Not sure which speech therapy activities to use to incorporate mini objects into your sessions with preschoolers? Or just not sure what the hype is all about?
I'll be honest - I didn't get it either.
I still don't really know what it is about mini erasers and mini objects, but they are magical. All of my preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary students LOVE them. They can be tricky to find (Walmart, Amazon, Michaels, Dollar Tree, and Dollarama) are my favourite places to get them.
Mini objects have become on of my favourite preschool speech therapy activities and today I'm going to share 10 different ways you can use these hands-on manipulatives in your therapy room to target articulation, phonology, expressive language, and receptive language.
1) Mini object scenes: I use these mini object scenes to target just about every goal! There are over 90 scenes, so there is a scene for EVERY occasion.
It is SO easy to just grab minis and a scene and head into a session confident and prepared. Your students can work on prepositions by placing mini objects in different places in the scene, vocabulary by talking about the pictures in the scene, describing by talking about each mini item, and wh- questions. You can also target speech sounds by pulling out minis with the child's target sound in it.
2) Sensory Bins: Throw a handful of minis into a sensory bin. This is such a fun and easy way to keep little hands busy. You can use photo boxes for a mini sensory bin or a a larger container. Pair with some grabbing tools (you can use mini tongs or sensory bin tools from Learning Resources).
3) Use with Surprise Toys, like the Toy Story Rocket): These two toys add an element of surprise which kids LOVE! You can easily target future tense verbs (it WILL fall), s-blends (spin, stuck), and past tense verbs (fell, placed), concepts (in/out/down).
4) Use with Shopkins Toys: It seems that there are always Shopkins at the Thrift Store. The mini fridges, shopping carts, and shopping bags are perfect to pair with mini objects.
5) Fillables: You can find a variety of fillable at Dollarstores. Place one mini in each fillable. You can place the fillable around the room, in a bag, or in a sensory bin. You could even play memory if you have multiples of your mini objects.
6) Act it out: Put animal/vehicle minis in a small bag and pull one out a time. Take turns acting out the action of the animal/vehicle.
7) Feed Puppets: Kids love feeding puppets mini objects! You can use people, animals, or fantasy characters. Make it extra fun by using TWO puppets!
8) Sort into small containers: This sounds so simple but kids love it! You can pair with tongs or pinchers or just use your hands. You can sort by sound, by category, or by any feature you wish.
**These are not affiliate links. This means I do not make a commission for the products linked in this blog post. The link to the mini scenes is to my TPT store, in which I would make a profit from your purchase.
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