Comments on: You Can Teach Anything with Bubbles & a Ball!

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:48:24 +0000

In reply to Mindy.

Great ideas, Mindy! Yes, these can be great ice breakers for new families. Any area of development can be addressed when bubbles or balls are an activity that the family enjoys!

By: Mindy

Mindy — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 18:05:23 +0000

I love using bubbles and balls to help engage “standoffish” parents that we sometimes encounter. These activities are also a great intro activity and help families and therapists get to know one another better. These activities can be graded so both parents and children can experience success, no matter what the purpose of the activity is. Other uses for bubbles and balls are visual tracking/attention, finger isolation for popping and sensory defensiveness on hands and feet.

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 20:38:56 +0000

In reply to Kim.

Thanks for the comment, Kim. You made me think of this post in a different way. I still believe that bubbles and balls are pretty much universal (although I’ve met some toddlers who were scared of bubbles). However, as I’ve learned more about coaching, now I think I’d suggest first asking the parent what interests the child – and start there with your recommended suggestions for things to do before the initial session. You could probably still use some of the same learning ideas listed here, just tweak them for the child’s preferred activities.

By: Emilie Mulholland

Emilie Mulholland — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 18:43:17 +0000

I think the blog post “7 Specific Question to Ask when Exploring Family Routines” can be applied to these activities when asking the family how they normally play bubbles or ball with a child in order to get a better idea of what they are already naturally doing! While many people may not thinking of bubbles or playing ball as a routine, it can be, as it is something a family may do often enough to turn into a learning activity, thus those same questions can be asked for these activities. This will guide the interventionist into asking appropriate questions to coach the parent into thinking of what they think will work for the child, as well as reflection.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 11:42:38 +0000

I appreciate you mentioned that all children, regardless of ability, can interact with bubbles and balls. As a SC, it is sometimes challenging to think of activities to recommend to families before their initial session. But, it is true that most families have either balls or bubbles and there are many skills you can address using them, as you highlighted. I will keep these activities in mind as I meet new families.

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 18:37:18 +0000

In reply to Lori.

Great ideas, Lori! Your ideas for using bubbles and balls to encourage movement and sound patterns are so helpful because these are such popular items many families have in their homes, child care providers have in their homes/centers, etc. For families that don’t have bubbles or a ball, they could practice these same kinds of things with other toys, with blowwwwwwing soap bubbles in the sink, rolling toy trucks or soup cans, etc. There are so many fun things we can help families teach with simple objects found in their homes. We just have to be creative, and it sounds like you are great at that!

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 17:23:49 +0000

Absolutely agreed these toys offer endless opportunities for play among children and social, motor, cognitive & language development. My favorite activities with these items include contrasting movement and sound patterns; bubbles- short pop pop pop and long blowwwwww, ball- short bounce bounce bounce, long rollllll. While children can receptively take in visual & auditory stimuli, then can also start to express understanding & intention with either action or sound associations. Best of all it can be formatted to their current level of development and scaffolded for gradual progress.