Busy Box

 I have recently started back with face to face speech evaluations and they have been going well.  It has made me realize how much I miss working with kids in person and just being able to play.  But, I had a few evaluations with some energetic, busy little ones and was a bit rusty.  I went into the evaluation thinking the PLS-5 toys would be sufficient in keeping their attention and encouraging them to participate and realized I needed some back-up. Usually, I am testing in my speech room and would have toys everywhere to grab but my room is pretty small so I have been testing in another room that is larger while we ease back into face-to-face contact. So, I decided I needed a busy box full of all my go-to's that I usually reach for to grab their attention when testing fatigue sets in.  I wanted it all to fit in a small box so I could take it easily to a different room when needed.  Here's what I came up with. 

 I felt it was important to use a clear box so the student could see the items and request or tell me what they wanted from inside. I was purposeful in choosing these items.  I made sure I had different color cars, different color blocks, and different color crayons to also encourage the student to tell me or ask for certain ones they wanted or so I could sabotage the request by giving the wrong item and they would tell me that wasn't what they asked for. 

Let's check out the items a bit more.  Bubbles are always my go-to when things aren't going how I'd like for them to go.  For some reason as soon as the bubbles start falling the attention is instantly there. 

I have gone through quite a few wind-up toys and this Snoopy was from a happy meal. My wind-up toys don't seem to last long but I know Dollar Tree and Party City usually have some good ones. 

We have a large collection of hot wheels cars at home with my boys, so I just borrowed three that were different colors. 

You never know what may calm a little one or catch their interests so crayons are always handy to have close by. 

These are technically math cubes but a few teachers were giving them away at school so I took some to keep in my room. 

This piggy popper is so fun but I will warn you, things can get crazy when the balls start flying around.  

And I have carefully packed them all inside this clear box that is a little a bigger than a pencil box. 

This would also be a great box to take with me whenever I am out of my speech room for push-in therapy too. Now I feel a bit more ready for my next face to face evaluation with little ones!