Give Picture Cards a Purpose!

Picture cards are typical speech therapy material. Whether we use them to work on increasing receptive and expressive vocabulary or eliciting various syllable shapes, they are an inevitable part of what we do! However, some little ones want to have no part of them. So how do we make the cards exciting, fun, and motivating? I have found that giving the cards a purpose increases the child's motivation to take part in the picture card activity. One of my favorite activities is called "Feed the Duck". All you need for this activity is a kid's sized hamper! The children love feeding the duck and are motivated to go through the card deck in order to continue feeding him. I tell them to be careful because he may bite them, and it always elicits a great social laugh when I close the duck's mouth on their hand. I also have a fish shaped hamper for when the duck is no longer new and motivating. It's also a great way to work on following simple commands! Hope this helps make those 4X6 cards motivating again!

(Elephants work too!)