Phonics Phone from bottle Handles

I came across this blog about phonics phones. I had never heard of this before but Face book Friends say they are fun and can help improve reading fluency since they amplify sound and can help children focus and pay attention to sounds while they speak or read. This nice teacher explains in her blog why and how to make them out of PCV pipes....
http://blog.maketaketeach.com/how-to-make-a-phonics-phone/


So I had to try this out by cutting up a couple of handles from detergent bottles. I pushed one inside the other and taped in place with the snazzy duct tape. You can easily adjust for size. I will add tape to the 2 ends to make extra smooth but wanted to show you how it looked first.  I have to say that it does nicely amplify sound. But I have no idea if it provides the same result as the ones made from pcv pipe or purchased. I can easily make them out of different color bottles and let children choose colors and have their very own for hygiene purposes. I think that the one I just made is actually from handles cut from very large OJ bottles. I collect the handles thinking that I will have a use and here we go.... 

Opening Button Squares

I brought some button squares to try out with my older clients 2 girls are 4 years old and the first child in the video is a 3 year old boy.  Button squares are easier to manipulate than the buttons on clothing. The child can bring them right up to the face and grasp close to the button and button hole without the clothing getting in the way. I cut the "buttons" out of detergent bottles so that they can be extra large.

You will see in the video the towel that  I sometimes use during hippotherapy. I sewed  blue and red pockets to them so that the children can color match when opening up the button squares.  I also like teaching them to sequence taking each piece from the respective pockets to fasten. I was amazed to find that one little girl visually attended and motor planned to unbutton. Only a few months ago she was pulling and not paying attention to positioning the materials. So I think that someone at home and school must be working on this, also......