I bought the Melissa and Doug Wooden Sandwich Making Set years ago and continue to use it today.  This toy contains wooden food pieces for making sandwiches and hamburgers.  The food pieces stick together with velcro and can be cut apart with the wooden knife. I have come to expect quality from Melissa and Doug products and this Wooden Sandwich Making Set does not disappoint.  The wooden pieces are so sturdy and durable that I know it will last for years to come.  I really love how easy it is to expand the play beyond building sandwiches.  You can get as creative as you want…make a restaurant, grocery store, or even play hiding games with the pieces.  Making and pretending to eat sandwiches is fun for kids and the colourful food pieces are enticing.  But the best part?  The crunching sound the velcro makes as the knife cuts the food apart!

Speech Activities:

Melissa and Doug Wooden Sandwich Making Set is a wonderful toy to use to help your child with his or her speech sounds.  While this toy lends itself to working on the carryover of sounds into conversation, you can also use it when your child is just learning a new sound.

If your child is just learning a new sound, try using it to make sound effects!  Here are some ideas but feel free to get creative and make up your own:

• /k/ could be the sound of the knife cutting “k-k-k-k-k-k”
• /s/ could be the sound of sauce squirting onto the sandwich or the cheese melting if you make a grilled cheese sandwich “ssssss”
• /z/ could be the sound of the burger sizzling on the grill “zzzzzzz”
• /f/ could be the sound you make when your food is too hot and you need to cool it off “ffffffff”
• ‘sh’ could be the sound you make when shaking salt and pepper “sh-sh-sh-sh”

Use the word chart to find words you can practice while making sandwiches or playing restaurant.

Initial /f/:

• Make a grilled cheese sandwich or cook the burger in the frying pan.
• Play “Find It” using these sandwich picture cards.  Take turns hiding pictures around a room and telling which picture to find (“Find the swiss cheese.”).  When you find it, tell where you found it (“I found it under the table.”).
• Play Go Fish using these sandwich picture cards.  Focus on “Go fish”.
• Play Memory using these sandwich picture cards – talk about the pictures that you find (“I found a sandwich and a pickle.”  “I found a match.”)

Initial /s/: play Go Fish or Memory using these /s/ sandwich picture cards.  Remember to practice saying “same” when you find a match!

Initial /k/: play Go Fish or Memory using these /k/ sandwich picture cards.

Langauge Activities:

Vocabulary

• Describing – talk about what each of the sandwich ingredients tastes like, looks like, sounds like, feels like.  Think about shape, size, texture, temperature.
• Categories – talk about food groups while you are playing.   Cheese is a dairy product, just like milk; cucumbers and tomatoes are vegetables; ham, burgers, and turkey are meats.  Think about other categories you can talk about: things that are red like the tomatoes or green like the lettuce and cucumbers.
• Comparing and contrasting – decide which topping is your favourite and talk about why.  Use -er and -est endings to help you compare, like juicy/juicier/juiciest (“The tomatoes are the juiciest!”), crunchy/crunchier/crunchiest (“The lettuce is crunchier than the tomatoes but the pickles are the crunchiest!”), big/bigger/biggest (“My sandwich is big, but yours is bigger!”)
• Fancy words – expand your child’s vocabulary using fancy words: decide (There are so many options, how will I decide what to order?), enormous (This sandwich is the biggest I’ve ever seen, it’s enormous!), feast (Our food is ready, let’s feast!), gigantic (Your sandwich looks like its going to fall over, it’s gigantic!), huge (Your sandwich is huge, it’s almost as big as an elephant!), ingredients (If we’re going to make a submarine sandwich, we’re going to need more ingredients.), prefer (I would prefer swiss cheese instead of cheddar.), protect (I don’t want to spill anything on my shirt so I will protect it with a napkin.).

Grammar

• Question formation – this toy feels like it was made for kids to practice asking questions!  Set up a restaurant and you can get lots of practice asking your customers what they would like on their sandwich.  Are you ready to order?  Would you like bread or a bun?  What kind of cheese would you like?  Cheddar or swiss?  Would you like lettuce?  How many slices of tomatoes would you like?
• Plurals – I would like two sandwiches please.  Two slices of tomato.
• Pronouns – set up a restaurant and your server can tell the chef what the customers would like.  She would like a grilled cheese sandwich.  He would like a burger with tomatoes.
• Prepositions – Try playing a game of “Find it!”  Take turns hiding the food, talking about where you find it.  You can also give clues where to look (The bun is hiding under/behind/inside…).  When making burgers think about where you are putting the food.  Will the sauce go on your sandwich or beside?  Will the pickles go on the bottom?

Early Literacy Activities:

1. Write a menu for your restaurant – listen to the sounds in the words as you write them down (t-t-t-tomato, b-b-b-burgerrrrrr).  Your child can draw pictures or even write some of the letters if he/she knows how.  Here is a blank menu for you to add to.  Or try this menu that has food items already added.
2. Write down orders – as the customer is order, write down what they would like.  Pretend writing is okay!
3. Grocery list – pretend you need to go shopping for ingredients.  Think about what you will need to buy and write it down – remember to think about the sounds as you write it down (c-c-c-cabbage, sssssss-auce).

Printables:

Picture Cards

Initial /s/ Picture Cards

Initial /k/ Picture Cards

Word Chart

Menu

Menu – Blank

Where to buy:

amazon.com

amazon.ca

chapters.indigo.ca

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