Festive Valentine's Day Activities

Tis' the season for making memories with your loved ones. Creating activities surrounding holidays and seasons is a great way to get your child excited about learning and spending quality time. It is also a great opportunity to work on expanding you child's receptive and expressive vocabulary by introducing words that are unique to this time of year! Here are a list of some great activities that you can do with your children to enhance language and social skills!

Ages 0-1

Sing, sing, sing

A child can hear well before they enter the world, so talking and singing to our children from the moment they are born (and maybe even before) is a great way to start developing pre-requisite skills for language! Some of my favorite nursery rhymes and Disney songs have tons of Valentine’s Day vocabulary in them, which is a bonus if you have older ears around the house listening and singing along! Here is a list of some great songs for you to sing to your babies of all ages this time of year:

• “Skidamarink”

• “I love you” (Barney Song)

• “You are my sunshine”

• “Can you feel the love” (Lion King)

• “Love is an open door” (Frozen)

• “Beauty and the Beast”

• Don’t be afraid to use some of your favorite kid-friendly songs from your iTunes playlist. One of my personal favorites to sing to my baby girl this year have been “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder

Ages 1-3

Valentine’s Day Crafts

Paper and crayons are some of my favorite tools in the therapy room and they are a cheap and simple household item that you probably will not have to search too hard to find. One thing that differentiates how I might use these tools during a session is that I hold onto ALL the pieces to create opportunities for the child to request them from me. Start by gathering all your materials in a basket or Tupperware. If your child does not yet have the appropriate vocabulary to request, hold up two choices and model the use of baby signs and short phrases (ie - “blue crayon” or “more glitter”) to help him/her learn as you hand over each item. If your child is currently using single words, such as “more” and “want,” repeat what he/she says while adding 1-3 words to the phrases to help him/her learn to put more words together. For example, your child chooses a red crayon and says “red,” you could respond with “red crayon please.” Before offering your next item, be sure to collect the former! This tip is a great way to reduce the mess and eliminate lost pieces as well. For more diversity and engagement, add in more craft materials, such as glue, glitter, dot markers, stickers, stamps, macaroni, googly eyes, and more!

Ages 2-5

Baking with Our Lover Boys and Lover Girls

Nothing says Valentine’s Day like making sweet treats with loved ones! Taking turns, following directions, and formulating detailed sentences are all typical goals that many therapists will give to children at this age to help them succeed in preschool and social settings. By baking simple, holiday-themed recipes like the ones linked below, we can provide opportunities for language development. I have listed some examples of ways to incorporate turn taking, choice making, following directions, expression of phrases and sentences, and other essential skills:

• Take turns mixing batter. Use counting or singing to denote when each turn is over (ie- count a specific number of rotations or sing the length of the chorus to your child’s favorite song to determine when to switch turns).

• Count rotations of mixing.

• Give color choices for sprinkles and other candy toppings. If your child responds using a single word or short phrase, provide a good model of an expanded phrase or detailed sentence.

• For 2-4 year olds, use one-step directions, such as such as “put the popcorn in the bowl.” For 4-5 year olds, try using more detailed and/or two-step directions to work on their understanding of complex language. This might sound like “Use the pink candy to make a heart” or “First, pour the butter into the pan. Then, mix it using the BIG spoon.”

• Ask your child to tell another family member how you made your special treat. They might need some help by adding in details and steps that they forget along the way!

• Use color, number, shape, and size descriptors when giving directions and making comments to model how to express themselves using more details!

Valentine's Day Snack Bites

Valentine's Day Rice Crispies

Cupid Crunch Recipe

Ages 5-8

Cuddling the Bookworm

Most parents know the value of reading for language and literacy development, but do you know there are little tips and tricks that we can use to enhance the experience and include more skills, such as recognizing emotions, problem solving, and inferencing. Getting involved in the reading experience allows us to model and probe our children for these more advanced skills... and the extra bedtime snuggles are a fabulous bonus perk!

Reading Tips & Tricks

• Stop throughout your book and ask your child what they think will happen next. Offer ideas for what else could happen.

• Ask your child to look at the faces in the illustrations. Discuss how you think each character is feeling and why.

• When you reach the "problem" of the book, ask your child how they might fix this problem.

Valentine's Day Books

• "Little Blue Truck's Valentine" by Alice Schertle

• "Amelia Badelia's First Valentine" by Herman Parish

• "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose" by Lucille Colandro

• "Junnie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine" by Barbara Park

Ages 6-10

Valentine’s Day Simon Says & Charades

This game is just like our normal Simon Says and Charades, but incorporate some of our Valentine's Day vocabulary, such as "heart," "love" "kiss" "hug" "chocolate" and "card."

Sample Simon Says phrases:

• Simon Says ... blow a kiss

• Simon Says ... hug your imaginary friend

• Simon Says ... draw a heart in the sky

• Simon Says ... point to your heart

• Simon Says ... pretend to eat the most delicious chocolate (practicing imagination is fun AND functional)

• Simon Says ... give mommy/daddy a hug

• Simon Says ... kiss your own hand

Sample Charades tasks:

• Giving a kiss

• Giving a hug

• Reading a card

• Eating yummy treats

• Opening a gift

• Getting married

• Proposing

• Putting on jewelry