I absolutely love the classic “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” It’s such a good therapy tool for targeting many different goals including colors, asking/answering questions, turn taking, and vocabulary. My speech kiddos absolutely love this book as do my own children at home!

As I was planning one of my therapy sessions recently, the toy farm animals caught my eye. I thought that it might be fun to modify Brown Bear a little to help this little one with some of her goals. I spread out the animals on the table and gave her the brown horse. We sang, “Brown Horse, Brown Horse, What Do You See? I see a ______ looking at me,” filling in the blank with a farm animal such as “pink pig” or “yellow duck.” This was such a hit with my little preschool friend. She absolutely loved singing along and asking questions, putting the animals in the barn and taking them out (prepositions), and answering yes/no and WH questions (what does a cow say?). We also targeted some of her articulation goals (/f/ in “farm” and ending sounds on words).

This activity was so engaging and one of our best sessions! You really can’t go wrong with farm animals. What are some fun play-based activities your preschoolers like?

I absolutely love the game Hedbanz, and it’s always a hit with my kiddos. If you are unfamiliar with the game, the guesser wears a headband on their head with a card on top. They quickly ask “yes” or “no” questions to figure out what is on their card before time runs out. Those rules alone make for a great game to have around in your speech therapy room!

I recently changed the rules up a little during one of my sessions. I took the articulation cards we were working on, shuffled them, and slid them one at a time into the headband. The other person/people (therapist, other children in your group) describes the picture to the child with the headband. So for “thirsty,” we said, “not hungry but ____.” It was great for opposites, vocabulary, and of course our sound because as soon as they guessed the word, they had to say it five times. The kids loved the variation and didn’t want to stop playing! Speech therapist win!

I also modified the rules another way for one of my kids who struggles with selective mutism. I wore the headband, and placed a card in the slot. I proceeded to ask her “yes” or “no” questions to figure out what was on the card. Once I found out what was on the card, I had her say the initial sound of the word so for “cake,” she had to say /k/. We have had so much success with this activity with this particular child!

How do you use Hedbanz in your speech therapy sessions? I’d love to get some fun, new ideas!