Educational Apps for Kids: Webber Photo Artic Castle Pro App #SpeechApps

With home schooling and tele-therapy in full effect, educational apps have become a saving grace. While we've come across many amazing apps that support language development, quality articulation apps that make speech practice fun have been harder to come by. Thankfully, Webber Photo Artic Castle Pro app has designed a full line of speech sound games that engage kids and allow for high levels of repetition at the same time! I love that I can individualize sessions for each child while providing them with choices and control over how we tackle our practice. Parents love that they can download the app for at-home practice, too! Check it out below...

Creating a Successful Home Learning Environment for School-Age Kids #ClickHere2Shop

Distance learning is becoming the norm and many states have already declared that home schooling will continue through the rest of the school year. With this in mind, it is important to create a comfortable learning space for school-age kids, free of distractions. A designated space and consistent routine will help to support academic success. We've put together a few tips to design your child's school space and equip them for online learning.

5 Benefits to Storing Dry Goods in Mason Jars #pantry #organization #BallJars #WinIt #Giveaway

About a year ago, we gave our kitchen a major overhaul to create a quick and easy way to to improve the shelf life of our groceries and add organization to our pantry. We started by making the switch from keeping our dry goods in store packaging to putting them in sealed glass mason jars. We've found that storing dry goods in mason jars has some big benefits! It's about the easiest thing to do and requires almost no effort to get it done.

Thinking of making the switch? In this post, we've provided five benefits to using mason jar storage, some information on the Ball® Collection Elite® Regular Mouth 32 oz. Glass Mason Jars and 4 oz. Mini Storage Jars we use, and common bulk items to look for. 

When you're ready to get started, FreshPreserving.com is a great site to order jars directly to your door!

Educational Games for PreTeens and Teens During the Quarantine #R&RGames #strategygames

One of our favorite family activities involves gathering around the table to play board games. What used to be a once a week activity has become our daily saving grace during the quarantine. It's a great way to provide structure to the day, relieve stress, and promote positive family bonding time. We've made our way through just about all of our games, several times over, so we were really excited when the opportunity to review two exciting games from R&R Games, Incorporated came along: Coin Quest and Gobblestones. If you have pre-teens and up in the house and want to find fun new ways to practice academic skills, these are the games for you! 

Increase Reading Skills with Zingo! Sight Words #ReadingGames #Thinkfun

Parents, teachers, and speech-language pathologists will all tell you that Zingo! games are a must! We have used the original Zingo! board game in our therapy clinic for years as an engaging way to target language skills related to naming of common objects, matching, turn-taking, requesting, formulating sentences, and so much more. Knowing how much we love original Zingo!, when Thinkfun allowed us the opportunity to review the Zingo! Sight Words board game, we jumped at the opportunity. If you haven't added it to your own collection already, check out our post below to understand why it's one of our top learning games.

Educating Kids through Play During the Quarantine #R&RGames

As we continue social distancing and hunkering down at home, keeping kids educated and entertained can be a challenge. It's important to keep a routine, support academic learning, and provide a sense of safety. But, we want kids to have fun, too! One of the easiest ways we've found to achieve it all is to schedule dedicated family fun time each day. Pull out some of your favorite board games and card games and have some laughs while kids practice academic skills at the same time! This week, we're playing three new games from R&R Games that we highly recommend during the quarantine and upcoming summer vacation. Check them out below...

3 Tips for Keeping Your Family Entertained during the Quarantine #Giveaway #ScreenFree #WinningMovesGames

As the weeks continue to pass at home, life has certainly slowed. Are you finding it more difficult to keep kids entertained? You aren't alone! Here are three easy tips to make it through these days...

Supporting the Oral Sensory Need to Chew #ARKTherapeuticProducts #selfregulation #speechtherapy

This week I've been looking for a safe outlet for one of my teen clients who has a significant sensory need to chew. Although it is important for his self-regulation, it can seriously impede our speech-language therapy sessions. I've tried oral chewing tubes found in my local stores, but he's made short work of them and my wallet can't afford to keep up with replacements. The hunt has been on for an alternative that can withstand his level of need. Thankfully, ARK Therapeutic has come to my rescue. They offer an incredible variety of sensory chews with different toughness levels. After talking with a very helpful representative about my sensory-seeking friend, she was able to recommend the XT, Medium-Firm Chewy for him. I really appreciate that ARK Therapeutic was developed by an experienced speech-language pathologist who understands firsthand the needs that clinicians are trying to meet. Check out the sensory chew necklaces I've been trialing this week...

Family Game Night: Unearth #BrotherwiseGames

Dice and cards? We're in! Unearth from Brotherwise Games takes beautiful artwork and combines five dice and broad strategy into a family fun card game. Lots of games have great artwork but few also use probability and hexagonal puzzle placement to make the whole experience fun.

Educational Apps for Kids: Smarty Ears Phonological Awareness Lab

Phonological awareness is a critical foundational reading skill for kids. As an SLP, I work on this skill often with my school-age clients. Over the years, I've relied on hands-on manipulatives and paper-based activities to target these goals. The problem is, my days are filled with travel between the clinic and several schools every day. Lugging around materials for a full load of clients can become very cumbersome. When a friend told me about Smarty Ears Phonological Awareness Lab, I was really excited about the idea of transporting materials on my iPad instead of hauling around overflowing bags. The big question though...does the app offer quality activities that can replace some of my paper-based tasks? After reviewing it on my own and trialing it with a few of my clients, the answer is YES! This app is well worth adding to your bag of tricks. Not only would I recommend it for SLPs, it's a fantastic app for teachers and parents as well. Check out what it has to offer as well as my thoughts on each component below...