Our 5 Favorite Speech and Language Apps: #2 – Wheel’s On The Bus

Ok everyone, next up, one of our favorite apps to use with the little ones…

App #2: Wheels on the Bus

We tend to use the Wheels on the Bus app with one, two and three year olds, and every time we bring it out, the kids are immediately hooked! 

Each scene is interactive and highlights a part of the song “Wheels On The Bus,” which all kids love.

In each scene, there are TONS of basic language concepts you can target.

Plus, it’s a great way to expose your child to nursery rhymes/repetitive songs to increase language output.

The How To . . .

At home or in the therapy room, this is how you can use this fun and engaging app:

First, as we do with all of our tablet apps in therapy, we hold the tablet the entire time so that we can elicit certain words or sounds from the child before they get a chance to interact with the app . . . and yes, any tablet running iOS or Android should work fine.

For example, in the first scene, there is a bus you can move with the swipe of your finger. So the user might say, “are you ready to make it go? Ready, set…”

Now, at this point, pause to see if the child will say “go” or any sound you are tring to elicit and once they do, reinforce that by moving the bus.

NOTE: Examples of other words we tend to target in this app are “open” to open the bus door, “up” when the kids move up in their chairs, or “move” to get the bus moving. All of this will make more sense once you play with the app.

Other exercises you can do using Wheels On The Bus include imitating animal sounds, imitating motor movements while singing the song, and/or following directions (for example, touch the bird and open the door), all of which are skills that little ones need to be able to perform.

If you live in the D.C. area and have concerns about your child’s language or articulation and would like to seek additional help beyond what your school based speech therapy may be able to provide, visit our therapy services page for more information on our assessment and speech pathology for kids of all ages.