Scoop Up

Using games in therapy sessions

Scoop Up is a great fun activity that can be used by speech & language therapists, occupational therapists, and special education teachers.  Games can make therapy fun and engaging for the child while the therapist can elicit responses and actions that meet therapy goals. 

Scoop Up

Scoop Up has 4 starting ice cream cones with one scoop and 48 scoop pieces (6 each of 8 flavors), numbered 2 to 49.

Suggested lesson for Scoop Up

“Today we’re going to play Scoop Up and build some yummy ice cream cones. Pick a scoop from all the scoops of ice cream. Turn it over and read the number. It is a number 5. 5 is larger than 1, so we can put the scoop on the ice cream cone.

“Now, it is my turn. I turn over a 10. 10 is larger than 1, so I put the scoop on my ice cream cone.

“Now, it is your turn. Pick a scoop and turn it over. It is a number 3. 3 is not larger than 5, so we have to turn the scoop back over.

“My turn. I turn over a 25. 25 is larger, so I put the scoop on my ice cream cone.

“Now, it is your turn. Pick a scoop and turn it over. It is a number 12. 12 is larger than 5, so we can put the scoop on the ice cream cone.”

The first player to get 10 scoops of ice cream on their cone is the winner.

For children who are able to follow these directions, add another step. You can incorporate vocabulary cards or articulation cards. If you are working on particular sounds, reinforce the correct placement and production of the sounds.

If the child is more proficient with sound production, have them use the word in a sentence. Start with a carrier sentence, then go to a more complicated sentence.

If the goals are to improve receptive and expressive language, incorporate WH questions.

Speech & Language Therapy

• Practice prepositions (on top of, in front of, next to, etc)
• Describe the colors of the scoop
• Describe what flavor you think the scoop is

Occupational Therapy

• Reinforce crossing the midline
• Place the pieces (during set up) in groups by “flavor”

Special Education

• Arrange the scoops in rising numerical order
• Arrange the scoops by numbers with “odds” together, “evens” together

 

Threading Game

Using games in therapy sessions

Threading Game by HABA is a great fun activity that can be used by occupational therapists, speech & language therapists, and special education teachers.  Games can make therapy fun and engaging for the child while the therapist can elicit responses and actions that meet therapy goals. 

Threading

This is a great, very unusual game from the German manufacturer HABA. This game includes 1 thread with police station, 1 thread with police car, 1 bank, 2 police officers, 1 police dog, 1 thief, 1 stop sign, 1 pr of handcuffs, 1 moneybag, 4 2-sided templates (self-correcting 2 pieces), 1 cloth bag, and instruction booklet.

Suggested lesson for Threading

“Take two matching template pieces and fit them together to make a scene. Look at the template and find the starting place of the scene (left side). Is it the Police station or the Police wagon?  It is the Police station – the building where the police work. Find the block that matches it – it will have yarn and a wooden needle attached.” 

“Now, let’s look at the next image on the template? It is the Stop sign. Find the Stop sign block and, using the needle and yarn, push the needle through the Stop sign block so the yarn goes through.” 

“What is the next image on the template? It is the Police officer. Find the Police officer block and, using the needle and yarn, push the needle through the police officer block so the yarn goes through.”

“What is the next thing that happened in the scene? We see the Thief. Find the Thief block and, using the needle and yarn, push the needle through the Thief block so the yarn goes through adding it to the line.” 

“Let’s compare our thread with the picture shown on the template. Do they look the same?” 

Speech & Language Therapy

• Practice sequencing from the 2-sided templates
• Name different kinds of money

• Name different kinds of dogs

Occupational Therapy

• Improve motor skills by threading the different pieces together

• Reinforce midline crossing
• Reach into the bag and identify the piece you need by feel alone, without peeking
• Assemble the template with self-correcting halves

Special Education

• Practice threading in sequence from the template
• Group pieces by colors

• Group pieces by kind (people, objects, etc)