What's in Mom's Purse?

Here is a fun activity that I found on www.makelearningfun.com during Mother's Day 2012.  I took some of the suggestions from the website and added a few of my own.  It was a HUGE hit with both my preschoolers and middle school students and easily adaptable.  All you need to do is search your home for a variety of items that are typically found in a mom's purse.  I purchased most of my items at the dollar store, bag included!  After your search for objects is over, take a picture or make a computer generated one for each item in the bag.  Then print, laminate, hole punch, and clip all pictures to your purse for safe keeping!  During the game, children take turns using just their hands to feel inside the bag for the picture target.  I like to set a timer for one minute to keep the game moving along.  Older children can use descriptive words to talk about what item they are looking for while younger ones can reach in and search while you provide descriptors.  Here are some of the many speech and language goals that can be incorporated into this activity:

• articulation practice at the word/ phrase/ sentence level
• describing objects by function
• discussing objects by shape/ size/ textures
• using slow, smooth fluent speech to talk about object features
• answering "why" questions about various bag contents

I liked this idea so much that I made a beach/pool bag activity for summer and a lunchbox one for back to school in the fall!  I have even seen stocking ones at Christmas time.  I guarantee each one is simple to put together, fun, and functional!!