Thinking Outside the (Cardboard) Box: SLP Mom Reflections

The other day, I came back from an errand to find my toddler son outside with his babysitter. His clothes were soaked, and he wore the hugest grin on his sweet face. He was squealing with laugher.

                                                          

What had made him so happy?

His red car, a watering can, and a bucket.

You see, I'm a big fan of modeling language through play. We've played with these exact same toys before.

 I've pushed him in his car multiple times. I've modeled words like "go", "stop", and "turn".

We've gotten out Daddy's large blue bucket, and bounced his ball inside, while I modeled sentences such as, "Ball in. We bounced the round ball in the bucket."

We've pretended to water the flowers (okay, the grass- I'm not much of a gardener) and talked about it as we did it.

My son's creative babysitter, however, thought of a new use for all of these toys. When I came home, they had just finished "washing" his car. I'm certain this activity exposed him to new vocabulary.

Additionally, it was a great reminder for me.

Sometimes, it's okay to not "play" by the rules. His clothes were soaking wet? No big deal. It was a hot summer day, and the experience was well worth it.

Sometimes, we need to use our imagination. The everyday toys and items we have around the house can become anything in a child's eyes.

That's why we currently have a huge fort/ mansion in our play room, made entirely of cardboard moving boxes.

And sometimes, your coworkers (or babysitter) might have thought of an entirely new way to use the same old toys you have lying around your therapy room. Ask them!