By Natalie Lay, M.A., CCC-SLP

Bubbles are such a wonderful activity for young toddlers. They are inexpensive, last a long time, and allow you to target an abundance of speech and language skills:

• Articulation: pop is a great consonant-vowel-consonant word that contains an early developing phoneme (/p/). The /p/ sound is a very visual sound, allowing you to show your toddler how to put his/her lips together before blowing out air.
• Expressive Language – making requests: When you are holding the bubble container and the wand (strategically), encourage your child to ask for more bubbles (you can chain the racquets from easiest to most demanding, depending on your child’s needs – more, more bubbles, more bubbles please, I want more bubbles please)
• Receptive Language – understanding basic concepts: Ask your child whether he/she wants big or little bubbles, if the bubbles should go up or down, and which body part your child wants to use to pop the bubbles. Popping bubbles with knees and elbows can be a lot of fun!

I suggest reading Bubble Bubble! by Jack Tickle to put a literacy twist on this favorite summer past time. This book occupies both the visual and auditory systems with its colorful pictures and its button that can be pushed to hear a bubble noise. It is almost like taking a trip to the ocean… almost!