Bubblicious

What it is:  BUBBLES!!!

 Where to get it:   Almost anywhere, especially this time of year.  Target, wal-mart, grocery stores, dollar stores, and if you want to order on-line:  Here

Alternatives: There are also a variety of bubble making toys, including bubble machines and bubble guns.  These easily make a lot of bubbles, but I still prefer the traditional bubble tumbler and wand because it targets skills such as lip rounding, coordinating air flow, and lip strength. 

What to do with it:  sound development--/p/;  airflow coordination (blowing); expressive vocabulary development--"bubble, please, more, pop, up, down, big, little, my turn, your turn, wet, yuck, uh-oh, all gone.

Along with that you are developing skills of requesting, describing, and turn taking. Early two word combinations can also be targeted (my turn, more bubble, big bubble).  In the area of phonological development, the skills of initial consonants, final consonants, and two syllable words can be focused on.  

Why:  A child should begin to request objects/actions between 13-17 months (The Early Intervention Kit, Swigert), and begin to combine two words by 24 months.  Also, while it is important for a child to learn nouns (names of people/things), he should also learn other parts of speech including action words (verbs) and describing words (adjectives).  This helps increase the messages that your child can communicate. 

Turn-taking is an important skill as well.  By learning to take turns, a child is learning how to initiate social interactions with caregivers and peers, which is something he should begin to do between 12-24 months (The Early Intervention Kit,Swigert)

Fun developmental fact of the week:  A toddler will begin to imitate adult use of an object around 20 months (for example, using a rag to wipe off the table, holding phone to his ear.)  (Introduction to Language Development, McLaughlin)