To plan therapy around a theme, you simply pick a topic or a book that you want to use in therapy. Then, you find books and activities that will support your theme. By using a theme, you can heavily target specific vocabulary used with that theme. Amazon affiliate links are included for your convenience.
Monster Books You Can Use in Speech Therapy
There are a ton of great monster-themed books. You can work on story retell, vocabulary, answering wh- questions, describing, grammar, and social skills using books. I listed some of my faves below and what target areas you can focus on.
The Color Monster by Anna Llenas is great for teaching emotions.
How to Catch a Monster by Adam Wallace can target vocabulary and story retell.
Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley is great for students working on simple vocabulary and language.
The Monster Who Lost His Mean by Tiffany Strelitz Haber can be used for social skills and also has opportunities to work on phonological awareness skills.
Monsters Love School by Mike Austin has a ton of unique verbs to target while reading the story.
Little Shop of Monsters by R.L.Stine has so many great adjectives and describing words to introduce to your students.
Build-A-Monster Speech Therapy App
Making your very own silly monster is very motivating for children! Your students will love creating their own monster using the Sago Mini Monsters App. This app is under $5, so it is affordable for you SLPs on a budget.
With this Mini Monsters app, you can target the following skills:
-Initiating requests and comments
-Working on describing skills
-Targeting verbs
– Practicing sequencing steps to make the monster
Watch a YouTube tutorial to see the monster app in action. How would you use this app in therapy? Let me know in the comments!
Target Following Directions and Prepositions with Silly Monsters
Have your students make their own monster puppets with the FREE monster puppet printables in my TPT store. Use popsicle sticks (Amazon affiliate links included) and tape to create fun monster therapy materials.
You can work on following directions and using prepositions with your monster puppets.
With your monster puppets, you can also work on has/have and “who” questions. Place the monsters on the table and put mini objects next to the monsters. Students can explain what each monster has with a grammatically correct sentences.
Ask your students “Who has ____?” or give clues about an item and have your students identify “who” has the item.
Reinforcer Games For Mixed Groups
When I have a group working on different goals, one way I keep the students engaged is by having a generic game to play in between turns.
If you want to use a monster theme in your mixed group, then you can use this roll and color monster game that is a FREE printable in my store. You just print the sheets and grab a die and the stimulus items your students need to work on in speech therapy. Whatever number the student rolls on the die is how many monsters they get to color. Whoever colors all of their monsters first wins!
Learning Resources has a Twist and Match Monsters game that is great to use as a reinforcer for any goal. You can have some fun describing the monsters as you play, too.
Make Monster Paper Bag Puppets
I saw this paper bag monster puppet idea on I Heart Crafty Things. I thought it would be perfect for my younger students. During the craft you can work on requesting, commenting and the basic concept “on.” Then, your students can use the puppets to work on pretend play, following directions, doing verb actions and more!
You just need paper bags (I found color bags on Amazon), construction paper, scissors, and glue. If you want to use googly eyes, Dollar Tree has packages or you can use these eye stickers that I found on Amazon.
Teach Word Opposites and Adjectives
Work on teaching adjectives with the feed the monster activity. Students can work on describing the items by adjectives, as well as work on verb tenses.
To get some movement going in your therapy room, tape the word opposite monsters around your room. Then, students use the checklist to find the word opposites that the monsters are chomping on. These activities will help your wiggly students stay focused. See the picture below for an example of this word opposite activity! It is all part of my Monster Push-In Language Lesson Plan Guides for K-2 students.
Need More Monster Speech Therapy Ideas?
In this blog post, I shared some other monster speech therapy ideas you can use with your students. My students especially loved making their own monsters with play dough!
What Monster Speech Therapy Materials Do You Use?
Do you have a fave monster speech therapy material you love to use with your students? I would love to know about it! You know I am all about adding new materials to my speech therapy stash. Let me know your favorite material in the comments.