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{New Favorite Therapy Toy & Aided Language Stimulation} The Playskool Learnimals Color Me Hungry Hippo is my new favorite therapy toy! I had several patients squeal and giggle with delight at the sight of a jumbo version of the character they know from the popular Hungry Hungry Hippos kids game. One adorable articulation patient said “Is dat Hunwee Hunwee Hippo?” in the most astonished voice…. lol! What’s not to love about a toy that you can feed, his belly lights up to match the color of the item inserted and you learn about colors, shapes, food and counting? This new BFF also enticed one of my youngest patients to say “eat”, “mmm” & “yum” (a huge deal for this kiddo). For my AAC users and patients that I use symbol supported language stimulation as visual supports to expand verbal utterances, I made printable symbols and added him to several of my AAC apps. Besides those early concepts, also lots of opportunities for core vocabulary (today I targeted eat, hungry, in, open, more, again, full and done but already have others in mind).

I bought mine for $18.09 with free shipping through Amazon Prime (https://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Learnimals-Color-Hungry-Hippo/dp/B00C3WXKQ4). Don’t think he’s available in stores anymore but definitely worth also looking for at thrift shops and garage sales.

Here is a PDF of the symbols that I made to go with it:

1-Page PDF of printable symbols for Color Me Hungry Hippo – made by Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP, OMazing Kids

https://omazingkidsyoga.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/color-me-hungry-hippo-symbols-pecs-aided-language-stimulation-symbol-supported-language-stimulation-sentence-building-omazing-kids.pdf
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By the way, did you know that there is a FREE app? I use it all the time in therapy. A fun alternative to the real game: Hungry Hungry Hippos by Hasbro, Inc., https://appsto.re/us/BugeH.i.

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Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC – inclusive wellness & educational activities for kids of all abilities
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Angela Moorad is the founder of OMazing Kids, LLC and is an ASHA certified & licensed pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and Kids Yoga Teacher with over 26 years experience working in a variety of settings (early intervention, schools, teletherapy & a nonprofit pediatric rehab hospital for children with developmental disabilities). She is an app beta tester for educational & therapeutic app developers and loves sharing info about great apps, products, books & toys to use with kids of all abilities.