Achoo! Yep, its that time of year . . . Spring is in the air! One of the best things about living in the South in the spring is the pretty flowers and trees that are blooming everywhere. Yes, that pollen is annoying, but those beautiful azaleas and dogwoods are worth a little sneezing now and then. There are so many magnificent colors outside right now that we have been inspired to center our therapy around flowers this week. We have found the perfect app, Fun Flowers Lite by TF World Software, to use with this theme, and we wanted to share it with you. What makes this app so perfect? First of all, it is free! Secondly, it has a variety of uses. Lastly, it can be used with a wide range of ages (we have used it with 3 years olds all the way up to 5th grade).
Here are some things you should know about the app. There is an arrow at the top of the screen that allows you to mute the game, clear the board, and change the background. It comes with a variety of backgrounds, but we prefer the grass. When you touch the background, a flower will grow. A quick touch grows a small flower, holding your finger on the screen, grows a big flower. When you touch a flower that is on the screen, it will disappear. The flowers grow in light blue, dark, blue, green, pink, purple, red, orange, and yellow. We have found that pink or purple are usually the colors that appear less often.
Here are a few ways we use the app:
--Allow the students to take a speech turn and then tap the screen to grow a flower. The first student to grow a pink flower is the winner. This is a great reinforcement game for mixed groups and allows the students to work on individual goals.
--Have each student pick a flower color. The SLP fills the screen up with flowers. Then each student will take a speech turn and pick a flower that is the color he/she chose. The first student to pick all his/her flowers is the winner.
--Let your little ones be gardeners. Preschoolers just love growing the flowers and picking the flowers to make them disappear. This is also a great way to work on one-to-one correspondence.
--Work on basic concepts and following directions. For example, grow a big flower at the top of the screen, pick a blue flower on the left.
This app combined with our
Flower Bundle has kept our classroom abloom this week. We even have enough activities to continue this theme for another week or two! Yay! Hopefully, you will also find some budding inspiration to get you through the end of this school year.
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Available in our TPT store :) |
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Just a little glimpse of the fun we are having! |
Achoo! Now, please excuse us while we go find our allergy meds.