Using Mini-Objects in Speech Therapy
Have you tried using mini objects in speech therapy sessions yet? If you’ve been following me for a while, then you might already understand my love for using mini objects in speech therapy. This post may contain affiliate links for different toys and objects that I use during speech therapy from Amazon.
There are SO many benefits to using mini objects in speech therapy:
- Students love the mini objects and are engaged in a hands-on activity.
- There are numerous opportunities for targeting speech sounds.
- You can EASILY work on categorization and sorting skills.
- You can hide objects in different items and open the objects to label simple verbs.
- You can describe the objects in so many different ways.
- You can even work on pronouns by sorting between a girl and boy toy.
- You even work on fine motor skills by using mini objects which is always a plus for our students on IEPs that struggle with this!
Okay, have I sold you on using mini objects in speech therapy yet? I have written many different blog posts over this. Check out this post in which I discuss different treatment ideas for mini objects. In addition, I like to use mini objects in speech therapy for working on apraxia and articulation by making specific boxes for each of these skills to be able to use and pull off the shelf with students throughout the year.
Here are some ideas for using mini objects in speech therapy:
Pair them with any toy on the shelf
This is the easiest and most cost effective way to start out by using mini objects in speech therapy. You can grab any toy on your shelf that you have on hand or borrow from your coworkers so it can be something “new” that students have not seen before.
Here are some ideas for toys you may have on hand:
- Dump Truck: Have the student deliver the mini objects to different areas of the room. Do you have any students that have a specific interest in rolling a car? You direct them to more cooperative play using mini objects. If you are looking for a dump truck for speech therapy, here is one on Amazon.
- Barn: Simply have students put the mini animals or farm items into the barn and pull them out of the barn. This is a great activity for working on vocabulary. Here is a link to a barn if you need a simple one.
- Mini Fridge: For my mini fridge, I like to use this 18 inch doll fridge. I put mini foods in and am very silly about it and ask students to grab different items out of the fridge for me. We put them on plates and “pretend” to have a feast at the end of the activity! My students love this one!
Sorting Objects with Rock and Gems
Okay these Rock and Gem Surprise Toys that I found on Amazon are always a HUGE hit with my speech students! You can hide whatever mini objects in them that you want-you could go with the season you are in or work on a specific categorization skill or vocabulary. Or you can use the gems that come with this set and sort by color or shape or even count the gems at the end that they found. Once you hide the objects or gems in the “rocks,” then students get to open them by using the hammer and chisel tools that come with this set. This one keeps them engaged and having fun for a while!
Hide Objects in Number Boxes
This Counting Surprise Sorting Set is also a favorite with students. There are 10 boxes with the numbers 1-10 on each and a different mini toy inside each box. You can have students open and describe the toy inside, categorize the toys found in the boxes and even work on number and color recognition with this fun set. Sometimes my students even like to stack the boxes at the end or “hide” toys for me to find!
Open the Pirate Treasure Box
This Pirate Treasure Set comes with 5 treasure boxes with the numbers 1-5 written on them, as well as a key to open each with, one mini pirate toy per box and however many coins as that box says. For example, box number 3 comes with 3 coins. The key makes this activity different then the others above because students really get a kick out of using the key to open the box.
There is even a different shape on each key to work on that skill with students but the shapes color matches the treasure box’s color. There are so many opportunities for play that incorporate speech goals with this pirate set!
Seasonal activities for using mini objects in speech therapy:
When using mini objects in speech therapy, sometimes I like to keep it related to the season or holiday that we are learning about. Here are 3 ideas for ways to use these mini objects during the different seasons. There are even tips in the fall post for how to use with a document camera if you are doing teletherapy:
Do you use mini objects in speech therapy already? Are you planning to start now? I would love to know how you decide to use them!
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I am interested in these cute mini toys. Where can I get them? Are they expensive?
Sorry Jenna, I scrolled down the page too quickly and I did not see you have linked up the websites for the toy ><. You can just delete my earlier comment and this post for me..
Thank you for all you do 😀
No problem!
I love the Surprise Boxes. It’s a big hit with PK. I’ve been searching to find other minis to trade out of the presents.
When I was shadowing a speech pathologist a couple summers ago, I noticed that she too would use a lot of toys/mini-objects in order to keep the kids engaged during the sessions. I felt that it really seemed to keep the kids focused and really wanting to achieve whatever they were working on in order to play with the toy. Have you found that one toy works better than another? Or does it really just depend on the child? When I was shadowing, she used a lot of small puzzles and every time the child successfully produced the target sound, she would hand them the puzzle piece and they would place it. I liked that it really kept the kids focused and on task. Would you suggest using food as a prize as well? When I was shadowing we had several kids who’s parents would bring in gummies or crackers of some sort and whenever they produced the target sound, they would get a gummy or a cracker. If you have used food have you found that there is a difference between using toys vs. food?
This seems like a great way to keep kids engaged! Do you ever group certain objects to prompt the child to work on specific sounds, or do you use them to work on conversational skills? If you do use them to target specific phonemes what is your success rate? Are kids more motivated to attempt saying the sound because they want to play with that item?
Do you have a link or a website for the mini objects?