Dinosaurs Dinosaurs Everywhere!

As we continue another week of dinosaur fun in many of our individual and group sessions I wanted to highlight the beauty of using themes to help develop speech and language skills. Themes are excellent for building vocabulary around a particular topic, whether it be dinosaurs, farm animals, transportation, space exploration, or whatever holds your child’s interest. They help children to stay motivated, while you continue to build upon speech/language targets, and provide many opportunities for interaction.

Using themes can also help parents/educators plan and organise activities to focus on communication targets and also integrate them into pre-academic/academic goals. A quick Pinterest search for “dinosaur theme” would reveal an abundance of activities, resources, craft ideas, early literacy worksheets, language expansion ideas, sensory bins, and much more related to dinosaurs.

Where do you start?

I always like to start by finding books and/or puzzles related to the theme. In my years practising I’ve learnt that there’s a book for everything. Interactive or sensory filled books are perfect for young learners and help to keep them engaged.

It is always great to include toys and manipulatives in theme play to build language within play interactions. They can also be incorporated into sensory play and movement activities for great multi sensory learning. Activities such as crawling through a tunnel to discover new items are especially useful for little ones who are constantly on the move.

Our fossil dough was also a hit in sessions, as it had the look and feel of mud, and therefore fun for our dinosaurs to stomp through. Want to try it at home? Find the recipe here.

So go start your Pinterest search (Don’t get too overwhelmed) and let us know what you come up with for some themes this summer.