Mystery Bag

Here's one of my favourite therapy materials: a mystery bag!

A simple drawstring bag full of random small toys/objects can be used in so many ways to teach words and sounds. Here are some therapy goals I've worked on (or can think of targeting) using my trusty mystery bag:

1. turn-taking ("my turn!" and/or "your turn!")
2. joint attention (building anticipation by reaching in the bag without looking, exaggerating my "I wonder what it is" face, bringing out an object and then exclaiming in surprise what I've found, holding it near my eyes to make shifting attention easy) - kids think this is really fun!
3. the /f/ sound in structured sentences ("I found a ____")
4. the /s/ sound and/or /fl/ blend in a "will it sink or float?" game (with a bin or sink full of water) - best if you make sure all objects are water resistant before beginning, of course
5. subject-verb-object sentence structure ("I found a ____", or "It's a ____", or "I have a ____")
6. word-finding (working on naming each object, with meaningful hints given to help a child find the right word)
7. vocabulary building (talking about the features, functions, or categories of each object we pull out) - this is fun in the context of making guesses about what you have in your hand before looking at it (e.g., "it feels soft... it feels round... it might be a pom pom")
8. sequencing (pulling out two or more objects per turn and saying "first I found a ____, then I found a ____")
9. pairing language goals with a fine motor activity (pulling out an object, naming it, then setting it up on a spot outside and squirting it with a spray bottle or shooting it with a nerf gun)

Can you think of any more ways to use a mystery bag to work on speech or language? I love toys or activities you can use multiple ways in therapy!