CYBER SALE! ➔
It can be challenging to think of new and exciting activities when working on the TH sound in articulation therapy. The sound occurs so frequently in our language, yet the words can feel tedious or boring to practice! From TH in isolation to TH in conversation, no therapist or student wants to repeat the word “the” or “Thumbs up!” 100 times in 1 session! Today, I’m sharing more than 20 TH sound speech therapy activities to help your students graduate!
This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
First, we’ll work on eliciting the /th/ sound isolation. Articulation carryover will go faster when you have a strong TH in isolation. Here are some of my favorite tools to do this:
When your students are doing TH articulation drill practice in syllables and words, try some of these tips:
It’s so important to get many repetitions in while keeping your students engaged. You can pair TH articulation words with your favorite speech therapy games to get those trials in. Having a word list prepared for sessions is so important and helpful for TH sound speech therapy. I either use the word lists from my TH wordlist flashcards or Home Speech Home lists for voiceless TH sound words and voiced TH sound words.
Another easy TH sound speech therapy activity is to make sound-loaded phrases with your students on paper that you can practice in the session and then take home for the weekly homework.
For example, you can use the phrases “I think ______ is the best.” or “My brother/mother/father saw a _____.” Then, students think of different words. They don’t have to have an TH sound because the word your student will be working on is “think” or “mother/father/brother.” When using mixed groups, give them a category group to name items.
Here are some more examples of TH sound loaded phrases:
If you do a theme-based approach, you can do this activity but use the theme’s vocabulary. See this IG for more details. We provide TH articulation cards and speech sound words for every theme in the Themed Therapy SLP membership.
It’s always good to have no prep TH articulation worksheets on hand to pull out for quick prep sessions, or for speech homework. Here are some of my favorite TH articulation worksheets to get high trials at the word and sentence level:
Games are a great way to keep kids motivated during TH sound speech therapy practice. When you’re planning a game for high drill practice, think of target sounds that are naturally embedded in the game. This will help you get “more bang for your buck,” (AKA more trials). For example, make predictions while playing games “I think I’ll get..,” “Thank you” when sharing game pieces or “This game is fun/intense/thrilling, etc” when playing. Once you complete the game, have the student practice their speech words while they put pieces of the game away.
For TH sound speech therapy games, here are some that have TH words embedded in the game:
Crafts are fun, engaging activities for kids practicing the TH sound at the syllable, word, sentence or conversation level. Students stay busy while getting maximal trials in. Plus, TH articulation crafts can easily be sent home for carryover support!
Play “Would You Rather…” when working on the TH sound with your students! Use your students’ speech sounds for questions or have them come up with their own questions! One person asks “Would you rather…” then everyone has to answer with the sentence starter “I would rather…” If you want to include some TH words in your questions, here are some examples:
With your TH sound words lists, have your students create tongue twisters that they can practice. You can even have them illustrate their tongue twister to make a fun speech soundbook. For example, you could use “Seth thought there were thirty panthers on South street” or “Beth threw thirteen thumbles when she heard the thunder.”
You can make alliteration TH poems and then students can draw their poem.
Play guessing games for secret words with only the TH sound using my free Mystery Word Google Slide template. Add in carrier phrases for people to use, like “I think the word is…” or “I’m going to need another clue.”
Last, but certainly not least, try these TH sound conversation activities.
There are so many TH articulation activities to help your students reach their goals with the TH sound in speech therapy! What activities do you like to use for TH speech therapy? Share with us on social media or in the comments.
