These easy-to-use and engaging speech and language therapy activities will keep your kindergarteners, preschoolers, and first graders learning and laughing from June - August!
A few simple, well thought out activities can be tailored to target expressive language, receptive language, apraxia of speech, phonology, and articulation.
My 'must-haves' for versatile therapy sessions are a gross motor activity, a book, and a 'hands on' activity. I use a great set of visuals with all of these activities to decrease prep time!
These are my favorite resources for my
summer themed speech therapy sessions!
NO PREP SUMMER UNIT
This is my go-to unit! This no-prep Summer Unit has loads of visuals, crafts, games, and structured activities for grammar, wh- questions, phonological awareness, and more! You will be able to use these speech therapy activities with your entire caseload. Best part? Just print and go!! Over 70 pages of activities and ideas!
BOOK:
Summer, Summer! It's Never a Bummer!: This Gross Motor Story has repetitive text, which allows for tonnes of practice trials AND it has seasonal verbs on each page!
Get your students up and moving with 'invitation to move' on each page. A perfect movement break or therapy activity!
This story includes action cards to send home (or use in your therapy sessions), as well as a list of ideas of how to use the cards.
To use in teletherapy, simply pull the PDF up on your computer and share your screen!
CARIBOO:
It is no secret that I love therapy materials that I can use for A LOT OF activities (i.e. less prep time).
These Summer Visuals for Speech Therapy can be used for Cariboo, as well as other things (keep reading to find out!).
There are cards for emotions, verbs, nouns, and adjectives. These cards are a perfect companion to any summrt-themed book, game, craft, or activity.
I have used them for story retell, describing, and answering wh- questions. They are a go-to summer therapy resource!
DISTANCE LEARNING:
Build It Activities:
This Ultimate Build-It Boom Deck includes over 30 different items to build - including ice cream, butterflies, bees, and caterpillars! This deck can be used year-round but is perfect for summer. You can target pretty much any goal using this activity, including:
describing (there are moveable visuals included).
requesting - have the student ask for a particular item to use.
comparing/contrasting - compare and contrast two items that you have build.
spatial concepts - while building, you can model concepts such as top/bottom, beside, in, and on.
following directions: ask the student to make the item in a particular way.
Want to try it out for free? Check out the free sample (it includes the ice cream build-it!)
Play Based Boom Cards:
These BOOM cards include warm activities, therapy ideas for speech AND language, and open ended play scenes (with suggested play scenarios).
If you are looking for a fun and easy way to PLAY in your sessions while target a huge variety of goals - make sure to check these out! There are three themes you can choose from: Outdoor Fun, Beach, and Camping.
FREE ONLINE ACTIVITY:
This is such a fun and engaging game - and it's free!! It's perfect for teletherapy and for a low-prep option for in-person therapy. What child wouldn't want to make their very own sandcastle.
You can use this Build a Sandcastle activity to target:
Requesting: Have the child ask for a specific item.
Describing: Have the child state three features of their sandcastle.
Top/Bottom: Put sand on top of piles of sand.
Tall/Short: Tall and short sandcastles.
SONGS:
I recently began incorporating songs because of their repetitive nature. Using YouTube videos allows you to pause the song and let the child fill in the blank of the word. I also love using songs for movement breaks, as reinforcements, and to work on verb tenses.
Some of my favorite summer songs are:
SENSORY BIN:
Summer Sensory bins are so easy because you can grab items from nature from outside and bring them into your therapy room! This makes it FREE and EASY!
Use sticks, rocks, and leaves to create a sensory bing that has different textures, sizes, and shapes. Rough sticks, smooth rocks, crunchy leaves, big pebbles, thin sticks, short sticks, oval rocks, allow for a language rich activity.
Remember those Summer Visuals for Speech Therapy I showed as Cariboo cards? That is what is in here! Simply make two copies - one cut and one not. Put the cut cards in the bin and viola! You have a fun and engaging sensory bin FILLED with summer vocabulary.
You can also place a sheet under the bin and use a shovel to move the fillers. Kinetic sand and a shovel would be perfect for this activity.
HANDS ON ACTIVITY
These Open Ended Mini Object Scenes include over 90 different scenes - and plenty of summer scenes! These scenes can be used year-round but many of them are perfect for summer. You can target pretty much any goal using this open ended scenes including:
plural 's - have the students request ONE or TWO of an item - remember the s!
speech sounds - choose items that have the child's speech sound in them.
spatial concepts - ask the student to put items in certain places.
following directions - use two scenes as a barrier task to make two identical scenes.
Camping Critter Clinic: Get ready to supercharge your speech therapy sessions with the amazing speech therapy toy companion - The Critter Clinic! Introducing the thrilling Camping Preschool Activity that will take your articulation, wh- questions, language processing, pronouns, concepts, and more to the next level! Engage your 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, kindergarteners, and even early elementary kids in this interactive speech therapy adventure. Ideal for mixed groups, centers, or individual sessions, this hands-on activity is a must-have. Don't miss out - click to explore it now!
HOMEWORK
Do you like sending homework for carryover?
I send these easy to reference handouts that cover speech and language in EVERYDAY summer activities. My favorite part of these is that all of the activities get kids moving - which is so important!
Activities include tag, going to the pool, going to the park, and playing in the sprinkler! You could even use these to help plan or supplement any home visits you do this summer!
Want to try a free sample? Grab "Move and Learn on A Walk".
I hope you found these activities helpful!
Remember - a few simple activities and a great set of visuals be used to target a huge variety of goals will make your life easier (and include way less prep time!).
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