideas!!
I had received a cookbook holder from Williams-Sonoma that I wasn’t using. I removed the plastic cover and used that. I don’t think they sell it new but it is on Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/WILLIAMS-SONOMA-COOKBOOK-HOLDER-WOOD-AND-LUCITE-NEW-IN-BOX-Made-in-USA-/301367236237?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item462ae3168d
That wooden cookbook holder idea is pretty neat. Anytime I find toys that are being thrown out or missing pieces, I will see if I can add it to artic boxes that I made for my company. I found a ton of stuff for the boxes at the dollar spot at Target. I also made a functions kit and categories kit for myself with various toys.