Go on a virtual field trip to the zoo and aquarium! Check out the live cameras at the San Diego Zoo and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Talk about what the animals are doing using different verbs and describing words. See if you can find an animal doing the following things: walking, standing, running, swinging, flying, climbing, eating, drinking, jumping, swimming, going up, going down, moving fast, moving slow, and more. Use complete sentences, (e.g., “The elephant is standing”, “The penguins are walking”). Bonus: make the sentences longer by talking about where: “The fish are swimming in the water”, “The apes are swinging on a rope”). Try to let your student create the sentences first, and then help correct the grammar or add on. This activity is a good one for present progressive verbs (is/are ______ing) because it allows for many opportunities to practice the same sentence structure. It's also great to learn vocabulary!

Find objects around your house that match the concepts

Barrier games are games where two people sit across from one another with a barrier in between blocking the other's board or paper. One player creates a scene and describes it, and the other player has to listen to the instructions and recreate the scene. Then you remove the barrier and see if the two scenes are the same! If not, what happened?

This activity is great for following directions, giving clear directions, and perspective taking. Learn more from this blog post, and find some free barrier activity scenes from this website.

Barrier games can be played with picture scenes, real objects/blocks, a blank piece of paper for drawing, or a coloring page.