Winters are long where I live which means the more therapy ideas the better! I personally enjoy starting the new year with my yeti-themed books and activities. Today, I will be talking about three books that your students (and you!) will enjoy reading as well as activities that can be implemented throughout the rest of your yeti unit. I also recommend my story sidekicks as a way to strengthen your practice and provide the ideal literacy-based therapy session!
The Thing About Yetis by Vin Vogel
Your students will be introduced to a yeti! This abominable snowman loves winter and enjoys snowball fights, hot chocolate, sledding, and building snow castles. Sometimes, yetis are full of surprises and we find out that they get tired of winter too! Your students will get to read about how yetis bring summer to their cold winter days. Grab my Story Sidekick HERE to use this book in your next session!
No Yeti Yet by Mary Ann Fraser
A snowy winter day is the perfect time to go on a yeti hunt so one older boy says. His little brother is not convinced. You and your students will follow along the adventure of two brothers trudging through the snow with a lurking yeti! CLICK HERE to check out my Story Sidekick that goes with this book!
Dear Yeti by James Kwan
Two hikers decide to go out in search of a yeti. With the help of a bird, they send letters to the shy yeti. As the hikers travel further and further into the woods, they realize that food and other supplies are low, the forest is getting darker, and the snow is falling harder. They reach out to their yeti friend who comes out of hiding to help them find their way home. Want to use this book in your next session? CLICK HERE to grab my Story Sidekick for it!
Activity #1
Ball poppers have been around for quite a while and toys that I still find myself gravitating towards. They are simple but versatile toys and I have personally seen them in so many different designs! My Yeti friend is one that I bring out when the yeti books come out. I mainly use them as a reinforcer but I also use them to target goals such as prepositions, verbs, requesting, and turn-taking.
Activity #2
The hikers wrote letters to the yeti throughout the story. Whether as a group or individually, incorporate more writing activities into your session to focus on inferencing, problem-solving, sequencing, and more! As a pre-teaching activity, explain that letters are broken down into different parts including greetings, messages, sign-off, and of course the envelope. From there, you and your students can decide on the purpose of the letter. Do they want to ask the yeti for help? Are they inviting the yeti to come home with them? There are so many possibilities!
Activity #3
My Play Home is a well-loved app that I use all year round but especially in the wintertime. I love the ability to have a virtual dollhouse at my disposal. My students can easily change the weather to make it a snowy wintery day while allowing their characters to play in the snow. This app is interactive and versatile. It also has the ability to mirror the app on two devices which helps you and your students to play together within the same app.
Activity #4
For an interactive and no prep activity, this set of boom cards by Therabuddy is for you. Your students will get to feed the hungry yeti while targeting vocabulary, categories, sentence formulation, requesting, and more!
Activity #5
We all know the ever popular Yeti in My Spaghetti game! However, if you are someone who likes to keep things minimal or travel often, virtual Yeti Spaghetti is for you! This open-ended, no-prep game is versatile for all your students’ and their goals. I am a big fan of Simply Speaking SLT and you can find digital versions of many other popular games at her TPT store!
Curious how you can stretch this theme all winter long?
READ THIS BLOG POST to learn how!
Need more ideas for speech therapy in January?
THIS BLOG POST is the next one you need to read!
