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Our kids LOVE dressing up and playing pretend. They will dress up as firefighters, doctors, construction workers, and more. From vocabulary to reciprocal conversation to turn taking, the amount of language we hear is incredible! So naturally we decided to dedicate an entire fun summer themed week to community helpers!
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
-Fred Rogers
Fun Summer Schedule
Each summer I pick nine different themes. Each theme is broken down by day of the week. Then every day has a focused activity to encourage vocabulary development, language in natural contexts, and create hands-on experiences. Here is the daily schedule we will follow for the entire summer regardless of the theme!
- Monday It Monday
- Take A Trip Tuesday
- Water Wednesday
- Thinking Thursday
- Foodie Friday
- Cinema Saturday
- Sensory Sunday
Too many other things going on this summer? Don’t stress! Pick only a couple of activities or do it all. Incorporating vocabulary and language into even just one activity can help increase your child’s retention and application of concepts. Most importantly, just have fun together!
Make It Monday
To start our fun summer week off, we made a police badge in honor of my husband who is a police officer. My son loves to look at and hold my husband’s badge so this was the perfect craft for him. Now he has his very own!
We used cardstock, tin foil, glue, gold paint, and a black permanent marker. First, I printed the badge template on the cardstock. Click here for the free badge template I found. Then we tore up the tin foil into small pieces and glued them onto the cardstock. Once the cardstock was completely covered, I drew a star for my son to fill in with gold paint. He loved that his badge was shiny just like his daddy’s! Lastly, we added his name and official title!
Take A Trip Tuesday
For our weekly outing this week, we really lucked out! The local township hosted a Touch-A-Truck event with police cars, fire trucks, an ambulance, tow trucks, front loaders, tractors and so much more. We were able to climb inside cabs, in the back of dump trucks, and even got a tour of the inside of the ambulance. Both of my boys were in community helper heaven!
If you have never been to a Touch-A-Truck event, we highly recommend it! Best part…they are completely free. We have been to several over the years hosted by banks, park districts, and outdoor malls. Check out your park district website or search via Facebook to find fun summer events near you! Such a perfect summer outing for endless fun! Just be sure to wear sturdy shoes as you will most likely be climbing up ladders and over big tires!
Water Wednesday
As an SLP, I have several mouth models to help teach my students how to correctly place their articulators. While these mouth models are very helpful in sessions, I had a moment of community helper genuity. Along with floss, some dyed water, a spare toothbrush, a Solo cup, and pump soap, my mouth model instantly became our fun summer Water Wednesday activity.
I filled a small sensory bin with water and placed the mouth model inside. I then filled a spray bottle with water and blue watercolor. My son was able to spray the teeth with the blue to see actually where the “germs” were located then pump soap on the stains and brush everything clean. He spent a long time cleaning the giant mouth and even carefully flossed between each tooth!
Want more kid-friendly activities to do with a simple spray bottle? Check out our blog post on +5 Spray Bottle Activities for Kids! to help keep you cool and your kids having fun this summer.
Thinking Thursday
This week we did a book that Mandy and I both love to read at home and at school. We chose Clothespin Clues For Jobs People Do. Each page gives a verbal and visual description of many different community helper jobs. Throughout the story, each character receives a special invite for a send off party at the end of the story. Another plus, the entire book rhymes! So cute!
For our paper activity we made our very own community helper book! With a simple job description, my son was able to choose the correct community helper from a visual field of three. Then, he colored his answer choice. This book contained many different community helpers including firefighters, doctors, dentists, farmers, mail carriers, and more!
Want this cute and simple freebie? Enter your email below for access to our free resource library. You will not only receive the Community Helper Mini-Language Book, but many other great resources!
Foodie Friday
Our Foodie Friday this week was not only adorable, but super tasty too! Mandy and her girls made traffic light graham crackers with fruit. All that they needed was graham crackers, strawberries, bananas, and kiwis plus peanut butter. You can always swap out the strawberries with raspberries, the kiwis with green grapes, and the peanut with any flavor of frosting.
First, Mandy’s daughter spread peanut butter on a single piece of graham cracker. She then lined up her red fruit, yellow fruit, and green fruit in order of the traffic lights. So stinkin’ easy! We loved how easily the kids could make these snacks and how many the activity yielded. And we didn’t mind helping eat the end product either!
Cinema Saturday
For our fun weekly summer movie, we went with PAW Patrol: The Movie. This is a great movie that includes lots of community helpers who work together to save the city. Can’t go wrong with that!
Sensory Sunday
Our Sensory Sunday activity was a little unique this week. For a bit of a change, we decided to play dress up which is its own type of sensory experience for kiddos. Between Mandy’s house and mine, we had a full range of community helpers running around!
From police officers to astronauts to the cutest chef you have ever seen, our kids were able to use all kinds of language while engaged in pretend play. My youngest is only 15 months, but he enjoyed putting on different hats and spontaneously started playing peek-a-boo. Mandy’s daughters play dress up all the time together and have great back and forth conversations. Pretend play is critical for developing language and dressing up is such a fun and simple way to encourage it!
Take a look at all of our fun summer weeks so far! We have covered so many awesome themes with lots of different hands-on activities. Have an idea for a fun summer theme we haven’t covered? Leave us a comment below!
That brings our fun summer week of community helpers to an end. We really enjoyed watching our kids connect with a theme they already love and play on a regular basis anyway. If your kiddos are the same (which chances are they are! 😉), we hope you enjoy these helpful and engaging activities for a fun summer week of community helpers too!
Happy helping, fellow SLPs & mamas!
Talking Mama Bears