Having toys in your therapy stash that you can use to cover multiple goals is the way to go when you are a busy SLP. Lesson planning is important for effective therapy, so knowing how to quickly utilize a toy to elicit speech and language targets is nice on those days when meetings and paperwork eat up all your planning time.
Today, I want to share about how to use your toy farm in speech therapy to cover a wide range of skills. My kids are very engaged when I pull out the toy farm in speech therapy.
Where Can I Buy a Farmhouse for My Speech Room?
There are several different types of farmhouse playsets available on Amazon. I am sure you can find a farmhouse toy at Target, too. Here are some of the playsets that are affordable (Amazon affiliate links included for your convenience):
Melissa and Doug Wooden Fold N’ Go Barn
Fisher-Price Little People Caring for Animals Farm Playset
B Toys Baa Baa Baa Musical Farm Set (This is the one I own.)
If you don’t have room for a bulky farm set, then you can buy these Farm Animals and Down on the Farm Toob sets to use in therapy. There is also a Farm Babies set!
Using a Toy Farm in Speech Therapy With Younger-Aged Children
A farmhouse set can be used to target so many skills! Listed below are some of my favorite ways to engage children in speech and language skills:
- Sort the animals by attributes (wings/no wings, two legs/ four legs, lives on a farm, not on a farm).
- Discuss what each animal can do, what parts they have, where you can find them, how they feel, etc.
- Work on grammar concepts, such as plural tense (i.e. cows, horses), noun-verb agreement (She has the bucket), present progressive (i.e. is walking).
- Create a farm sensory bin to work on storytelling, social skills, pretend play, grammar, and vocabulary.
- Give the farm animals items and ask “who” questions (Who has the corn?).
- Work on “where” the animals and items are on the farm.
- Make a farm animal washing station to work on verbs, vocabulary, and sequencing. One container has dirt, and the other has soapy water.
- Work on following directions with basic concepts and 1-3 step directions.
- Create a fence with popsicle sticks or use a plastic play fence. Students work on around, over, under, etc.
- Have the farmer go around the farm doing all of his/her chores. Work on noun-functions, creating sentences, describing, and more.
Have a Toy Farm Cheat Sheet for Your Sessions
Play-based therapy is a naturalistic tool that SLPs can use to target verbs, language skills, social pragmatics, and articulation/phonology. It can be tough to remember all the targets to hit in a mixed group, as well. That’s why I created cheat sheets to help SLPs. You focus on the therapy with the students rather than worrying about the targets you are going to use in the session. Need toy companion cheat sheets? Grab my toy companion cheat sheets designed for Pre-K thru 2nd grade for 14 of your students’ favorite toys, including a toy farmhouse playset!
Farm-Themed Therapy Resources
When I plan my small group and whole class therapy lessons, I like to use themes to keep me organized. In this blog post , you can see all the books, videos, and activities I plan with a farm theme.
How Do You Use a Toy Farm Playset in Speech Therapy?
Do you have a fun way to engage your students with a farmhouse playset in speech therapy? Share in the comments, tag me on Instagram @thedabblingspeechie, or email me at feliceclark@thedabblingspeechie.com.