Thank you so much to Rose for this opportunity to do a guest post for all of you today! I have a love for food and a love for therapy, so how fun to combine them, right?? Today, I’m going to tell you why I use food in therapy and also a few examples of how we’ve used it. Quick, simple, and hopefully helpful for you!
WHY:
1. Food is fun for most kids (provided they don’t have sensory issues).
It can be very motivating.
2. You can target a lot with it. You can use it as a motivator to target anything, but you can specifically target articulation (with the names of the food), language (describing the food), and social skills (talking around the table, turn-taking ,etc). among others!
3. It’s different than traditional therapy with flashcards.
4. It allows kids to be creative, depending on the activity.
5. It allows sensory kids to work on different textures and tastes.
6. Snack time can give the kids a little bit of a break. Of course, we as therapists are targeting something, but to them it’s a break.
7. It’s easy to relate it to a theme!
8. It works for all age groups!
IDEAS:
Holidays are the easiest for me to do this with. Make sugar cookies that go along with that whatever holiday and have the kids decorate them.
Cupcakes are another easy one. Decorate the cupcakes to be any animal.
For the Three Little Pigs, we bought stick pretzels, licorice bites, and veggie sticks to represent the three different materials used to build the houses.
For a palm tree, we cut up bananas for the trunk, green grapes for the leaves, and oranges for the sand at the bottom.
We made dirt cups one day with chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms. Not only did they eat them, they helped mix up the pudding and crush the oreos.
For the Fourth of July, we made flags out of blueberries, strawberries, whipped cream, and graham crackers. They used the cracker as the base, spread the whipped cream over it, the blueberries on for the stars and the strawberries on for the stripes.
WHERE to find these ideas:
Pinterest. Honestly, I think all of our ideas came from there this summer. They do not necessarily turn out looking like the picture, but it is at least a starting point for you!
Have fun and be creative. If you’re excited about it, the kids will be, too!!
Thank you again to Rose for this great opportunity. I hope you got some ideas! If you liked this post, I would love to have you follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Teachers
Pay Teachers.
Carissa is a current graduate student and blogs over at Home Sweet Speech Room. She is doing her thesis on thickened liquids with infants and children with dysphagia and hopes to one day work in a children’s hospital. She absolutely loves photography, shopping, and shoes.
And now for today’s giveaways…..Enter to win Gingerbread Synonyms and Antonyms from Carrie’s Speech Corner and Food Category Sorting from Megan Moyer. Click on the links to check out their awesome prizes and other items in their TpT stores!! This giveaway will stay open until September 8 at midnight!
Pinterest is a good mine and FOOD is always fun! Thanks for sharing.
*gold=}
I have used food in therapy from time to time. Mostly when practicing following directions and sequencing goals.
I haven’t used food before–my district is super strict about food and our kids.
Cute blog! I am always looking for new speechie ideas!
I used foods sometimes when I overlap with Ec kids with an OT.
I use food for following directions and sequencing. My HS community based class does a cooking lesson each week and that is when I do push-in time with them.
I have used food, but only very sparingly and as a reward, never as part of a lesson.
One of my favorite resources for using food in therapy is the Kinder-Munchies book from Discovery Toys. If you can find a copy, grab it!
I’ve used food especially for following directions. It’s really fun to cook with the kids in our self contained room for those with cognitive impairments. The kids love it and I do too!