Thrifty Speech Finds

 What’s even better than finding awesome games for your speech therapy? Finding them cheap, cheap, cheap at a garage or thrift sale! In these days of limited budgets, thrifty finds can add some pop to your sessions without breaking the bank! Here are some of the things I have snagged:

• Miniatures: I have found plenty of miniatures and small toys to use for my articulation “feely bag”.  (There is something about reaching into a bag to pull out an object that totally delights preschoolers.)

• Baby dolls and stuffed animals: One time I snagged about 50 beanie babies for $5. Woo hoo!

• Puzzles and games: Can’t have too many of these!

• Books for all ages and stages.

• Art supplies: stickers, stampers, paints, play doh sets and more.

• Tons of toys for imaginative play and drama props: cars, fire trucks, play food, dustpans, a binocular, dinosaurs, a crawl tube (we talk about inside/outside, through/around) and more! I am always looking for theme-based toy to set up in my play center for my preschoolers.

Check out two of my favorite bargains I found:

This monster puppet set is the bomb! We work on requesting with details: "I want two yellow eyes, please." and body parts of course. The monster "parts" are Velcro making it simple to arrange, and re-arrange on the felt bodies. Sorry, I would love to tell you where to get these, but I haven't been able to track it down. I know several people who want a set, so if you know, fill me in!

 Old MacDonald Game: My little ones love this. The "babies" are hidden under the haystacks. Children choose a mama, and press her on the barn platform. Mama moos, baas, clucks, neighs or oinks for her baby. Then they press a covered haystack on the platform and listen to the baby. If it's a match, it plays the Old Macdonald song.Targets? Same/different, big/little, animal vocabulary or just plain open-ended fun.

Happy summertime yard-sale shopping! What have you found?

I linked up this post at The Speech Room News, check it out! The Speech Room News