Speech & Language Therapy with Lego Duplo Animal Bingo

Recently, I decided that I needed more toys for my therapy room.  A few of my current students aren't developmentally ready for "table learning" with worksheets, picture cards or board games.   They need hands-on learning.  They need toys.  After some research and thought, I decided Lego Duplo blocks would be a great addition to my therapy room.  Initially, I was leaning toward regular Lego blocks, but didn't want my younger students to struggle with the fine motor skills needed to build with those smaller blocks.

Not having tons of money to spend, I chose to fund my Lego Duplo blocks via a Donors Choose project.  Donors Choose is an amazing website -- if you're not familiar with it, you should check it out.  I submitted my project request on a Thursday night.  Friday morning it was approved and by Friday evening, it was fully funded.   Items were ordered Saturday morning and in my possession by Tuesday afternoon in time to use in therapy on Wednesday.   Mind you, Donors Choose projects don't always get funded (or arrive) this quickly.  It was amazing how quickly all of this happened.

Check out my new therapy fun:

I've had this box of Lego Duplo fun for less than a week and already I am seeing a world of possibilities!  When I originally requested these products, I had only a few of my students in mind. Little did I realize how many more of my students these products would actually benefit.  Initially, I thought my older students wouldn't want anything to do with these blocks as they aren't the "normal size" Lego blocks.  I was wrong. SAY WHAT?!?!  Yes, I was wrong.  They just want to build.

Today, let me share what we did with Lego Duplo Animal Bingo.

First an overview of the product:  Lego Duplo Animal Bingo comes with enough blocks to build 8 different animals and 8 game cards depicting the blocks needed to build each animal.  The game cards are 2 sided with one side showing the animal built with all the same color block and the other side showing the same animal built with different colored blocks.  Each student is given a game card (or 2).  All of the blocks go in the container.  Someone (usually the adult) picks a random block from the container.  If one of the students need it to build their animal, s/he says, "I need that block."  The winner is the first person to have all the blocks needed to build their animal.  

How I used it in therapy:

1) To target colors - check out all those colors!  A yellow giraffe, a red bunny, a pink snail, a green bird, a blue elephant, a brown moose, an orange ostrich, and a purple camel.

2) To target increasing vocabulary by naming animals.

3) To target increasing vocabulary by naming action words while the animals walk, run, hop, sleep, eat, talk, spin, hide, etc.

4) To target same and different by matching the correct block to the one pictured on the game card.  This was difficult for one of my students - he wanted to match a red block to a red block without regard for shape or size or even the fact there was an eye on the block.  With lots of modeling from me, he began to understand what he needed to do.




5) As a reinforcement during articulation therapy.  I gave each student 2 game boards.  They had to say their target words correctly 5-10x to earn a block to build their animal.  They loved this activity! 





6) To target answering and asking questions.  My student had to ask for two game cards, requesting which animals he wanted ("Can I have the giraffe?").   I also had two game cads.  We took turns closing our eyes and reaching in the box for a random block.  If I needed it, I would model, "I need this block for my animal."  If I didn't need it, I would ask the student, "Do you need this block?"  If he answered, "Yes", I would follow up with "Which animal needs this block?"   My student was expected to ask me similar questions after he chose a block from the box.



7) To target creative, spontaneous language while playing.

I've had these blocks for less than a week and look at everything we've been doing!  And I've only shared what we did with ONE of the Lego Duplo products!   Wait until you see what we do next week with these fun blocks!