Kimochis® Soup in SLP!

Materials: Kimochis feeling pillows and soup pot and ladle

Activity Duration: Varies. Depends how long you like to cook (5-30 minutes)

Kimochis Soup is a vehicle for the speech-language pathologist to provide students with a visual, tangible tool that can make it easier for students to communicate on any topic.  The soup vehicle is especially helpful for your less talkative clients as it provides a safe way for them to participate without a lot of speech demand. And, Kimochis soup tends to get even the quietest student talking.

Directions for Making Kimochis Soup:

  1. Sprinkle Kimochis feeling pillows on the floor or table with the soup pot in the middle. 
(Limit the number of feeling pillows for younger students or students who do not read yet.)
  2. Ask students to turn the feeling pillows word side up.  For children with limited reading skills, point to each feeling pillow and read together.
  3. Start making a Kimochis Soup by naming what kind of soup you are making.
    • Here is a list of some topics that make great soups.
      1. Recess soup
      2. First Day of School soup
      3. Lunchtime soup
      4. Math soup
      5. Test Soup
      6. Friendship soup
      7. Homework soup
  4. For example you might say, “Let’s make recess soup.  Toss all the feelings in the soup pot that kids your age might have when they go to recess.”
  5. Let the student(s) select any and all of feeling pillows they have about the soup’s topic and toss them into the bowl. You may toss in feeling pillows as well. Or you can have students individually take turns putting a feeling pillow in the soup.
  6. Let each student have a turn with the soup ladle to stir the soup and pull out one feeling pillow.  This student tells a story of how this feeling might be related to the topic. For example, “A person might feel left out at recess if no one asked them to play.” Note:  Some student’s benefit from a prompt for the SLP like this.  “Tell us one way this feeling might happen in this feeling situation.”)
  7. Ask the group if anyone has a tool for this feeling situation that might make things a little better. Let all students who have ideas share. If they do not have ideas this provides great timing for the SLP to tell or show a communication tool that might help them should they ever be in this situation.
  8. Also, sometimes ask students to create a role-play to show rather then tell what they know.

Note:  Kimochis Soup is a fun push-in therapy activity.  Make the soup with your student in pull-out to provide that previous experience that builds communication confidence.  See if this student would like to help you lead Kimochis soup in their classroom.