Now that the Easter fun is almost over, here are 7 ways you can use those leftover plastic Easter eggs to make speech homework even more fun:

1. Rhyming {early reading}*:  Write a rhyme on one side of the egg and all the possible beginning letters on the other side.  When you put the egg together you can spin it and say all the different rhyming words. This activity is also a great for early reading practice. Have a race with 4 sets and see who canget all the pieces matched up correctly. If there is one “spin” of the egg that doesn’t make a real word they have to take the egg apart and try another one until all the eggs are whole.

2. Colors: Practice sorting, matching, and labeling the colors. You can use old magazines or things laying around the house and match them to the same color egg.

3. Emotions*: Write an emotion and/or draw the expression for that emotion on the outside of the egg.  You can start by just matching up the faces with the correct emotion. Then look through an old magazine with your child and find pictures that represent each emotion or find items that make you feel each emotion.  See how many examples you can find to put in each egg.

4. “Wh” or yes/no questions:  Eggs are great for concealing items. Put something inside  an egg and play 20 questions.  “Where does it live?” or “What does it eat?” are examples of some good “wh” questions to ask your child. Then trade places and let your child hide something and you try to figure out what is in the egg.

5. Prepositions: re-hide the eggs and give your child clues to find them. Be sure to use your  prepositions (in, on, under, above, behind, in front, next to, etc.). Then take turns and have your kids hide them and give you clues to find them.

6. Synonyms*: Write two different words that mean the same thing, one on each half of an egg.  Have your child match up all the pairs.  You can also do this with opposites.  This activity is great for building vocabulary.

7. Articulation: If your regular old flash cards are getting boring, try hiding the pictures inside eggs**.  You can hide the eggs for them to find or let your child request each egg using a phrase that works on their sounds.  For example, if your child is practicing /k/ and /g/, have them say, “I pick the {green} egg.”  Then they can open the egg and say “I found ______ in the {green} egg.”  You are more than doubling your practice by saying each word in the egg, and also practicing sentences. Put something special in a couple of the eggs so they get a little surprise for all the hard work.

*TIP: Make sure the 2 halves of the egg are not matching colors.  We want them to be matching the concepts on the egg, not the colors.

** If you work with us, and ruin your word cards having fun, we will always make you another copy!