Six in One - Bubbles
Who has the time to focus on activities for each individual speech and language goal? We sure don’t so why would you! We’re introducing a series we are calling Six in One: Using one activity to target six different speech or language goals. Today’s activity is something that many kids (and their parents!) enjoy - bubbles.
Turn Taking: Bubbles are a great way to target turn-taking. Whether you have many children playing together or just one adult and one child, you are able to target this goal. Simply take turns and use the phrases, “it’s my turn!” and “it’s your turn!” You can practice turn taking with blowing bubbles for older kids, or popping bubbles for younger children. Turn-taking also introduces the idea of practicing “waiting” and “waiting for your turn.”
Articulation: You can get multiple repetitions of articulation targets when using bubbles. Below are some examples of ways to target the /m/, /b/, and /p/ sounds.
/m/: “more,” “mine,” “my turn,” “mommy’s turn,” “mouth”
/b/: “bubbles,” “blow,” “big”
/p/: “pop,” “pour,” “put (in),” “please,” “play”
Requesting: When working on making requests, bubbles offer options for children at every language development stage. Maybe they are working on the sign for “more” and request “more” prior to you blowing more bubbles or are working on putting 2-words together and can request “big bubble” or “more bubbles.” Other multi-word combinations include: “go bubbles,” “2 bubbles,” “see bubbles,” “like bubbles,” “want more bubbles,” “mommy bubbles,” “daddy all-done bubbles,” “my bubbles,” “blow bubbles.”
Cause and effect language: Bubbles are a great way to practice early cause and effect goals as well as joint attention goals. By blowing bubbles and pointing to them, caregivers and their children are able to look at and converse about the same, fun things! When teaching cause and effect, practice saying “first we blow the bubble, then it pops!” or “if you touch the bubble then it will pop!”
General language: General core words can be easily used when playing with bubbles. Some examples of these words include “go,” “blow,” “pop,” “more,” “help,” “all-done/finished,” “wet,” “sticky,” “mine,” “in,” “out,” “big,” or “small.”
Receptive language: Finally, bubbles and playing with bubbles are a great way to work on following directions and receptive language. You can practice receptive understanding of size words by asking your child to “find the biggest bubble” or “pop the little bubble.” Practice following directions including, “blow the bubble,” or “wait.”
As you can see, playing with bubbles is a great activity to practice language skills for many children. We hope that the next time you are wondering how to focus on 6 different goals at once you will think about incorporating bubbles!
