How to Target Language Development with an Easy Fun Christmas Craft

Texas Speech Mom | Posted on December 1, 2017 |

I’ve been crafting for years in my speech therapy sessions. I am a huge believer in creating natural opportunities for speech and language development and crafting is a perfect activity for just that!

What’s even better is that my daughter is finally at the age where she really loves to sit at the “special table” and have “craft time”. We always sit at the “special table” (aka- dining table) when I am wanting some quiet time together. We will make things, color, or use play-doh during that quiet time. There are no distractions in there (like toys and tv) and I also think she just loves that it’s something different! (I mean… how cute is that!)

So- let’s get to the fun craft! If you haven’t seen all of the fun holiday activities in the dollar spot at Target then you must go (… or RUN) there ASAP! Everything seems to go quick and you can’t beat inexpensive yet fun activities!

For this activity, all you need are clear plastic ornaments, pom pom balls, and some ribbon. Super simple and cost a total of $5 since I already had the ribbon.

COLOR SORTING

Color sorting is a great opportunity to review colors and use fine motor skills to sort the different color balls. I use a muffin pan to make it easier for kids to keep the poms poms “sorted” and separated.

This is also a great opportunity to talk about “dark” green vs “light” green!

SIZE SORTING

Then we talk about how we can sort the pom poms by different sizes! She loved finding all of the small, medium, and large pom pom balls! This is a great opportunity to use words like: tiny, huge, enormous, little, etc.

LEARNING ABOUT ATTRIBUTES

These tiny little pom poms provide so many opportunities for exposing great vocabulary!

She loved to point out how the “shiny” or “sparkly” ones were so pretty. They have little “spikes” and not as “smooth” as the other pom poms.

Another great way to describe something is talking about how something feels. The pom poms felt “soft” and “squishy”! Which then lead to my toddler wanting to squish every single one to check. Good news.. they are all squishy. =)

Then we talked about the shape of them. They are “round” like a ball and could roll across the table. You can guess what she wanted to do next…. roll ALL of the pom poms.

FINE MOTOR

At this age I love to start incorporating fine motor activities because it is so important for early exposure. Picking up the different size pom poms and carefully putting into the top of the ornament was great practice.

MAKING THE ORNAMENT

After the pom pom balls were put into the ornaments, I just put the tops back on and tied some ribbon! Unfortunately I have never been a talented “bow maker” so I just stuck with the “tie a knot” strategy!

I think they turned out so cute and I loved spending the time making them together! Such a simple and easy activity that we both loved!

If you are not able to find the materials at your local Target Dollar Spot (or don’t have time to get there… because I definitely understand that!)…. I have linked some inexpensive alternatives on Amazon. Just click on the picture below and it will send you to the affiliate link. (Affiliate links may provide a small compensation at no additional cost to you!)