Dean Trout's Little Shop of SLP: How To Make Your Own Doodads

One of the hottest things going right now is doodads. If you don't know what doodads are, they are very small objects that are either plastic 3D shapes of boats, cars, trees, etc. or are similar objects that look like decorative clothing buttons or the little things that are tied on shoes. Really they are plastic miniatures of common objects. I think they are great and many SLPs are using them in their therapy sessions with younger students.

USES

I have noticed they are being used to represent real life objects that kids encounter in their daily lives. They are being used to teach preK kids labeling, object functions, vocabulary etc., and in play based therapy.

They are excellent for using in sensory bins. They are small enough to hide in the filling so that the student has to really get his hands in there!

They are also being use for sorting activities and in articulation therapy.

They have so many uses, but that is not the point of this blog post so I won't elaborate. I'm just explaining what they are. Now to the point of this post :)

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN
I want to share with you a quick and easy way to make your own doodads.

I recommend making your own if you are looking for specific vocabulary or words represented as objects. I can see how making you own would benefit you if you want to use them for articulation or for themed language therapy!

A very quick way to make your own is to use a product called ShrinkyDinks.*
You can readily get ShrinkyDinks at craft stores, Amazon, or Walmart. (I am not affiliated with any of these companies so I am not getting any form of reimbursement for mentioning them.)

Inside the package are 6 sheets of shrinkable paper that is 8 1/2" x 11" They are the perfect size fit into your printer!

Each sheet can be printed on either side.

1- I used some farm house clipart from Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs
(https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Farm-Animals-Clipart-Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah-Designs-1959067) to create a layout of 11 animals on one sheet.

It doesn't matter how you lay them out on your sheet so long as you have room to cut them out. You will need to bear in mind the size you want your doodads to be when they are shrunk because they will shrink to 1/3 the original size. I wanted 1" doodads, so I make my graphics 3" on the sheet.

There are exact directions inside your ShrinkyDinks packaging.

2- I printed the pdf I created on a sheet of ShrinkyDinks.

3- I then cut out each animal.

4- Then I trimmed around each animal leaving a small white border.

5- Next I placed them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

6- According to the instructions on the packaging, I placed them in the oven that was preheated to 275 degrees F. for 3 minutes and let them do their magic shrinking.