National Puzzle Day and Fun For Kids That Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

January 29th, 2021 is National Puzzle Day. Have you heard of BUILDZI? It's a speed-stacking puzzle game with 3D pentominoes (polycubes). Players race to build the structure shown on a card.
But WAIT!
I changed the rules so the game can be played to grow listening and spoken language skills. BUILDZI is like my other Game Changes™ which are popular off the shelf games played with an auditory spin.

Here’s how to play:
Play BUILDZ as a 2-player barrier game rather than matching the picture on the card as directed..
The LISTENER must follow the instructions given by another player but does not know what they are building.
The TALKER must use clear descriptive language to be successful.

This puzzling game fosters describing, problem-solving and clarification skills.

Other Game Changes™ can be found in my Listen With Lynn TpT store and at The Listening Room, sponsored by Advanced Bionics and Phonak.

Sing With Me Thanksgiving Listen | Sing | Play

Sing With Me - Thanksgiving includes 10 language-rich songs for children with and without hearing loss. Music and singing are fabulous tools for coaching parents and caregivers while helping lay the foundation for listening and spoken language.

Music and singing is a fabulous tool for coaching parents and caregivers while helping lay the foundation for listening and spoken language. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to sing, sing and sing some more even if they can't carry a tune. For some, this comes naturally. For others, including music and singing in daily routines and activities is challenging.

Make music part of each day. Children love hearing the sound of their loved ones voices and the time spent together. Be playful, silly, and have fun together! Sing traditional songs, nursery and action rhymes like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “The Wheels on the Bus”. Make up songs like "Good Morning To You" to a familiar tune like the (Happy Birthday). Sing popular songs, seasonal songs, Sunday school songs and songs from the family's heart language.

These Thanksgiving songs expose children to new words and concepts that build language and the foundation for learning to read. Songs and music provide opportunities for children to improve auditory skills, memory for words and builds vocabulary. Music helps children perceive speech sounds accurately and develop clear speech with natural melody and inflection.

What's Included?

10 Thanksgiving Songs For Children

• 8.5 x 5.5-inch songs sheets for printing

• Full-size versions of the song sheets for use in teletherapy or in-person sharing.

• Printable finger puppets and props

• Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) tips to encourage auditory learning.

A Retro ViewMaster Saves The Session

Have you ever saved a session or re-engaged a child with a ViewMaster? It is a real attention-getter! You may use wind-up toys, play dough, stickers, puppets but nothing works like a ViewMaster!

The child looks through the ViewMaster while the parent, therapist or teacher fosters a conversation about the topic on the reel. It’s easy to get the excited child to narrate and talk about whatever they are viewing. There are themes like dinosaurs, marine life, robots, Dora The Explorer, Handy Manny, Discovery Kids, Disney and more. It is a perfect opportunity to build language through hearing alone while the listening, language and vocabulary targets are limitless!  

While most would consider this a vintage toy it is still available on Amazon. Parents love this retro toy and most remember having it as a child. 

Let me know if you give it a try!

Other listening and language activities and resources can be found in my Listen With Lynn™ shop.