8 Ways to Use Painter’s Tape in the Therapy Room

painters tape pin

Who loves painter’s tape?  I do!  For a while I was into refinishing furniture and went through a MacKenzie-Childs inspired phase.  Here’s my wild laundry room which no one but me ever sees.  I’m so glad it’s a happy place because I’m not always happy to be there!Painters tape laundry room copy

 

Obviously that patterning required a great deal of painters tape.

But painter’s tape can be used for lots of other projects and speech activities.  It comes in colors, is very easily ripped (even the kids can do it) and is low stick so it doesn’t (shouldn’t) damage what you stick it to.

Here are eight ideas for incorporating it’s use in the therapy room.

  1. Race track: Whether you make a single track to follow or make a wider track with two marked sides, little ones love driving almost anything on a track.  It doesn’t even need to be a vehicle!  You can lay objects at intervals along the track to elicit utterances—“move please” or “jump” (and have the vehicle jump over the item).
  2. Balance beam: Some of my kiddos need to move during therapy, but I still need to contain them.  Making a “balance beam” line along the floor for them to walk, or tip toe, or walk backwards, or…you get the idea, is a great way to practice following directions.  You might hear me saying, “Walk backwards with your hands over your head.” or I’ll have them do an artic card or two and then walk it across to “feed” it to a monster.
  3. Ceiling dangle: Do you ever play flashlight tag and attach cards to the walls, underside of tables/chairs, etc?  It’s great fun!  Add a little novelty by hanging a few from the ceiling too!Painters tape measurements copy
  4. Measurement comparisons: I don’t do “real” measuring in inches, but I do end up working on comparisons and quantity vocabulary frequently.  For my kiddos, taking the numbers out is a critical first step.  We can tear tape to the length of objects in the room, label them (Sharpie or ballpoint writes great on this stuff) and then compare to see which is longer, the longest, wider, shortest, equivalent, etc.Painters tape crayon holder copy
  5. Crayon holder: I’m not sure if it’s my table or the actual house I’m in, but crayons are always rolling on to the floor.  Drives me a little nuts sometimes, especially if we are working on speech activities that target following multi-step directions.  How accurate is their performance of “color the (object) (color) and the (object) (color)” if they have to stop to pick up crayons?! A strip of tape, sticky-side up, affixed at the ends with another small strip does the trick!Painters tape laundry line copy
  6. Laundry line: Little ones have fun hunting cards down in the room and then attaching them to a tape “laundry line.”  Not much different here, other than the novelty.  If you don’t have a doorway to make a laundry line in, just make a “holder” line on the wall (See previous example.)
  7. Quick “scratch off”: Scratch offs are so fun, but making them is a little labor intensive and requires pre-planning.  As long as you have a laminated sheet, you can cover the words/pics with a small piece of tape and have kiddos peel them off to see what’s beneath.  You can also use this on an answer key.  Cover up the answer, and then they can check their work when they peel the tape off.
  8. Category re-sort: You can have older students brainstorm items in a category and write each one on a separate piece of tape.  Once you’ve exhausted the options in a general category, step back and take a look at what you’ve got.  Can they reorganize the items into subcategories?  What about different subcategories?

Anyone else using tape of any kind in the therapy room?  Let us know!

 

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This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. JEANNEETTE

    THESE IDEAS ARE TERRIFIC. I LOVE HOW SIMPLE THESE ARE AND HOW MUCH I KNOW THESE WILL APPEAL TO THE LITTLE ONE’S SENSE OF AWESOMENESS !

    THANKS !

    1. admin

      Thanks, Jeannette! I received another awesome idea in a Twitter comment–hopscotch! I plan to implement this immediately!

  2. Heidi Britz

    I like to use it on the floor to mark a boundary that my students need to stay in while they stand at a work station. It allows movement but within limits and is a great visual support for my littles with ASD!

  3. Annette

    Wow! What fun odeas! I’ve used it for venue diagrams that we use manipulative with. I’ve also used it for marking far, farther, and farthest. Thanks for a host of new things to do!

    1. Annette

      I meant Venne diagrams (rotten auto-incorrect)

  4. Mary

    Great ideas! 🙂

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The views expressed in this blog are my own and are intended to inspire other speech-language pathologists in their own practice. If you are a parent, teacher or other educator, these ideas are not intended to take the place of treatment by a certified clinician. Read full disclaimer here.