Favorite Therapy Item Thursday: LyndaSLP123 talks about Monster Boxes and a Muffin Tray Coin Toss Game!

Shanda and I are excited to welcome, Lynda from LyndaSLP123  to our blog today to guest post on her favorite therapy items. She is an intelligent and resourceful speech-language pathologist who has been working with a variety of students for 19+ years.  Her diverse work environments include: daycares, Head Starts, homes and schools. Currently, she is working in an elementary school and helps a variety of children from Pre-k to 5th grade advance in their speech and language skills.  Her students are lucky because she also creates her own extremely useful and creative products for them and for others to use and buy over at her Teachers Pay Teachers store. You can check out all 72 wonderful products of hers by clicking on this link to her LyndaSLP123 Teachers pay Teachers store today! 

We really appreciate Lynda's informative post today about her cute and creative Monster Boxes and also her clever Coin Toss Game.  Both ideas would be super fun to implement into any therapy room and we hope that you can bring them into yours soon!  Enjoy the post everyone! 

Sincerely,
Manda & Shanda, SLPs
Twin Speech, Language & Literacy LLC

Hi!  I’m Lynda from LyndaSLP123.  Manda & Shanda have invited me to talk about my favorite things to use in speech & language therapy.  My go-to favorite therapy items are often DIY activities that are open-ended, allowing me to use them with any therapy group.  Today let me share my two favorite ones:  Monster Boxes and Coin Toss.

Monster Boxes are easy to make.  First find a box.  I used a tissue box for my Monster Box, but I have also made them using cereal boxes and cracker boxes.  Use an X-acto knife to cut out the mouth.  It’s easier to cut out the mouth if you draw it on the box first.  Don’t worry that you don’t cut exactly on the line.  Cover the box with duct tape.  You can make your monster box all one color or use multiple colors.  I use white fun foam to make the teeth, gluing them in with a hot glue gun.   The whites of the monster’s eyes are fun foam and you can use wiggly eyes or colored fun foam for the pupils.  Check out the photos for ideas.  My Monster Box is the green one, pictured alone.

How do I use a Monster Box in therapy?  The students earn one “chip” (Bingo chips or poker chips will work) per turn.  During the last 2 minutes of the session, the students take turns tossing their chips into the monster’s mouth.  I’ve also had artic students feed the monster their artic pictures (because monsters will eat anything).  My students find it funny when the monster throws up (I turn the box upside down and shake out all of their pictures).  The Monster Box is also a fun tool to use for targeting prepositions.  (Put the block IN the monster’s mouth.  Put the car BEHIND the monster.)

The Coin Toss game is easier to make than the Monster Box.  First, take a trip to the bakery section of your local grocery store.  Ask them if they have any empty muffin trays (I think they are actually muffin tray liners) they could give you.  Once you have an empty muffin tray, decorate the bottom of each section with small stickers.  I used glittery star stickers that I bought at the Dollar Store.  You want to vary the number of stickers in each section.  I have between 1 to 5 stickers at the bottom of each of my sections.

How do I use the Coin Toss in therapy?  The students earn one “coin” per turn.  Poker chips work really well for this game.  They are the perfect size for each section of the muffin tray and heavy enough to actually toss.  During the last 2 minutes of the session, place the Coin Toss on a chair.  Each student will stand about 4 steps away from the Coin Toss and toss their coin into the tray.  Each student tosses all of their coins, adds up the points, and removes their coins before the next student’s turn.  The number of stickers at the bottom of the section where a coin landed equals the number of points the student earned for that section.  If two coins land in the same section, then points are doubled for that section.  If three coins land in the same section, then points are tripled for that section.  If four coins land...you get the picture.  You can make up your own rules for the coins that land on the floor.  (Sometimes I let them have one re-try for each coin that lands on the floor.  Sometimes I don’t.)  The student with the most points is the winner.  My 4^th and 5^th grade students, especially the boys, LOVE to play this game.   I think the boys enjoy the tossing and the competition.

I hope you can use these ideas in therapy.  Come visit me on Facebook or TeachersPayTeachers.