We all need more Valentine’s Day speech therapy activities to help us plan engaging speech therapy sessions! Valentine’s day is a fun, easy theme you can use in February. I feel lackluster with planning therapy by February, and you might also be in a creative funk. So, I put together the ultimate list of speech and language activities you can do with a Valentine’s Day theme!
Amazon affiliate links are provided throughout this blog post to help you find the materials you need! I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Valentine’s Day Books for Preschoolers to 5th Grade
If you are looking for books to use with your literacy-based speech therapy sessions, here are some of my recommendations:
- Love Monster by Rachel Bright – ages Prek-2nd
- Day it Rained Hearts: A Valentine’s Day Book For Kids by Felicia Bond – ages Prek-2nd
- There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose by Lucille Colandro – ages Prek-2nd
- Hedgehugs by Steve Wilson – ages Prek-1st
- The Night Before Valentine’s Day by Natasha Wing – ages K-3rd
- A Crankenstein Valentine by Samantha Berger – ages K-3rd
- The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll – ages K-3rd
- Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli – ages 3rd-6th grade
- Valentine’s Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg – ages 3rd-5th grade
You and find book cheat sheets for Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch, Love Monster, and Day it Rained Hearts in the themed therapy SLP membership.
For visuals to support story retell and comprehension of the old lady who swallowed a rose, check out this resource.
Sweet Southern Speech also has some great Valentine’s Day book recommendations to use with your caseload.
Valentine’s Day Speech Therapy Craft Ideas
Having some easy-to-prep Valentine’s day crafts for speech therapy can make it easy to plan for mixed groups.
One of my FAVE crafts to do for Valentine’s Day is the Love You to Pieces craft. It’s so easy to adapt to speech and language goals. Grab the free template HERE.
HERE, you can read more about how to use this craft to cover your caseload needs. You can see how to pair an easy Love Monster craft with the book Love Monster by Rachel Bright. And you can also make a heart wreath that would go perfectly with the book Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond.
Use the free love bug craft with dot markers, mini erasers, magnetic chips, or markers. It pairs well with any goal!
If you are using Valentine’s Day to focus on kindness, you can make these acts of kindness craft wallets in your sessions or co-teaching lessons. The template for these crafts is in the friendship-themed unit in the Themed Therapy SLP membership. Check out the membership HERE. In the Themed Therapy SLP membership, you also get NO PRINT visual supports for the steps on how to make the crafts. Check out this blog post from Speech Room News for more Valentine’s day craft ideas.
Valentines Speech Therapy Activities for Younger Students
One of the best ways to plan for your prek-2nd grade caseload is to have a variety of activities that you can adapt for different goals. Using sensory bins is one way to do this in your sessions. Check out this blog post for Valentine’s Day themed sensory bins. You can also see some of my sensory bins on Instagram.
To work on teaching the vocabulary about Valentine’s Day, you can use the free describing posters and visual supports in this free material. You can target various grammar goals using Valentine’s day themed verbs. Click the pink button to download!
Planning your push-in lessons is way easier with the station Valentine’s activities included, parent newsletter, Google Slides, lesson plan cheat sheets, and book recommendations. Check out the resource here.
For more digital activities that you can use in teletherapy, check out this post by Speech Sprouts.
Valentine’s Day Activities for Older Students
Finding engaging Valentine’s Day materials for older students can be tricky! This age group can be hard to please, but once you find something they approve of, you get them hooked coming to speech.
I use the Valentine’s Day free challenge activity to sneak in lots of practice with vocabulary and complex sentence practice. Because it has a game vibe to the activity, kids get into it. Hit the pink button to download the printable and Google Slide versions.
You can use a TON of love and friendship idioms for figurative language goals in therapy. You can have an extensive list and heart match-ups in the friendship-themed unit in the Themed Therapy SLP membership.
Another perspective-taking activity you can do is a Valentine’s Day cookie decorating lesson. Check out the blog post here.
To get some more ideas for Valentine’s Day with upper elementary and middle school, check out the Pedi Speechie’s blog post. You will love the pictures in the post!
Valentine’s Day Reading Passages
When you use a theme-based approach, it’s crucial to use materials that focus on the vocabulary and concepts for that theme. An excellent way to get increased exposure to Valentine’s day themed language is by using non-fiction reading passages.
The Themed Therapy SLP membership contains non-fiction passages for a friendship theme.
The other places you can look for great reading passages are Wonderopolis.org and Readworks.org.
Here is a list of passages that might work for your students:
YouTube Videos for Valentine’s Day Speech Therapy Activities
Managing a high caseload means no prep time. On those days when you need practical sessions that are under 5 minutes to prep, you gotta use these Valentine’s videos for your mixed groups. Science videos focusing on Valentine’s Day are great for sneaking in lots of speech and language practice. Mystery Doug is one of my favorites! You can sign up for a membership (it might still be free), including videos and easy science experiments. You can use these for your small groups, making great co-teaching lessons.
Here is a list of some great videos:
How Does Your Heart Pump Blood?
Where Does Chocolate Come From?
You must check out the Valentine’s Day Simon’s Cat videos to work on perspective taking, story retelling, summarizing, and other speech and language goals.
I like this video for some wordless shorts to use for this theme. In the friendship-themed unit in the themed therapy SLP membership, you get a Google Slide with links to songs, books, and videos for your Prek-5th caseload.
Visual Cooking Recipes for Valentines
Incorporating cooking and preparing snacks can skyrocket your engagement in your sessions. Cooking can be especially effective when doing push-in with your self-contained classrooms. You can easily incorporate a themed book that pairs with the treat or snack. Check out the visual recipes from Live Love Speech. You can make this free Valentine’s Day S’mores treat, yum! They come with directions and all the necessary visuals to support speech and language goals.
Working with upper elementary students, you can also incorporate science cooking videos to explain how certain treats are made. Check out this list of videos that have a Valentine’s Day theme:
Where Does Chocolate Come From?
What Valentine’s Day Activities Do You Use with Your Caseload?
If you have a fun activity that you use with your elementary speech therapy caseload, share in the comments or tag me on social media @thedabblingspeechie
What a great list! Thanks for putting this together, can’t wait to go check ’em out!
Thanks – I downloaded two of your craftivities. I plan on using your candy jar one with the EET colours to make different coloured candies – thanks so much for sharing those freebies!
I know this list must have taken you a while to put together. Thanks so much! Looking forward to moving out of January!
This has to take you a long time to put together! Thank you!