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In February, pulling out some Valentine’s Day articulation activities will create some new engagement for your students working on their speech sounds. I know having to prep lots of materials is time-consuming, so many of these ideas can be used as reinforcers or adapted for language goals, too! If you are looking for hands-on ideas, low-prep crafts, games, worksheets, and ways to work on carryover with a Valentine’s theme, you came to the right blog post.
These Valentine’s Day articulation activities are designed for speech-language pathologists working with preschool and elementary students who need engaging, meaningful ways to practice speech sounds. Whether you are implementing a traditional articulation approach or remediating phonological processes, these ideas make it easier to get high trials without adding extra prep to your workload.
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Using Valentine’s Day articulation activities as games or quick reinforcers is an easy way to boost motivation while still getting plenty of speech sound practice. These activities are designed to be low prep, flexible, and easy to rotate across groups, making them perfect for busy February therapy schedules. Whether you are using articulation flashcards or word lists, Valentine-themed ideas help keep students engaged without taking away from high trial counts. Many of these quick game activities can be set up in just a few minutes and used as a reinforcer at the end of a session or as part of structured articulation practice for both articulation and phonological goals.
Below are some of my favorite Valentine’s Day articulation games and quick reinforcers that work well for individual sessions, small groups, and mixed speech sound groups.
How it works:
Why SLPs will love this:
Roll & Say Valentine’s Day articulation games are a simple way to get high repetitions while keeping students motivated and focused on their speech sounds. These activities work especially well as quick reinforcers or structured articulation practice because students already understand the routine: roll, practice the target sound, then take an action on the game mat or BINGO board. You can use Roll & Say open-ended game mats from the Themed Therapy SLP Membership or pair articulation practice with Valentine-themed BINGO sheets to keep sessions feeling fresh throughout February.
To play, students roll the dice, practice their target sound using articulation flashcards or word lists, and then cover a space, mark a heart, or complete a simple task on the board. These Valentine’s Day articulation activities are easy to adapt for individual sessions, small groups, or mixed articulation groups.
Pro tip: use the same Roll & Say mat for different sounds by swapping out flashcards or word lists, making this an easy lesson plan option when you are working with multiple targets or limited prep time. Add in some festive heart trinkets to make it feel novel and new!
Peachie Speechie has a fun 100 trials Valentine’s Day mat that is perfect for any sound.
How it works:
Why it works for articulation and phonology:
Using magnetic wands with speech therapy flashcards is an easy way to make therapy feel novel without prepping a bunch of materials.
Easy Valentine’s Day articulation activities do not require complicated materials or lengthy prep. Simple, hands-on crafts can be powerful tools for targeting articulation and phonological processes because they naturally build in repetition, sequencing, and motivation. Crafts also work well for mixed groups, allowing you to differentiate speech sound targets while keeping all students engaged in the same activity. For my SLPs that are team NO CRAFTS, I may persuade you to do some crafts because I have some SUPER low-prep crafts that work for many goals.
Two of my favorite Valentine’s Day articulation crafts are quick to prep and easy to adapt for both articulation and phonology goals. The Love You to Pieces craft and the Love Bug craft are both free and work well for practicing speech sounds at the word, phrase, or sentence level. Students can say their target sound before adding each piece or bug part, making it easy to increase trials without it feeling like drill work.
You can find these Valentine’s Day speech therapy freebies in this post. They have been a staple for me over the years!
These crafts are especially helpful when working on any speech sound disorder approach because you just swithc out the word list or flashcard that follows each child’s approach.
If you are looking for a more structured option with built-in visual support, a 3D Valentine’s Day speech craft can help guide students through articulation practice while still keeping sessions fun and engaging. This type of craft works well for targeting specific speech sounds, including K, S, L, R, R-blends, S-blends, TH, and SH, and is ideal for students who benefit from clear expectations and step-by-step directions.
For a super simple Valentine’s Day articulation activity, hole-punched heart crafts from No Time for Flashcards are a great way to get high trial counts with minimal materials. Students punch a hole in a paper heart for every correct speech sound production, making progress easy to see and highly motivating. This activity is especially helpful for students who need more drill-based practice or visual feedback during articulation sessions.
When you need Valentine’s Day articulation activities that require zero prep, no-prep articulation worksheets can be a lifesaver. These worksheets work well for quick drill practiceor days when you need something ready to go without prepping a bunch of materials.
The book the Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond is a great book to use in your mixed groups. Now, you can use that book and pair it with these Valentine’s Day articulation worksheets for any speech sound. Plus, you don’t have to stress about prepping homework because there are half sheets included to send home with families.
Pro tips: Use some fun mini trinket hearts to add to the worksheet as students practice. Or, print out the sounds you treat most often and put in page protectors so you don’t have to make a bunch of extra copies each day. Just pull out the worksheet, and use with dry erase markers.
If worksheets aren’t the right fit for every student, sensory and play-based Valentine’s Day articulation activities offer another engaging way to practice speech sounds while keeping students motivated.
Sensory bins and play-based Valentine’s Day articulation activities are a great way to keep students engaged while practicing speech sounds in a more natural, motivating way. These activities work especially well for students who need movement, hands-on exploration, or a break from tabletop tasks. Sensory play can still support high articulation trials when paired with clear expectations and speech sound targets.
If you want a full list of Valentine’s Day sensory bin ideas, you can check out this post here.
Plastic heart containers from places like Dollar Tree, Oriental Trading, or Amazon are an easy, low-cost way to add Valentine’s Day articulation practice to sensory bins or tabletop play. Place numbers, mini flashcards (print your flashcards 4 or 6 to a page to make them mini), or mini trinkets inside each container. Students open a heart to reveal what they got and then practice their speech sound the corresponding number of times or using the revealed word.
This activity works well for articulation, phonology, and mixed groups because you can easily adjust the targets without changing the setup.
You can also use color-themed sensory bins as Valentine’s Day articulation activities by pairing them with a speech sound word list. Red, pink, and purple bins naturally fit the Valentine’s theme and allow students to practice sounds while scooping, sorting, or finding target words during play. Pro tip: jot down some carrier phrases or sound-loaded words that would naturally come up while playing with the color sensory bins for extra practice!
Mini Valentine mailboxes, often found at Target or Dollar Tree around Valentine’s Day, are a fun way to add play-based articulation practice to your sessions. Hide articulation flashcards, Valentine cards, or small trinkets inside each mailbox. Students open a mailbox, practice their target sound, and then move on to the next one.
Mailboxes also work well for a minimal pairs approach. Place one word from the minimal pair in each mailbox and have the student open both to decide which one contains their target sound. This keeps the activity playful while still supporting phonological awareness and sound contrasts. I have some minimal pair flashcards that you can use with the mailboxes on TPT and my website.
These Valentine’s Day sensory bins and play-based articulation activities are easy to adapt, low prep, and flexible enough to support a wide range of articulation and phonology goals during February therapy sessions.
Articulation carryover is an important part of helping students use their speech sounds beyond structured practice. Valentine’s Day articulation activities can easily be extended into reading and conversational tasks by embedding speech sound targets into language-based activities you may already be using. During shared reading, video discussions, or simple classroom conversations, students can practice their target sounds in sentences, retells, and open-ended responses, supporting generalization in a more natural context.
One easy way to build carryover is by reusing language activities and adding clear articulation expectations. For example, students can practice speech sounds while answering comprehension questions, describing pictures, explaining steps in a recipe, or sharing opinions during Valentine-themed discussions. You can also cue students to self-monitor their speech sounds during conversation, retells, or while explaining what they see or do. These strategies help students move from drill-based practice to more meaningful speech sound use across settings.
If you are looking for specific Valentine’s Day resources that support articulation carryover through reading, videos, websites, and cooking activities, you can find a full list of ideas in this post:
👉 Valentine’s Day Speech Therapy Activities for Reading, Conversation, and Carryover
https://thedabblingspeechie.com/2025/01/valentines-day-speech-therapy/
Valentine’s Day articulation activities can be playful, low prep, and meaningful when paired with strategies that support carryover, helping students use their speech sounds with more confidence in real communication.
