How is it spring break again already? It seems like moments ago we were preparing for spring break 2020, with the uncertainty of COVID-19 looming over us. While we may not yet know when things may return to normal, we have more answers than we did this time last year, and more importantly, we have all made it this far. With everything that 2020 threw at us, our patients, families, and therapists rose to the challenge to make the best of our situation, from virtual therapy to adjusting to temperature checks and masks.

The following blog post contains a multitude of various language-based activities to do with your child over spring break, with options for those of you who may still have to work during this time, as well as your personal level of comfort going out right now.

Virtual Field Trip

Over the course of the past year, many aquariums, museums, and science centers have uploaded virtual field trip videos on YouTube. These videos can be a great way for your child to spend the day having a fun, educational experience. Ask your child to tell you their 3 favorite things they learned on their virtual field trip to work on their ability to retell a story. Ask them some who, what, when, where, and why questions about their favorite parts of the video to work on their answering questions skills. Pair these videos with a fun hands-on activity, such as learning to make slime or going on a nature walk.

Cook Together

Chances are you are going to be cooking with your little ones at some point, so why not involve them in the process? Have a fun family pizza night and have your child help you make dinner! Not only will you be exposing them to new vocabulary (different ingredients, various utensils you may need, the appliances you’ll use), you can also work on following directions (open the cheese, spread the sauce, etc). For older children, have them take the lead and give you directions on how to make dinner! Have some fun with it, and see how precise they can be with their directions by pretending to not know to open the bag, or use a fork to grab something.

Play A Board Game

Have a family game night! This is a great activity to bond as a family, but also to build on your child’s joint attention skills, social skills, and depending on the game, critical thinking skills! With older children, you can focus on hypothetical situations and inferential questions, such as next moves in the game or making trades. For younger children, this can be a great time to work on learning sight words with games like Zingo, or counting with games such as Chutes and Ladders. Whatever game you play with your children, be sure to model the language you want them to use, in order to give them more opportunities to imitate you.

Watch A Movie

Children are going to watch TV, movies, or videos regardless, so we might as well embrace it! When the movie is over, have your child become a movie critic! Ask them to summarize the plot for you, labelling main characters, important events, the conflict and resolution! For younger children, ask some who, what, when, where, and why questions about the movie. For an additional hands-on activity, have them color a picture of their favorite scene in the movie, or create their own book explaining everything that happens!

We look forward to seeing you and your child back in the office on Monday, March 22nd when our office reopens. Have a safe and fun spring break, we cannot wait to hear about all of the fun adventures your littles ones had when they return to therapy!