“Do you sleep in there?”
One of my first graders looks up at me. My office has two doors –the main one leading from the hallway and another leading to the library.
Apparently, this little guy just noticed the back door and came to the conclusion that teachers must live at the school. And…we all pull out our cots every night and go to sleep in the library! A scary thought but one I’ve entertained on those long nights that I’m still working.
I love the things my kiddos come up with!
Today my blog is all about the game “Ned’s Head.” Have you played this game? I found it on Amazon for under $25 here. It was left here by the previous therapist and my kiddos ask to play it almost every session. It is only used in my room on very, very special occasions. However, it’s great to use around Halloween because it contains some pretty gross items (ant, spider, lost lunch, worm). The kids love it!
The basic way to play is:
1. A student draws a card
2. The student reaches his/her hand in Ned’s head and feels around for the object.
3. The student with the most objects at the end, wins!
Here are a few ways I’ve incorporate during sessions:
1. For Halloween, take all the items from the box (and throw in a few of your own) and instead, place them in a pumpkin basket. Have younger students look in a find categories of items. “Find an insect….find an animal….”
2. I also use the Expanding Expression Toolkit (EET) with Ned. I’ll draw a card and go through the color questions. I have a type of animal…it eats cheese….it looks bigger than a mouse…. The student who guesses “rat” would then get to reach in Ned’s head and try to feel around for it. Once they become good a guessing, I have them describe it using the EET.
3. Create your own items to use with Ned’s head and work on articulation!
For example, if working on /r/, you could place objects such as a rat, car, truck, rag, rotten egg, and rainbow in Ned’s head and have them find the objects.
What about you? Have you used Ned’s Head for therapy? If so, I’d love to hear!
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Rebecca says
October 9, 2012 at 2:23 amI have used Ned’s Head! Most of my kids were grossed out by the items that came with the game, so I ended up switching out the items from the game to items we were specifically working on (artic words, items to describe, etc.)
Rebecca
Talking With Rebecca
Carrie Manchester says
October 9, 2012 at 11:11 amI love Ned’s Head! I’ve used it the ways you’ve explained and I’ve also used it to make artic cards more fun…(Perfect if you have a group of kids working on different sounds). We all have card decks with pairs of words, right? I place one set in the head and the other in front of the child. Then, they take turns reaching in and pulling out a card. If it’s their card, they say it and match it. If not, they say who does have the card, the other child says it (beefing up the # of trials!), but it goes back in the head. Whoever makes all of their matches first wins!