Looking for language development activities to increase attention span for toddlers and preschool? I dunno about you, but there comes a certain point where my little friends get really bored with the same ol’ same ol’. The Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Smart Stages Piggy Bank is one of the best toys for early intervention and play-based therapy. What I love most about this toy is that it engages a lot of developmental skills. This toy works on coordination, pincher grasp, matching colors, counting/number recognition, identifying colors, and functional words like in/out and open/close. It’s a versatile toy and can be used to target so many language goals for toddlers.
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I don’t know about you, but sometimes keeping the attention of toddlers feels like trying to entertain a fish. So when you find something that does keep their attention – stick with it, right?! Well, the Smart Stages Piggy Bank sticks. Children love it- putting in the coins, taking out the coins, opening and closing the door, and pushing the pink nose to hear Piggy sing and oink. There’s only so many language development activities that can be done with the provided coins which means that, over time, it can also get boring and feel redundant.
That is, of course, until now.
Upgrade & Expand
Let’s take the piggy bank to the next level with these basic concepts for preschool piggy bank coins. This speech therapy activity for toddlers requires minimal prep and can completely transform how you target language goals in your sessions! The basic preschool concepts include: counting numbers 1-10, labeling items, and environmental sounds with farm animals and wild animals. Shapes, basic pronouns (he, she, we, it), basic body parts, emotions, opposites, early prepositions, and present progressive verbs (-ing verbs). All of these concepts are developmental, so I typically give my early language learners the option of choosing which coins we are going to play with and they are also responsible for putting the circles onto the coins as well as matching them when we are done! (working fine motor, coordiation, and semantics at the same time) It’s been so much fun and a great learning activity for communication development.
Print 2 copies of each page (in color or black/white) and laminate them for durability. Cut out one set of circles and use the other page of circles for storage [and to practice matching]. The best way that I have found to attach these circles to the coins is through velcro adhesive dots. I highly recommend getting the transparent version as seen in the pictures of this post. FULL DISCLOSURE here y’all: this resource is going to use a lot of those sticky dots. It’s going to need a lot because, ideally, you want to put the backing of the dot on each side of every coin (although you can stick to just one side), the dots need to be on the storage pages, and the other side of the dot (the fuzzy side) goes onto each circle. This part is a bit time consuming buuut saves you soo much scrambling in the long run.
FYI: These coins fit on most versions of this toy!
Easy Storage Options
I prefer to store these coins in zipper bags because they fit into my bag better. Also, I don’t have to worry about loose pieces falling into the depths of that bag to be lost forever. (IYKYK)
This toy companion and the included basic concepts for early learners are not only engaging but also promote generalization, from practicing facial imitation skills to going on a shape scavenger hunt around the therapy room. With easy storage options, this resource is perfect for use at home or in a therapy setting. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to make learning fun and effective – grab this Toy Companion for Speech Therapy today!
