Increase the array (e.g., instead of 2 different pictures on the table to match to, have 3 or 4 different pictures and ask them to match). The 2nd activity can be used to expand skills by drawing a line from the big animal to the little animal.

Sit down with your child and make all the sounds of their favorite animals.

Begin crawling on your hands and knees as if you are the animal too

Encourage your child to pretend to be an animal

Don’t be discouraged if your child does not pretend, go back to making animal sounds and try again.

Build on the idea by drinking water like a cat, eating elephant cupcakes, and peeling a banana like a monkey

Read “Bunny Breath”

Sit together in a circle and take turns feeling each other’s belly muscles working as you breath deeply and slowly

See who can hold themselves still the longest and model slow, relaxed movements

Encourage your child to explore the sensory bin

Engage in pretend play with items in bin

Have your child pop bubbles with their feet or kick a balloon while lying on their back!

Challenge your eyes by reading a book in this position, balancing the book by your knees and lifting your head to read

Toss a ball to your child while they are on their back and see if they can kick it back to you

Reach your right leg long with the left leg still tight to your stomach, bring the right leg back in and try it on the other side

This might be difficult if you child is a “picky eater”. Focus on their ability to explore foods without signs of distress. Praise your child for small victories such as playing with new foods for 5 minutes!

Practice scooping foods with a spoon by having races to see who can fill up a small Dixie cup with food first

Once filled, try moving the scooped food playfully towards your child’s face, mouth or nose (wherever the child is comfortable)

Play “restaurant” and order different variations of kabobs

Use the fork as a “kabob” and pierce different types of food

Ex. “I would like a watermelon, orange slice kabob”

Take turns being the “chef”

Sing familiar songs while practicing using utensils

Scoop and pour soup, applesauce, or pudding to create a “rain shower” while singing “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”

Put out a few toy animals to play with, then play the YouTube link with the different animal sounds. Ask your child to match the toy animal to the sound they hear.

Consider being silly with this to increase participation and interest; take turns guessing the animals, and get it wrong! Ask your child to help you pick the right match

Add additional questions to the activity (e.g., “Where does the animal live?” “What does the animal look like?” “Who takes care of this animal?”) to target higher level receptive language skills

Act out animal movements to make it more playful and interactive

Describe the animals on how they look. You can even draw the animals together to target increased expressive language