Wow, I’m not sure how it is already July! Summer seems to be flying by and before anymore precious, sunny days slip away I wanted to share some fun summer sensory boxes Lemon Tree therapists have been using both in our office and at home with our own kiddos!
The first box I put together for Lemon Tree’s Preschool Language Group (we meet on Mondays at 9:30!) was a bug box. This box had a base of black beans and I added giant bugs I had picked up at a rummage sale. I also supplemented the box with bugs from Learning Resources that I purchased from Amazon. The box was a hit in my preschool group and with several other clients. It was a great way to practice a lot of different language skills such as:
- Following directions with lots of embedded concepts
- My directions ranged from simple to more complex depending on the age/language level of the client I was working with.
- Find a red bug.
- Find a red and black bug.
- Find a big, red and black bug.
- Find a bug with wings.
- Find a bug with more than 4 legs.
- And the list goes on!
- Counting
- Colors
- Discussing characteristics of the bugs…this bug makes a web it has eight legs, this bug jumps and is green, these bugs can fly, etc
- Discussing different verbs: flying, jumping, building (a web), buzzing,
The next week I put just spiders in the box and paired it with Eric Carle’s “The Very Busy Spider.” We counted eight spiders and eight legs and then made a very busy spider out of construction paper.
The next sensory box I made was with water beads (ordered from Amazon) and included a variety of sea creatures. Again, these sea creatures were found at a rummage sale and they were perfect for the box! I tried the box out with my own two children and it was a huge hit.
Some language targets included:
- Discussing the different animals and where they lived (e.g., under the sea)
- Discussing different verbs: swimming, diving, eating, jumping
- Prepositions: in the water, under the water, filling shells up, emptying them out
- Attributes: big, small, colors, fast, slow, full, empty
These sensory boxes were very easy to put together and provided lots of summer fun while allowing me to target some very important language skills. Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for more cool summer activities to build language!
