Birthday Gifts for Kids

I have a birthday this week, and I also have friends who have kids with birthdays this week.  The kids are going to be one and five years old.  I'm not saying how old I am going to be!  Anyway, it got me thinking about gifts for kids.  I really love to give books, but I also like to give a little toy to go with it.  There are so many reasons why books are great for kids, but I also feel like there are so many reasons why toys are great for kids too!  Both choices allow kids to explore and use their imagination.

I have compiled a list of five different books that are great for gift giving, and five toys that go along with each.  Sorry, I think my list might skew a bit towards boys (I swear that is all I ever buy for), but I also have one more girly options too.  All of these books and toys are geared towards birth to about five or six years old.

Here are my choices: (if you click on each picture, it will take you to a place that you can purchase these items)

1.  Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

To go with this book, my choice would be a construction truck of some kind.  My youngest son is obsessed with construction trucks, so I know there are a million different ones out there.  Here is a great example of one that has great working buttons and parts:

2.  Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin

To go along with this book, I was thinking you could get a little guitar.  For the preschool set, there is a LeapFrog Touch Magic Rockin Guitar that is really cute.

For a little older kids, you could look at a guitar like this one by Paper Jamz:

3. Curious George and the Pizza Party by HA Rey, Margret Ray, and Alan J. Shalleck.

This book was one of my son's favorite books.  He would crack up at the huge mess that George makes in this book.  He also still loves to make his own pizzas with playdoh, toy food, or even real pizza.  I thought that this pizza kit by Melissa and Doug would be a perfect match.  You can usually find these kinds of sets at Tuesday Morning or TJ Maxx at a discount.





4.  Sometimes I Like To Curl Up In a Ball by Vicki Churchill and Charles Fuge. 

This book was a favorite of my son who is a little cuddle bug.  This is a sweet story about things that the little wombat does all day, and then cuddles up with his mama at night.  This book comes in hardcover or in a board book, which makes it great for many ages.  You could give it to a one year old, or a little older.  It could also make a great baby gift when paired with a baby blanket.  I thought a great item to go with this book would be a pair of pajamas or a cuddly blanket.  My boys still love to get blankets, especially if they have some sort of character on them.

5.  Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann.

This is a cute book about a girl who loves anything pink, especially cupcakes.  Her parents warn her not to eat too many, but she does and turns...pink!  I thought a great item to go with this book would be either the Melissa and Doug Bake and Decorate Cupcake set or the Lego Duplo Creative Cakes set.

There are so many ways to match books and toys.  The next time you are at the store, wondering what to get to go to that birthday party, start at the book area and pick out something great.  Then, you can head over to the toy area to find something to match.  I hope these ideas can spark some great gift-giving ideas for you! 

Jen

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books: Phonological Awareness Book Companion

Phew!  That is a mouthful of a title!  TpT wouldn't even allow the whole title because it had too many characters!  But, I love this book, and am so exited to share my newest phonemic awareness book companion with you!

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books: Phonemic Awareness Book Companion

 

 

This is based on the book by Lucille Colandro.  This book companion contains activities that work on rhyme awareness, rhyme generation, syllable awareness, syllable blending, and monosyllable word blending (onset/rime).  The activities are as follows:

 

How Many Syllables?- Students count the number of syllables, and use Do-A-Dot markers to complete the activity. (4 worksheets)

 

Blending Syllables– Students listen to two syllables, and state the word that they hear. (18 cards and game board)

 

Recognizing Rhyme-Students listen to two words, and then state if the two words rhyme. (24 cards and 2 mats)

 

Generating Rhyme-  Students are given a word, and asked to state a rhyming word. (27 cards and roll it, rhyme it, keep it game board)

Blending Monosyllable Words Onset-Rime– Students listen to an onset and a rime, and asked to state the word they hear when the sounds are blended together.    (18 cards and game board from Blending Syllables activity)

 

 

This activity is available HERE at my TpT store.

 

You can also have a chance to win a copy of this activity by entering this rafflecopter giveaway.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

 

I hope you enjoy this activity as much as I do!

Jen

 

 



July 2013 SLP Link Up

Thanks to Laura over at All Y'all Need for setting up another fun SLP Link Up!  This is a great way to catch up on what your favorite SLP bloggers are up to this summer.

Just: Hanging Out.  I took the summer completely off.  I do not have any private clients, and I am not doing ESY this year.  I am just hanging out with my two boys.  They are 5 and 6 right now, and so much fun! 

Using: Instagram.  I am just learning how to use this app on my phone.  So far, it is pretty fun!  I can't wait to start using it to post things from my speech room.  If you are on instagram, you can follow me @speechuniverse.

Loving: My Guys.  Ok, let's just beat a dead horse here.  I am loving hanging out with my two boys and my husband this summer.  Hubby is working during the day, but we are having fun on the weekends! 

Yummy: Yonanas.  We went to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday and my boys of course wanted this atrocious slurpee/ ice cream maker.  We saw the Yonanas and thought it might be a better choice for all of us.  So, coupon in hand, we made an impulse purchase.  One of my boys has Type 1 Diabetes, so we are always looking for low carb/ low sugar ways to please his sweet tooth (he has a killer one).  You just put frozen fruit into this contraption and you get sorbet or something similar to soft serve.  We tried just frozen pineapple, mango, and strawberries yesterday, and it was good!  It came out similar to a sorbet consistency.  Tonight we will try the frozen bananas and see if it is more like soft serve.

How is your summer going?

Jen

No Frills Articulation: R

I love using my No Frills Articulation products.  I keep them all in a binder and am able to flip through to the pages I need quickly.  They are so great to pull out when I need some quick sentences to use when playing a board game that students have chosen, or when I have a quick articulation student that I only see for 5 minutes.  I have also sent some pages home with students as homework.  I am so excited about my newest addition to the No Frills family:

No Frills Articulation: R

This packet targets prevocalic /r/, as well as six different vocalic /r/'s (-ar, -air, -er, -ear, -ire, -or).  In this packet, you get:

Memory Cards (84 cards– 12 for each form of /r/):

Print two copies of the cards.  Laminate and cut out to play a memory game.

 

Phrase Worksheets (4 worksheets):

Students can read or repeat the phrases.  There is a spot to record the number of correct responses at the bottom of the page.

Sentences Worksheets (7 worksheets):

Students can read or repeat the sentences.  There is a spot to record the number of correct responses at the bottom of the page.

Story Worksheets (4 worksheets):

Students can read the stories out loud.  There is a spot to record the number of correct responses after each story.

You can get this packet at my TpT store HERE.

If you are interested in more of these kinds of packets, I also have a bundle of activities available.  There are five different No Frills Articulation packets available that are bundled together for 20% savings.  It's like having a sale everyday!  You can get the No Frills Articulation Bundle HERE. 
You can also read more about the packets included in an earlier post of mine HERE.

You can win a packet of No Frills Articulation: R in the rafflecopter giveaway below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jen