I have this one cutie pie 4 year old that comes to me on a walk-in basis for artic therapy. He's a lively little guy who likes to keep me on my toes….I will think that I have come up with some great activity and he will look at me and say….”BORING”. I wish I was joking. So, I know you have seen those artic towers, power towers, etc floating around on Pinterest. I had bought the cups a while back, but I never wrote any words on them…. I have commitment issues. Anyways, today I whipped out those cups and told him we were gonna see how tall he could build a tower.
I said a word, he said the word, and I gave him a cup. Simple as that.
This lasted for a whole 20 minutes and we got 100 words done! ONE HUNDRED! With a FOUR year old! WOOOHOOOO!
Then, of course, I let him punch it down…cause what fun is a still-standing tower? NONE 🙂
I guess my point is, sometimes it doesn't take a whole lot of find something to hook them…you just have to think outside the box.
Have you done something that you thought was SO silly, but grabbed your students' attention like no other? Have you used these cup towers?
Anonymous says
I colored in a circle on a post and put it on the floor. After producing several words, the students rolled a ball over it. Talk about simple!!
SLP Gone Wild says
Lol, that’s funny…I might have a couple who would like that!
Anonymous says
Post it note, not “post”!!
Carrie Manchester says
Great idea! I’ll have to add cups to my shopping list, lol!
SLP Gone Wild says
It was pretty fun!
Arielle says
LoL, that is totally what I did today! I have a slingshot and some small beanie angry birds so once their tower was built they got to knock it down by flinging angry birds at it. They loved it 🙂
SLP Gone Wild says
You’re pretty brave…I wouldn’t trust this guy with a slingshot for a second! Lol sounds like fun!!!
Arielle says
I have to end up doing some hand over hand with the slingshot otherwise who knows where it would end up 🙂
meagan says
I was playing honey bee tree with two kinder students who have artic and social skill goals. they liked the bees more than anything so we worked on turn taking, sharing and saying words. then they got a huge kick out of running around the table buzzing the bee to come “sting me” or each other.
SLP Gone Wild says
Aw, I remember using honey bee tree at one of my placements in grad school…I need to find that game!
April Shuman says
I take a post it note and we draw a stick figure and name it. I then put artic cards on the table face up with the post its on the back. The kiddos then have to guess where the post it is! They love it and I can get many many productions of sounds. They beg to do it over and over even my older kids!
SLP Gone Wild says
I do something similar, but I bet my kids would like the post note man! Thanks for sharing!
Communication Station: Speech Therapy, PLLC says
AWESOME job! 100 trials in 20 mins with a 4 year old!!! Fantastic! So simple and so fun! Love it! Thanks for sharing!
SLP Gone Wild says
Lol thanks! I was pretty amazed! Hope it works for others just as well 🙂
Allison says
My kiddos LOVE the cups. I first made some for artic. (R and S), but now I have cups for categories, synonyms, antonyms, and multiple meaning words. They can’t get enough:)
SLP Gone Wild says
Love it! That is awesome 🙂
Anonymous says
I played artic Twister with smile tokens from Super Duper. I threw them up in the air and made them put their hands, feet, AND head on them. They could choose a body part to move if they made appropriate target sounds in words or phrases! That is what we call last minute planning! 🙂 But the girls giggled the entire time and they loved it!
I LOVE your site! Thanks for all your wonderful ideas!
SLP Gone Wild says
Lol, that sounds right up my alley! Awesome 🙂
Thank you so much! I am glad that you can use some of them!