It’s all about HEARTS in this week’s post! In honor of Valentine’s Day, here is:
1- a quick and creative sweet treat (chocolate heart pretzels),
2-a healthy fruit treat (strawberry hearts and arrows) and
3- a few speech and language treats (Valentine themed games).
CHOCOLATE COVERED PRETZEL HEARTS
You will need:
- small-medium sized salted thin pretzels
- semi-sweet, dark or milk chocolate
- topping options: dark chocolate M&M’s, pink/red/white sprinkles, dried fruit (cranberries, ginger, cherries, coconut)
- wax paper lined cookie sheet
1–Melt 2 cups of chocolate over very low heat in a saucepan or melt in a microwave: 1 Cup morsels in an uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH power for 45 seconds;
2-STIR. Microwaves vary. If needed, heat an additional 10-15 second intervals, stirring vigorously after each interval until melted.
3- Carefully dip each pretzel using a fork.
4–Tap off the excess chocolate. To make your pretzels look more “heart-like”,
5–fill in the holes with additional chocolate once you have placed them on a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet.
HEARTS WITH ARROWS:
You will need:
- whole strawberries
- a knife
- toothpicks
- Use this quick and simple treat to address the concepts of HALF and WHOLE. Compare the whole-vs- cut strawberries.
- Try cutting a strawberry in half so that both halves are perfectly equal…then talk about EQUAL and NOT EQUAL or SAME and DIFFERENT.
1-Use whole strawberries to make “hearts with arrows”.
2-Cut the green leaves off the top.
Slice the strawberry in half so that both halves are symmetrical.
3-Insert a toothpick (arrow)through the side of the berry halves to hold them together and form a heart shape.
**Be careful to remove toothpicks when serving to young children!
Valentine Games for Speech and Language:
GAME #1–GUESS MY VALENTINE FRIEND
- To play this game, you will need a tissue box covered with tissue paper or wrapping paper. Cut a hole in the top.
- You will need to purchase Valentine cards with princess and superhero characters. Purchase multiple boxes of the same type of cards for use with this game.
- Put all cards in the “valentine mailbox”. Each child takes a turn pulling out a card. He starts the sentence by saying “My Valentine Friend….” and must say three things describing his picture. Other students in the group are then given a chance to guess who he is describing.
- Also play as a WH game: Give each student a set of cards. Everyone should be given the same cards. (either all princesses or all superheroes) Have students take turns asking questions i.e. “What color dress is your princess wearing” or “What special power does your superhero have?“
This game addresses many concepts:
1. Articulation
- to practice the /f/ and /v/ at the sentence level “my Valentine Friend…”
- to monitor speech sounds in carryover
2. Language skills for:
- increasing the length and complexity of utterances
- improving the ability to use descriptive words and adding details
- Asking/answering WH questions
Try this game with your students who are working on language goals related to IDIOMS, INFERENCING, SENTENCE BUILDING, and CARRYOVER FOR ARTICULATION—Print out the Heart cards above and use them with to play the game found in the “Heart Warming Words” link.
GAME # 3—PLAYING GAMES WITH MY HEART
I have to say this Valentine recipe was great all around! We loved the pretzels & enjoyed a strawberry snack while learning some measurements. We created all of the cards posted & played all of the games. I had great conversations with my boys while helping them practice their speech & language skills by playing all of the games here.