Speech Card Set Activity: Simple Treasure Hunt

Preparation
Let's say you forgot to prepare a clever masterpiece of an activity to fancy up your articulation therapy sessions and need something you can prepare in about 60 seconds. (Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything here.) Grab one of my free articulation card sets, some stickers, a small toy to use as a game token, and a die.

Activity
Lay the cards out in a long winding path (match the length of the path to the attention span of the children you are working with). Hide the stickers under the last card and place the game token on the first card. Tell the children they are going on a "Treasure Hunt". Have them take turns rolling the die and moving the token that number of cards. The children must say the words on the card or they cannot move the token. When the token reaches the last card they find the treasure and you can give each child a sticker.

Variations
Set up multiple paths in straight lines and give each child their own token. Make it a race and whoever reaches the finish line first gets a prize.

Instead of stickers, place a small treat like a m&m or a fruit loop on top of the final card (works well with younger children who need a bit more bribery).

Corrections

My daughter has reached the age where she feels it is critically important to correct me all the time. Let's take some recent examples.

Me: Ava is three years old.
Ava: You mean three and a half, Mama.

Me: Let's put on your shorts.
Ava: You mean skirt, Mama.

Me: That's a lovely path you colored.
Ava: You mean arrow path, Mama.

My husband was taking a home video of Ava. They were discussing some coloring she had done in her coloring book. At one point, he corrected something she had said. She looked up from her coloring book and gave him a top class evil eye. "Turnaround is such fun," I thought when he showed me the video.

I'm so glad he caught that on tape. When's she's giving us the well-practiced version of that look at 16 I'll be able to refer to how she was practicing it at three. And I'll be able to pull out the video to prove it.

Early Morning Encounter

I walk the children to school every morning. The walk to school is a leisurely stroll with frequent stops to examine a bug on the sidewalk, a flowering vine on a fence, or to say hello to a friendly construction worker. The walk home from school is a nice kind of solitary. Often I walk home quickly, anxious to get in a bit of work before it is time to pick the children up again.

One morning last week I was in a particular hurry because I had a dentist appointment that morning and I wanted to give my teeth a post breakfast brushing before heading out. Coincidentally, it was the only morning of the entire school year I forgot to take my phone with me.

It is a fact of life that obstacles appear in your path in direct proportion to your need for hurry. A neighbor doing yard work stopped me for a quick hello as I turned the corner back into our neighborhood. Then, as I turned onto our street and rounded the corner leading to our house a dog bigger than my children came running across the street towards me.

Now I like dogs, and I'm generally quite good with animals. This huge, black barking monstrosity was not barking in that happy, excited, pay-attention-to-me kind of barking. Its body language was definitely not the leaping, bouncy come-play-with-me kind of body language. It was coming at me fast accompanied by back-off-my-territory barking and body language. To be honest, I was scared. I backed up, fast! I didn't move fast enough for the dog and it sped up herding me even more aggressively. It backed me up to the corner before moving back to guard the only route to my house.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't have a phone so I couldn't call anyone. I couldn't get home. I was going to be late to my appointment. I considered going though a neighbors backyard and climbing the fence into our backyard. However I'm too short to climb the fence. Even if I did get over it the back door was locked and the front door was guarded by the dog.

I considered knocking on the doors of neighbors on the next street over who might be able drive me past the dog. Thinking of neighbors reminded me of the friendly guy doing yard work. I walked back to the corner and asked him to walk me home. I felt like an eight year old asking for a chaperone. It was embarrassing. "Can you walk me home?" is just not a phrase I expect to be using at this stage in my life. On the other hand I really needed to get home.

As it turns out he knows the neighbors who own the loose dog. He had seen them interact with the dog and knew how to get it to back off. He walked me home and then went to let them know their dog was out.

All in all, it was way more excitement than I needed that morning. Encountering a dog that truly makes you fearful is a humbling experience. I was deeply grateful the children weren't with me.