Blogging has been on the back burner for a while since I was planning a wedding for most of 2019! Now with much more time on my hands, I am excited to participate more in the SLP community. With COVID-19 and the rapid conversion of the education system to remote learning, I’ve been trying to figure out what I could do to help parents at home and other SLPs.
I absolutely love cooking with my students! Food is typically a great motivator, and kids love a hands-on activity. Cooking is also an easy opportunity for carryover from the school to the home. Inspired by my cooking activities with students, I have been making resources for a Cooking with the SLP series since 2016. With all of this in mind, I am excited to launch “Snack-n-Speech.”
The Details
For the next month (and hopefully longer!) I will be posting a short video to my Instagram account every Tuesday. The video will be a tutorial for a simple “snacktivity” with suggestions for targeting language goals.
- The video will be posted to my Instagram account (follow me @letsbuildlanguage) in IGTV posts at 11 AM EST.
- It will be available for viewing at your leisure.
- The ingredients will be made available in the week prior on Instagram, my blog and in my newsletter (this first week the notice is a little short [sorry!], but the ingredients are simple)
- Recipes will contain simple, seasonal ingredients with options given for easy substitutions.
- The video tutorials will be about 10 minutes in length.
- Ideas for targeting language goals will be provided.
- If a therapist/educator or parent want to purchase the language activity pack that corresponds with the activity in my TpT store, it will be 50% off the day before and the day of the Snack-n-Speech activity. These packs contain a wide variety of activities, such as differentiated comprehension review, sequencing activities, social skills games and more.
Tuesday March 31st: Kite Sandwiches
For the first week, I will be featuring Kite Sandwiches! The ingredients are shown above, but there is plenty of room for substitutions and creativity. If you don’t have a carrot, any long vegetable will work. This could be something to brainstorm with the child: what are some long vegetables other than carrots that we could use as a kite’s tail? Cucumbers, celery, maybe even more fruit with a firm banana? If you don’t have popcorn, you can use white cheddar cheese puffs or mini marshmallows for the clouds.
All of my Cooking with the SLP resources include ingredient lists, step by step recipe directions with visuals, an abbreviated one-page direction list, differentiated comprehension review worksheets, sequencing worksheets, a writing prompt, social skills games, a “take home recipe” and more! I will be adding new resources as the month goes on as well!
My hope is that these video tutorials will be an easy way for parents and children to engage in a language-based activity while having fun (and eating something delicious)! I would love if SLPs could share this information with their students’ families, so they can tune in each week. I’m also hoping to collaborate with other SLPs in this weekly series, so stay tuned!
Kite-Related Extension Activity Ideas
- Spring is here and it’s the perfect time to build a kite to fly outside! Check out this easy kite-making activity from Food Fun Family.
- Books about kites: Stuck by Oliver Jeffers, Just a Kite by Mercer Mayer
- Song about kites: 5 Little Kites
I hope everyone is staying healthy and strong in this extremely challenging time. Be well and always wash those hands before cooking and eating 🙂
