Many parents tell me that whilst their children will sit happily in clinic sessions and complete therapy activities they are not quite so compliant when it comes to doing the activities at home. The reality is that children will generally do more for me for the simple reason that I’m not their parent. I often struggle to get my own daughter to do activities I ask of her!
Here are my ten ways you can make flash card or picture based homework activities more interesting at home:
1. Sensory tray: put pictures onto a tray and add dry ingredients e.g lentils, cornflakes, rice, pasta so that children have to find them.
2. Laminate pictures and look at them at bath time when children can’t run off!
3. Hide pictures around the house or garden and encourage children to find them.
4. Put pictures in plastic surprise eggs (lots of places are selling these at this time of year!).
5. Take a photo of each picture on your phone and when you have 5 minutes with your child (e.g. in a waiting room, whilst sat in the car) scroll through them and encourage them to have a go at saying them.
6. Stick pictures in each room of the house. Every time you go past a picture encourage your child to have a go at saying it!
7. Give a reward by blowing bubbles or giving a piece of a puzzle or favourite game between pictures.
8. For children that have more energy, make games more active by placing pictures under skittles and saying the ones you knocked over, or hide them in flowerpots around the garden.
9. Put pictures on the table and set a wind -up toy going in the middle. When the toy stops, say the picture closest to the toy.
10. Make a post box out of a cereal box and encourage children to post pictures!
There are hundreds of ideas you can try. The most important thing is to choose something that motivates your child and is fun!