Written By: Kaitlin Bednarz M.S., CCC-SLP
Are you ready for your child’s language to go up, up, and away? Balloons are a fun and motivating activity to help your child learn and practice using speech and language! And there’s so much more you can do with a balloon besides blowing it up! Here are some new ways to use balloons at home with your child:
1. Flying Balloon
Blow up the balloon then have your child request to let go of the balloon (i.e., fill-in “go” in “ready, set, ____!” or “let go” or “balloon down”). When you let go of the balloon it will fly around the room! Let your child chase the balloon around until it falls to the ground! At the end, you can talk about where the balloon landed using preposition words (i.e., on the table, in the toy basket).
2. Sensory Balloons
Fill your balloons with items such as beans, water beads, macaroni, etc. and tie at the bottom to make a sensory balloon! Talk about the items you’re putting in the balloons (i.e., colors, feel, used for, etc.) for increased vocabulary learning!
3. Draw on Balloon
Draw pictures on the balloon while it’s flat. Then blow air into the balloon and watch the pictures grow! You can model the following words: “big”, “small” and “growing” during this activity.
4. Requesting
Have your child request for “blow”, “more”, “balloon”, “up”, “down”, and “bigger.” Prompt your child for “I want ___” or “Can you ___?” to practice using phrases!
We hope you enjoy these different ways to use balloons to help build your child's language!