• Start with  the first item under each activity and move to more complicated tasks if they are responding correctly. 

    Activity: Going on a walk outside

    Imitation:

    • Ask child to imitate your walking style-big steps, tip toes, walk backward, hop, skip, walk while waving arms in air, dance-walk

                    Say: “Try this!”, “Do what I do!”, “Watch me- you try”, “Copy me”, “Do this”

    • Ask child to imitate 2 actions at a time (ex: jump forward then spin around)
    • Ask child to imitate an action with an object you pick up, such as a stick, pebble, leaf
    • Ask child to imitate 3 or more actions at a time (ex: jump forward, spin, hop on 1 foot)
    • Ask child to imitate 3 or more actions with objects you pick up

     

    Following Directions to DO something:

    • Tell your child to do a particular action without showing them first.
      •  It helps if you already know that they can do the action when you ask them to imitate you doing it (Ex: you say “Try this!” and clap your hands and your child can imitate you without help)
      • “Clap”
      • “Stomp”
      • “Jump”
      • “Wave”
      • “Arms up/raise your arms”
      • “Make Arm circles”
      • “Hands on head”
      • “Dance”
      • “Walk on your tip toes”
    • Tell your child to do 2 actions. (“Stomp then jump”). It helps if you already know  they can imitate both actions.
      • TIP: If your child needs extra help here or with any task that involved doing more than 1 thing at a time - directions that involve more than one step- (there are several examples within this document), have your child repeat what you are asking. First, tell them, “stomp then jump. Now you say it!- they should say “stomp jump”. it helps if they say it a few times to themselves. Then, you can ask them to try it again. “ OK, now try again. Stomp, then jump!”. This might help them to carry out the the multi-step direction.
    • Tell your child to do an action with an object that you find (stick, pebble, leaves, branches, flowers)
    • Tell your child to do 3-4 actions with objects (shake the stick, tap it on your head, then throw it)
    • Tell your child to do 3-4 actions without objects (wave your hands, turn around, skip, jump)
    • Tell your child to do an action and add an adjective/adverb to it
      • Take a BIG step
      • walk slowly
      • walk fast
      • take tiny steps
    • Tell your child to do an action involving a preposition
      • walk next to me
      • walk in front of me
      • walk behind me
      • Hold the leaves over your head and drop them
      • Put the stick in front of you and hop over it
      • put the stick down and hop to the right/left over it
      • put a rock down behind you and step over it backward

     

    Following Directions to FIND something:

    • Tell child to find someone/something that is doing an action
      • point it out when you see someone jogging/running
      • walking
      • planting flowers
      • raking
      • taking out the garbage
      • carrying something
      • playing with another kid/baby
      • walking a dog
      • squirrel sitting
      • squirrel running
      • Bird flying
    • Tell your child to find find something on your walk that involves an adjective
      • Find a ___[ insert color] car and say “blue car!” when you find it
      • Find a [color] flower.
      • Point to something bumpy/smooth/shiny/spotted/sharp
    • Tell your child to find something that has a particular part.
      • find something with wheels
      • doors
      • windows
      • water
      • stem
      • leaves
      • branches
      • steps

     

    Name What you See:

    • Ask your child to name various items. Say, “What’s this called”, “what do you see?”
    • Ask your child to name various actions that you do along your walk; Say, “what am I doing?, what is he/she/the __ doing?”
      • hop
      • skip
      • jump
      • walk
      • spin
      • dance
      • sing
      • pick a flower
      • smell a flower
      • blow (petals off of your hand, grass out of your hand, etc)
    • Ask your child to name various items that you see  along your walk
      • decorations that neighbors may have up in their yards
      • stick
      • leaves
      • flowers
      • mailbox
      • car
      • dog
      • wagon
      • sky
      • grass
      • tree
      • bird
      • airplane

    Asking for things/asking for you to do things

    • If you see your child wants to do something, such as run (maybe they started to run ahead of you already), you can briefly stop them and use the prompt “Run!” or “Go!”. When they echo you (or sign/gesture), let them run  and say again “Run!”
    • If your child starts moving toward an item to pick up (ex: a ball, leaf, flower), bock their access to that item briefly by inserting yourself in front of it; if your child doesnt ask for the item they want, provide help by saying. the item name (ex” ball”). when they echo/sign/gesture after you, give them the item.
    • If your child likes to run a certain way or walk a certain way and wants you to participate with him/her, say to them “run fast!”, for example. When they repeat you, start running fast. You can do this with with “run slow”, run like a [animal], etc.

     

     

    Activity: Emptying Dishwasher

    Matching/Sorting:

    • Tell your child, “Match the silverware”. Have the silverware sorter in a place that is reachable. Have one of each piece silverware placed in the sorter as a model. Hand your child each piece to put in the sorter.
    • Do the same as above, but have your child get the silverware out of the dishwasher themselves.
    • Tell your child to “sort the silverware”. Do not have a model in the sorter.

    Following directions:

    • Ask your child to hand you each piece of silverware/plates/bowls/etc by name. “Hand me the bowl”.
    • Tell your child to do particular actions:
      • Open the door (to dishwasher).
      • Close the door.
      • Open the drawer.
      • Open the cabinet.
      • Put in [such as putting a bowl into another bowl to nest].
      • Stack [plates, forks, bowls,etc]
      • Put it here [while pointin]
    • Ask your child to hand you items based upon what you do with them:
      • Hand me something you use to put food in your mouth
      • hand me something you drink from
      • ..something you eat cereal in
      • ...something you use to mix with
    • Ask your child to put away multiple items at a time (assuming they know where the items go). Say, “Put away the forks, the mixing spoons, and your plastic dishes. I’ll do the rest.”
    • Tell your child to put items away by their location involving prepositions:
      • Put the tupperware in the bottom drawer.
      • The pan goes in the corner cabinet on the shelf under the lids.
      • This _ goes in the pantry next to the toaster
    • Ask your child to get you items from the dishwasher based on an adjective
      • Hand me the blue bowl (when there is also a red bowl in there)
      • ...coffee cup with the handle
      • ...mug with the flowers on it

    Labeling items:

    • Ask your child to name the items as you take them out of the dishwasher. Say, “What’s this called?” while holding the whisk (or other item).
    • Ask your child to name the parts of things. “Say, what’s this part called? while touching the part:
      • handle of a mug
      • lid of a coffee cup
      • handle of the fork
      • prongs of the fork
      • drawer of dishwasher
    • Ask your child to tell you what each item is for. Say, “What do we do with a __”; “What do we use a __ for?”
    • Have your child tell you how each item looks (adjectives/features of the item).
      • While holding up the plate with blue flowers on it ask “How does this plate look?”
      • holding up a dish that is still wet and saying “let’s talk about wet and dry...how’s this dish look?”
    • Ask your child to tell you where items are in. your kitchen as you're putting things away
      • Where are they pots and pans? - child responds “in corner cabinet:
    • Ask your child to tell you where items are as you take them out of the dishwasher and place them on the counter for your child to put away:
      • ex: tupperware bowl, tupperware lids, cups are lined up on counter. you say, “where are the tupperware lids?”- child may point to them but you can guide them to tell you “tell me where”. You might have ot provide an example first : “between the bowl and the cups”

    Answering Questions:

    • Ask you child rotating questions about items you are putting away involving how the items look, what you do with them, what parts they have
      • While holding the tiny tupperware container (something you may put salad dressing in or a small amount of snacks), say “What does this one look like? What color is it? What’s it called? What do we do with it?”

     

    Activity: Getting Dressed

    Following directions:

    • Tell your child to get individual pieces of clothing when all of the necessary clothing items are out on the bed/floor.
      • Get your shirt.
      • ..underpants
      • pants
      • socks
    • Tell your child to get items in a particular order.
      • Get your underwear, socks, then shirt.
    • Tell your child to get more than one item at a time, but not necessarily in a particular order.

    Labeling items:

    • Ask your child to name all of the clothing items while you hold each one.
    • Tell your child to tell you which article of clothing goes on a particular body area:
      • Which one goes on your feet? (they should TELL you which one...socks… but they can point, too)
      • Which one do you wear on your legs?

    Requesting:

    • Ask your child to point out or verbally tell you which shirt/pants/underwear/socks they want to wear out of a few options. this can also be an intermediate/advanced skill by asking the child to describe the shirt, pants, etc, that they would like to wear. (the blue and grey shirt, the paw patrol shirt, the striped one). You can make this a fun game by closing your eyes so you can’t see the one they are pointing to and tell them since you can’t see it, they must describe it.
      • NOTE: Remember to pick your battles here. It is unlikely you will be leaving your house. if your child chooses to wear something that isn’t the most “appropriate” given the weather or it doesn't match…it won’t harm anyone to let them wear it.

     

    Activity: Brushing Teeth

    Labeling items:

    • Ask your child to label all of the items involved in tooth brushing
      • sink
      • water
      • cup
      • tooth brush
      • tooth paste
      • towel
    • Ask your child to tell you what they are doing when they’re doing it or what you are doing as you do it for them. Say, “What are you doing right now?” or “What am I doing right now?”
      • ‘putting tooth paste on’
      • ‘opening toothpaste’
      • ‘squeezing tooth paste’
      • brushing my teeth
      • ‘rinsing’
      • ‘spitting out tooth paste
    • Ask your child to tell you the parts of the sink. Say “What’s this part called?”
      • faucet
      • cold water
      • hot water
      • drain
      • counter

    Following directions:

    • Ask your child to give you items involved one at a time.
      • Ex: Hand me the toothbrush
    • Ask your child to give you more than one item at a time or do more than one thing at a time.
      • TIP: Check out the tip above under “going for a walk” regarding multi step directions.
      • Hand me the toothbrush then turn on the water.
      • Take the cap off the tooth paste then get the tooth brush wet.
      • Spit and wipe your mouth.

     

    Activity: Making a meal/snack

    Requesting:

    • Allow your child to make the selection for meals based upon a few choices. Consider providing visible options. For example, show them the cereal box, oatmeal, pancake mix, or yogurt and fruit and allow the child to pick from that. You can also show them pictures.
    • Pull up Pinterest and show them pictures of various recipes. Allow them to request which they’d like to try

    Imitation:

    • Tell your child to imitate something you are doing. Say “Copy me”, “try this”, “do what I do”while you...
      • stir
      • shake
      • mix
      • pour
      • scoop
      • use a butter knife to cut a slab of butter
      • place something in a pan or on a cookie sheet

    Labeling:

    • Ask your child to name all of the utensils and other items involved in the meal.
      • Pots/pans
      • spatulas
      • utensils
      • whisk
      • bowls
      • any food items
      • any appliances involve
    • Ask your child to label what you are doing at different steps in making the meal:
      • stirring
      • Spraying (spraying pan with Pam, etc)
      • mixing
      • cutting
      • slicing
      • pouring
      • chopping
      • putting on pan
      • putting in oven
    • Ask your child how something smells (sweet, like___)
    • Ask your child how something tastes (sweet, spicy, salty)

    Following Directions:

    • Ask your child to hand you a utensil or other item needed when it is not among other utensils. (the big spoon is just sitting on the counter with no other utensils out of your reach)
    • Ask your child to select the necessary utensil or other item needed from a group of other utensils. (Ex: the whisk held in the utensil jar next to the stove with spatulas, spoons, tongs, etc also in the jar).
    • Ask your child to do a part of the cooking task:
      • Stir the sauce
      • Shake the bread crumbs on the chicken (in a ziplock)
      • pour something
      • whisk something
      • use the chopper to chop veggies (or a knife if child is capable)
      • put __ on the pan
      • open the oven door
      • press the “start” button
      • close the lid
      • open the jar
      • get ___ from the fridge
      • wash the ___
      • dry the ___
    • Ask your child to get 2-3 multiple items at once
      • Get me a bowl, a big spoon, and a ziplock bag
    • Ask your child to follow a direction that involves a preposition or an adjective or adverb
      • Use the spoon with the slots in it
      • Put the bread crumbs on the bottom shelf next to the ___
      • get the noodles that are on top of the bow tie noodles
      • whisk the sauce quickly
      • hand me the large tongs (when in a location with smaller ones)
      • Carefully mix the __

    Answering Questions:

    • Ask your child rotating questions about the clothing items. Examples:
      • How does this shirt look? (adjectives)
      • When do you wear it? (seasons, temperature)
      • WHat does it have?
        • collor
        • buttons
        • zipper
        • hood
        • sleeves
      • A shirt is a type of___ (clothing)
    • Ask your child what you should do next in the sequence. For example, if you are holding the hamper full of dirty clothes, you can say “Now what should i do?” and they can respond with “dump the clothes out” or something similar.
      • Note: The child would need to be familiar with the task of laundry, having participate or seen you do it before.