Hopefully most of you found my Halloween Edition of Appdapted very useful. I really wanted to do a thanksgiving one but honestly there were only a few apps out for Turkey Day and most involved hunting turkey, not a good therapy activity. We have now moved into the Holiday Season so take a look at some great apps to use in therapy. A good majority focus around Christmas. I tried my best to find some relevant Chanukah or Kwanza ones with very little success.

I have lots to share so keep an eye on this post as I will be updating it regularly. For now start off with these awesome apps that will keep your kids motivated!

Updated 11/27/12

Snow Doodle ($0.99)

Snow Doodle is the latest addition to the Doodle family by Shoe the Goose. This app has tons of potential and was released just in time for the winter season.  You have the ability to not only build “snow people” ( Have to be politically correct here, not all snow beings are men after all) but also build things using your imagination and tools like a pail, castle block, coffee cup, or a tube. Just tap the tool and out pops the snow. You can also use the free form tool and manipulate the snow ball into any design you want. This app has tons of potential and with the ability to import anything from your photo roll you can Appdapt it into any speech or language activity.

Built using the Pail tool

Turn your designs into a puzzle

Why is the Snowman scared?

Toca Hair Salon: Christmas Gift (Free, Highly Recommended)

This is an obvious gem when looking for a Christmas app to target therapy goals. You have the option to cut Santa’s hair! I mean who wouldn’t want to have fun doing that. There is also a Christmas tree option where you can trim and decorate the tree. Target all the goals you would with Toca Hair Salon but throw in some fun Christmas Vocabulary!

Gift-Wrap-App (Free, My Favorite!)

I searched and searched for an App like this hoping it existed and it does it does! This app has such a simple premise you will be taking every therapy goal and targeting it with this app. You take a picture , pick the gift wrap, and unwrap them! Target articulation, language, or pretty much anything. I would download pictures of popular toys this year and wrap them up. Have your clients describe what the toys do or how you would play with them. In the example below I used an action picture “drinking.”

Santa’s Magice Phone-Deluxe (Free and Fun)

PERSONALIZE certain calls by recording your voice, and we will disguise your voice as Milo, Santa’s Elf! Santa will then ask Milo a question during the call, and Milo will bring details into the phone call that your child would never have imagined! “Wow Mommy! How did Santa know I was polite with little Johnny?” Receive the call at your choosing for the ultimate reaction. You can select from numerous Naughty or Nice prerecorded messages, such as Good Job Being Polite, Eating Well, Sharing, You’re Off the Naughty List!, Not Listening, and many more!

Christmas House Decoration (Free, iOS)

In this app its all in the name. You decorate the exterior of a house for Christmas. This will work great as a motivator, following directions,  or for tasks requiring knowledge of spatial concepts. Decorations include snowmen, trees, Santa, lights, etc..  Endless possibilities for a creative child or therapist!

Chanukah Dreidel (Free)

This is one of the few apps that I found that incorporates Chanukah. It’s  a virtual dreidel so not so exciting but could be a proper motivator for those clients of yours that celebrate Chanukah.

Peekaboo Presents  ($1.99, iOS and Android)

Here is a another solid app by Night & Day studios, developers in the ever popular Peekaboo series. I featured there Peekaboo Trick-or-Treat app in my Halloween Post. To play the app you tap on the present that is under the Christmas tree  shaking and making noise. The child must make a guess on what is inside the present based on the noise it is making. Lot’s of fun presents to open and noises to guess! Have fun with this one.

Toys “R” Us Toy Finder (Free)

I have been using this app to help create my client’s wish list for their holiday presents. You are able to make a profile for a child and then save their list of toys. This app would work well in a group setting to foster some good conversation about what the children have selected and why they made those selections. Also offers a good opportunity to explain what a toy does and what it looks like. Ever have that child that suffers from word retrieval difficulties and is trying to explain a toy that they play with daily but they don’t know the name? Well have them search by  the  toy categories, etc.. to help them narrow it down.

(This post originally appeared on The Speech Guy)

Jeremy Legaspi, CCC-SLP, is a Speech-Language Pathologist at Foundations Developmental House. He concentrates on autism, AAC, apraxia, articulation,phonlogy, and some feeding. You can follow him on twitter @azspeechguy and check him out on azspeechguy.wordpress.com and www.therapyapp411.com