Get Ready for a Spud-tacular Adventure with Potato Head! 🥔✨
Who doesn’t love potatoes? Whether they’re mashed, french fried, baked, or in delicious pierogies, potatoes are a culinary delight! But I'm getting off track....
Let's not forget about the real purpose of this post... Potato Head toys!!
Super cute and a fantastic choice for years of fun!
These little spuds are perfect for developing a variety of skills.
They now come in adorable character variations available at your local store! (Hello! Spiderman, Star Wars, Toy Story... Basically, Disney can do no wrong in our house!)
SLP Tips:
All Ages with Potato Head🥔 !
👶 Younger than 12 Months:
At this age, children can start manipulating the Potato Head body, pulling out and turning the different body parts.
SLP Tip: Model one-word nouns repeatedly while labeling each body part. This reinforces vocabulary and helps develop fine motor skills as they attempt to assemble the parts!
👦 12-24 Months:
Toddlers can begin to create their own Potato Head friends!
SLP Tip: Teach and practice body parts and colors using these toys. Once the Potato Head is assembled, encourage early pretend play for social language practice. Engage your little one with phrases like, “Look! He has big eyes!”
🧒 24-36 Months:
Now’s the time to dive into more complex concepts!
Preschool Concepts: Work on colors, quantity, size, location (think "behind", "under", "next to") concepts by playing hide and seek with the body parts around the room or play area . Use positional language by placing body parts on your Potato Head. For example, “Can you put the hat on top?”
Following Directions: Challenge your child to assemble the Potato Head in a specific order, use certain colored body parts or a specific number of items. Give a direction like, “Use blue eyes" or "Put on the red nose then the smile” to practice their understanding and follow through of directions.
Yes/No & Wh-Questions: While assembling the Potato Head, ask fun questions! “Does this belong on the Potato Head?” or “What color is this nose?” This fosters critical thinking and comprehension skills.
Pronouns and Expressive Language: Potato Head toys come in so many varieties now, they're not only very motivating but they're perfect to practice those pesky pronouns, possessive pronouns, and early grammar and syntax! When you and your child are assembling your potato, decide if they will be a boy or a girl. Then you can model sentences such as "He needs a nose", or "He has his hat!". You can easily practice all pronouns and possessive pronouns, since "I" and "you" can also be easily incorporated, "I picked eyes", "You have so many!"
🎉 Get Silly for Communication! Think outside the box! Assemble your Potato Head in a silly way to spark your child’s interest and encourage them to initiate communication. Use funny voices and exaggerated expressions to make it even more entertaining!
For older or more advanced language users the variety of Potato Head characters enable kids to practice descriptive language, make silly characters, invent stories, ultimately enhancing their creativity and storytelling skills!
Final Thoughts
Celebrate the Magic of Potato Head Toys for Learning and Play! 🥔✨
Potato Head toys are not just adorable and timeless; they’re an incredible resource for home play and speech therapy! By incorporating these playful strategies with Potato Head toys, you’ll create a fun and interactive environment that boosts language development, cognitive skills, and creativity in a fun, interactive way. So, let’s get those potatoes rolling and watch your little ones thrive! 🌟
Tools For Better Speech
Click the pictures for a link to the toys that inspired this blog and my daily therapy!
<3
Sara
For more tips on using play for speech and language development, don’t forget to check out our other blog posts and linked resources!
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