Mr. Potato Head offers so many communication opportunities. You can work on labeling body parts, pronouns, actions, and so much more! Keep reading for different ways to play.
- Put Mr. Potato Head together.
This seems simple enough right? Before you jump in take a moment and think about how your child is communicating. Are they imitating words, but not yet independent? Are they using single words? Are they using two words? Meet them where they are. Offer them choices of which body part to put in (i.e. eyes or ear?). Once they make their request add one word to it or narrate what you are doing (let’s put his ears in). Want to work on receptive language? Ask them to “find his ___” and allow them to find the named item. - Make it fun!
Place the empty potato head somewhere in the house. Say “Oh no! Mr. Potato lost his body parts. Can you help me find an deliver his body parts to him?”. Have the body parts around the room or in a pile. You can make it fun and engaging by finding them and placing them in a bus/truck or a net/bag. As you are searching model language such as, “I want to find his ears. Let’s look for his ears. Where are his ears? I found his ears! Let’s put them in the truck. Vroom Vroom ear delivery! Here Mr. Potato Head. I found your ears!”. This may sound very repetitive, but auditory bombardment (repetition) is sometimes essential for little language learners. Keep going until all body parts have been found! - Don’t stop once he is finished
Often we look at a toy for its’ purpose. What is the purpose of Mr. Potato Head? To put his body parts on and off. Simple. Done. Quick. But…. what if you made it something more? Something engaging and fun to model new and exciting language. Once Mr. Potato Head is put together maybe he is hungry and wants to eat. You can transform into a chef and cook for him. Maybe he wants to go for a ride in the truck and go grocery shopping. Maybe he wants to kick around a ball. After you engage with him in various activities maybe he is tired and wants to go to sleep! You just added so much language to this activity by doing this. - Allow freedom
Follow your child’s lead and see what they want to do with the potato head. Watch and add language to what they are doing. Allow them to struggle and make mistakes. Many times we jump in too quick when we see our little ones having a hard time. Problem solving is a huge part of executive functioning because we need to determine what is wrong, make a plan, and follow through with that plan. Of course if/when they ask for help you can help them. Remember when you are helping them to speak out loud about what the problem is, what your plan is, and how you completed it. It is important to model this for our little ones too.
Remember to use strategies when needed, such as:
1. Wait time. Silence can be key.
2. Lead in phrases or repetitive phrases
3. Follow their lead
4. Watch and observe them before jumping in
5. Model, model, model!
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