Do your students love talking about monsters? I know mine do! And there are so many books and activities you can use to cover lots of speech and language goals. Here are a couple of blog posts with ideas to use in your therapy sessions.
If you have been following my blog or social media accounts, you know I love sensory bins! They are the best way to engage your students. Today, I want to show you how to make this monster sensory bin using really affordable materials. This googly-eyed sensory bin is really fun to use during the Halloween season or any time of the year!
Grab your favorite monster themed book and use this bin as an extension activity! Amazon affiliate links are included for your convenience. For more sensory bin ideas, I have a whole page filled with ideas to give you inspiration for therapy!
Materials for Making the Monster Sensory Bin
Here are the materials you need to make your speech sensory bin:
-A bin or box of any size
-Monster Googly-Eyed ping pong balls (You can get at the Dollar Tree during Halloween season or grab them on Amazon)
–Purple yarn cut up into spaghetti length pieces (Use your 40% off coupon from Joann’s for a great price on yarn)
–Learning Resources scoopers or use a plastic spoon or soup ladle with your bin
Ways to Use Your Monster Sensory Bins
This sensory bin can work on functional communication. You can target “want”, “more”, “all done”, “my turn”, “wait”, “help” and “where” using this bin. Do you need a CORE board for some of your students? Head to this blog post to get a free one.
Your students can learn the concepts of in/out using this bin. If your students are working on verbs, you can target “pick”, “find”, and “look” while playing with this sensory bin.
Students can work on language concepts while using this bin. Write different conjunctions on the eyeballs. When a student picks up an eyeball, he/she has to create a sentence with the conjunction. You can do the same thing with prefixes or suffixes. What other goals could you target in your sessions? Let me know in the comments.
Articulation Practice Using This Monster Sensory Bin
Want your students to increase their repetitions with their articulation sound or phonological process? Write numbers on the eyeballs using a sharpie. Then, have your students hunt for an eyeball. Whatever number is on the eyeball is how many repetitions they have to say. You can also use this as a generic mixed group game. The student with the most points at the end wins!
Are you struggling to get more repetitions with your articulation/phonology students? This blog post will keep your students motivated and working hard each session.
These ping pong balls are bouncy. So, the other way you can use this bin is to put all the eyeballs in a bucket or basket. The student has to say his/her sound so many trials before trying to bounce the eyeball into the sensory bin. Consider it a kid friendly game of monster pong!
Mixed Group Sensory Bin Reinforcer
Play a minute to win it challenge with your students once they complete their work for the session. Set the timer for one minute. Have your students use the scoopers to see how many eyeballs they can get out of the bin in a minute. The student who can get those most eyeballs out in a minute wins.
How Will You Use This Sensory Bin in Therapy?
Are you going to make this bin for your students? I love storing my sensory bin fillers in gallon sized plastic bags. This way, I can have 1-2 bins and interchange the fillers for new themes. For more storage ideas, head to this blog post. If you need to change up your therapy plans, this sensory bin will definitely get your kids engaged in the session. Make sure to tag me on social media with your bin and therapy ideas @thedabblingspeechie
I love this idea!! I am running out to the dollar store on my lunch!!
Thank you for all the great ideas
So glad this is something you can use for your students!!