Christmas Tree Craft for Speech Therapy

Christmas Tree Craft for Speech Therapy

by | Nov 19, 2022 | craftivities, Themed Speech Therapy, Uncategorized

In December, pulling out some festive activities with your speech therapy groups is fun. If your students celebrate Christmas and need mixed group holiday activities, you will love this Christmas tree craft for speech therapy. It’s easy to make and can be sent home as a functional decor that will remind your students to practice their speech and language skills.

If your students don’t celebrate Christmas, you can adapt this craft to be winter trees.

Amazon affiliate links are included in this blog post for your convenience. When you use my affiliate link, I earn a small commission.

Christmas Tree Craft Supplies You Need

Make mixed group planning easier in December with this Christmas tree craft for speech therapy!

To make this Christmas tree craft for speech therapy sessions, you will need the following supplies:

Cardstock (you can print on regular paper, but it will be a little lighter. For a sturdy tree, the cardstock works best)

Colored pencils or crayons

Dot markers (optional)

Scissors

Glue

String or ribbon if you want to put a hole punch and create an ornament

Christmas tree craft templates

Assembling the Christmas Tree Craft

To make your 3D Christmas tree craft, you must fold each tree in half with the ornament side touching each other. Then, you will add glue to one half of the Christmas tree and glue that to another half of a different tree. Once all sides of your tree are glued together, your Christmas tree craft can stand up independently.

Make mixed group planning easier in December with this Christmas tree craft for speech therapy!

How to Use the Christmas Tree Craft for Speech Therapy

When you print out the templates, you can either pre-cut the trees or have students do it.

Your students can practice their speech and language targets with the printouts in the first session and covering with magnetic chips or erasers on the stimulus items. For ideas using magnetic wands, this post has ideas for you!

Then, in the next session, have students color or use dot markers with their trees. As each child is coloring, you can work on their goals.

After everyone is finished coloring, you can help students assemble their crafts.

You can keep your Christmas trees in your room for warm-up practice or progress monitoring. Plus, you can send it home as homework for students to use for practice until Christmas!

Make a Speech Therapy Bulletin Board with Your Christmas Tree Craft

If you have a bulletin board area in the hallway or your room, you can glue their Christmas tree crafts to colorful construction paper and hang them on the wall.

Or, you can punch a hole at the top of the tree and tie string or ribbon to make an ornament that they can hang on their tree at home.

With the Christmas tree language templates, there are mini homework directions to send home to help parents know how to use the stimulus items at home.

Make mixed group planning easier in December with this Christmas tree craft for speech therapy!

Need more Themed Crafts to Use in Speech Therapy?

Make mixed group planning easier in December with this Christmas tree craft for speech therapy!

Using themed crafts can be a great way to switch things up in your mixed groups when you need a break from worksheets and flashcards.

And themed crafts can help you plan literacy-based lessons for small groups and co-teaching sessions. The Themed Therapy SLP membership provides low-prep-themed crafts and visual supports for those crafts. You can also check out these blog posts for more ideas:

 

Easy Christmas Crafts for Speech Therapy

Ideas for Winter Crafts to Use in Speech Therapy

Easy Summer Crafts for Speech Therapy

Spring Crafts for Speech Therapy

3 Easy Valentine’s Day Crafts for Speech Therapy

Speech Therapy Gift Guide for SLP Accessories

Speech Therapy Gift Guide for SLP Accessories

by | Nov 17, 2022 | SLP Accessories

Sometimes we need a speech therapy gift guide with SLP accessories to help us enjoy the job, right!?

In this blog post, I wanted to share a list of SLP accessories that would be nice to have during the workday.

You can send this speech therapy gift guide of SLP accessories to your spouse or family or use it for grad student gifts.

I put together a list of SLP accessories necessary to make the day brighter or help you stay organized.

*There are Amazon affiliate links and other affiliate links that I get a small commission at no additional cost to you.

 

Speech Therapy Gift Guide – SLP Accessories for the Car

On the hunt for a speech therapy gift guide for SLP accessories? This blog post has all the best ideas for stocking stuffers for SLPs

Most SLPs have a commute, and they bring LOTS of bags, at least I do!

One way to brighten your work commute is by having some fun audible books to listen to while driving.

Get your favorite SLP an audible subscription, so they don’t have to miss out on books because they are too tired to read in the evening.

We love having our cups for their beverages that fit in their console in the car. You can get this two-pack glass tumbler in various colors for iced tea, coffee, or electrolyte water. 

Grab these car hooks, so you can hang your bags nicely behind your seat instead of throwing them in your trunk.

A utility tote can help you carry all your stuff in one load. You can stick your lunch box, laptop bag, speech therapy materials, and water bottle inside!

Stocking Stuffers SLP Accessories for Coffee Lovers

On those days when just ONE coffee isn’t enough, it’s nice to have some yummy coffee beverages and accessories to make in your speech room.

Who hasn’t had their cup of coffee go cold because you ran to the copier before the bell rang and then forgot to drink it because your first group arrived?

If this is you, you need this coffee warmer for your office!

Add in a tea kettle, instant coffee, and some chagaccino, and that’s quite the stocking stuffer collection.

Chagaccino is a coffee booster that tastes yummy, and sugar-free, and is a superfood mushroom powder that boosts your immunity and helps your brain function. Use DRINK UP at checkout for 10% off your order. 

On the hunt for a speech therapy gift guide for SLP accessories? This blog post has all the best ideas for stocking stuffers for SLPs

SLP Accessories for Your Devices

Many SLPs use their smartphones and iPads or have workstations for their computers. Here are some cool tech SLP accessories that you might love:

Cord organizer for your desk, car, or home

Leather desk mat/mouse pad

A portable Monitor is a game changer when you want to have two screens for teletherapy when doing paperwork and need to see two tabs simultaneously.  

Kids touch our screens all the time, so having a screen cleaner with a wiper is excellent!

Use an iPad/iPhone stand holder to help your posture when texting, and have your hands free when using the iPad with students.

Small portable phone chargers are great because we often sit in meetings and need our phones to stay charged all day. 

Save Over 70% with the SLP Winter Survival Kit

Suppose you are in survival mode and need help planning a winter theme for your elementary caseload. In that case, you can get a kit of winter-themed resources for over 70% off during the extended Black Friday sale from November 21st-December 3rd. You can get $100 worth of speech therapy materials for only $29. It will help you save time, reduce stress, and bring back joy to your therapy sessions. Grab it HERE.

What SLP Accessory Would You Add?

Do you have something you use at work that you love? Share in the comments something to add to the speech therapy gift guide for SLP accessories! If you are on the hunt for some toy ideas, check out this blog post. You can also find some great sensory toys and tools on this blog post. 

4 Squirrel Toys You Need for Speech Therapy

4 Squirrel Toys You Need for Speech Therapy

by | Nov 10, 2022 | Play-Based Therapy, Themed Speech Therapy, Uncategorized

You are seriously missing out if you still need to plan a squirrel theme for your elementary caseload. Squirrels are the funniest creatures, and kids love talking about them.

This theme allows you to ditch your worksheets and easily target speech and language goals with toys and props. This blog post will teach you about four squirrel toys for speech therapy.

This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links which means when you use the link to purchase an item, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Squirrel Toys Speech Therapy Must-Haves

Squirrel toy props for your speech therapy sessions that will increase engagement with your students!

Not only is the game Sneaky Snacky Squirrel for targeting speech sound goals, but it also has fabulous game pieces to add to sensory bins. In particular, this game is excellent for targeting s-blends. You can see all my favorite games for s-blends HERE.

The game itself provides opportunities for teaching colors, turn-taking, functional communication, commenting, and verb actions.

Plus, you can use the acorns to teach more, less, all, none, and for pretend play with squirrel figurines.

If you need a toy companion cheat sheet for this game, head to my store to snag the resource that gives you 45 cheat sheets for your most used toys and games.

Want to see how you can use a toy cheat sheet for your therapy groups? Try the bubbles toy cheat sheet for free in this blog post. 

Squirrel Dog Toys for Teaching Language Skills

One of my go-to places to find themed props is the dog section in stores or on Amazon.

There are always seasonal toys that can be used for your pretend play activities. Hands down, one of my favorite finds is the squirrel log dog toy.

You can target basic concepts, verb actions, answer yes/no questions, and grammar concepts, and hide other items inside the log. Put your acorns inside from sneaky snacky squirrel to work on plurals grammar markers, verbs (i.e., gather, find, carry, collect), and wh-questions.

For more ideas on where to find themed props, head to this blog post.

Squirrel toys speech therapy must-haves that will bring your sessions to life!

Join the Themed Therapy SLP Membership

If you are on the struggle bus with planning themed therapy for your Prek-5th grade caseload, let me take that off your plate!

You can use various printable and digital materials to plan a themed therapy unit without stress. When you join the annual membership, you can access over 24 themed units at once, like the squirrel theme!

Get the support you need to serve your students well.

Squirrel toys speech therapy must-haves that will bring your sessions to life!
Squirrel toys speech therapy must-haves that will bring your sessions to life!
Squirrel toys speech therapy must-haves that will bring your sessions to life!
Squirrel toys speech therapy must-haves that will bring your sessions to life!

Squirrel Figurines for Pretend Play and Sensory Bins

Squirrel toys speech therapy must-haves that will bring your sessions to life!

Another unexpected place to find mini-themed figurines is cake decorating store sections. I found these squirrel figurines on Amazon and knew they would be perfect for a sensory bin and play sets. If you own a treehouse toy or play house, check out how to make a squirrel takeover for play-based speech therapy in this blog post.

Squirrel Toy Speech Therapy Must-Have for High Trials

When working on speech sound goals, you always need props or activities that help make practice trials more fun. Use this squirrel ball popper to hit acorns with points you draw on the whiteboard. You can have students earn the balls after practicing their words several times. Set the flashcards for your language goals and have students try to hit a flashcard to practice.

Squirrel toys speech therapy must-haves that will bring your sessions to life!

What Squirrel Toys Have You Found for Your Caseload?

Squirrel toys speech therapy must-haves that will bring your sessions to life!

Have you found any fun squirrel toys you use with your elementary caseload? If so, share your finds in the comments of the blog post. For more squirrel lesson plan ideas, head to this blog post.

Thanksgiving Placemat Craft for Speech

Thanksgiving Placemat Craft for Speech

by | Nov 6, 2022 | craftivities, Uncategorized

It’s November, so it’s time to make a Thanksgiving placemat craft speech therapy style!

Feeling the weight of all those assessments and IEPs, you have to write? I know November can be bananas with paperwork.

When you are overloaded, that usually means NO extra time to plan for therapy sessions.

So, I have a Thanksgiving Placemat Craft speech therapy style you can use with your mixed groups!

Don’t worry; this craft is LOW prep, easily adaptable for LOTS of goals, and something you can send home as homework.

Thanksgiving Placemat Craft Speech Therapy Style!

Easy low prep Thanksgiving placemat craft speech therapy style to use with your mixed groups!
Click Here to Get Your Free Thanksgiving Placemat Craft

To make your Thanksgiving placemat craft, here is what you need:

If you want word lists for a Thanksgiving theme organized by sounds, we have those in the Themed Therapy SLP membership for November.

In the free download, there are a variety of templates so that you can use this craft with lots of goals.

For example,  you can work on naming foods, writing about thankfulness, or gluing words on the plate.

You can grab the full version of this craft in my TPT store if you want ready-to-go templates for different speech and language sounds.

Tips for How to Use Your Craft For More Sessions

After your students finish their crafts, you can laminate them to send home as homework for the Thanksgiving break. Your students can have it at their dinner table to remember to practice their speech or language targets.

Another way to extend the use of this craft is to keep them as warm-ups for collecting data or quick drill. 

Click Here to Get Your Free Thanksgiving Placemat Craft
Easy low prep Thanksgiving placemat craft speech therapy style to use with your mixed groups!

Love Using Crafts in Your Speech Therapy Sessions?

Easy low prep Thanksgiving placemat craft speech therapy style to use with your mixed groups!

If you need some more craft ideas to pair with your fall-themed units, check out this blog post. One of my FAVE crafts to use with most of my caseload is the windsock craft. Check out more about that craft HERE. 

Click Here to Get Your Free Thanksgiving Placemat Craft
Squirrel Play-Based Speech Therapy Idea!

Squirrel Play-Based Speech Therapy Idea!

by | Nov 4, 2022 | Play-Based Therapy, Themed Speech Therapy, Uncategorized

One of the MOST fun themes ever includes squirrels! During the fall season, your students will see squirrels scampering about, darting, and scurrying around outside anywhere there are trees or plants.

They are some of the silliest creatures to watch, so why not incorporate squirrels into your play-based speech therapy sessions?

I want to share a fun squirrel play-based speech therapy activity that you can pair with your favorite squirrel book!

Many of my sessions are structured with a book and then a play-based activity to allow for direct teaching, incorporating literacy, and allowing the child to explore concepts while playing.

You will find Amazon affiliate links for your convenience in this blog post. When you use these links, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

What You Need For The Squirrel Play-Based Speech Therapy Activity

Change things up in your traditional speech therapy sessions by using this squirrel play-based speech therapy activity!

To have your squirrel take over, you need any toy set, but the one that would be best is the treehouse toy set from Fisher-Price. You can also use this fun treehouse from Calico Critters or Li’l Woodzeez. 

You need these mini squirrel figurines, and if you want verb and vocabulary flashcards related to squirrels, you can find those in the Themed Therapy SLP membership. The squirrel theme is part of the September month, but when you get an annual subscription, you have access to all the themes throughout the year, so you can pick the theme you need for your caseload!

Goals to Target with the Squirrel Play Therapy Activity

You can hide different verb and vocabulary flashcards throughout the play set when doing your squirrel takeaway.

Have your squirrels gather all the cards that are hidden around the set. As your student’s squirrels find cards, you can target speech and language goals.

You can also work on verb actions for the squirrels, target pretend play schemes such as preparing for winter, or work on basic concepts with the squirrels.

With your students working on speech sounds, give them words to practice related to squirrels that have their sounds. Or, have some sound-loaded phrases to use while playing.

Change things up in your traditional speech therapy sessions by using this squirrel play-based speech therapy activity!

For example, if you are working on s-blends, you can naturally target scamper, scurry, squirrel or snack. For students working on /l/, you can have them say “look” every time they find a squirrel or flashcard.

Or, if the squirrels are searching for acorns and nuts, they can “munch” or “chew.”

How would you use this squirrel-themed play-based speech therapy activity to cover goals on your caseload?

Need more Squirrel Speech Therapy Ideas?

Change things up in your traditional speech therapy sessions by using this squirrel play-based speech therapy activity!

If you are sold on using a squirrel theme with your entire caseload, you need to check out this blog post for more ideas!

This is a very underrated theme because every time I use it, kids LOVE it. To help you rock a squirrel theme longer than a week, check out this squirrel language lesson plan guide in my store!

You can also find a sneaky snacky squirrel toy cheat sheet in this resource. 

5 Fall Language Therapy Activities for SLPs

5 Fall Language Therapy Activities for SLPs

by | Nov 2, 2022 | Themed Speech Therapy

When implementing a theme-based approach, you want to ensure your speech therapy materials and activities include the theme’s vocabulary.

That’s why today, in this blog post, I will share 5 Fall language activities you can do that incorporate fall-themed vocabulary words and concepts.

Mixed Group Fall Language Therapy Activity

Learn about 5 fall language therapy activities you can use with your mixed groups in this blog post.

Sequencing with fall activities is a great way to work on various language goals.

You can cover grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, description, and more! This research article found that when therapy focused on a broad range of language skills, students reading comprehension improved.

Working on sequencing the steps for raking leaves, carving a pumpkin, making an apple pie, or a squirrel collecting acorns for the winter, you can work on lots of different language concepts.

You can even show your students YouTube videos with the process for these fall activities. And, if you want digital Boom Cards to work on fall sequencing, check out these different fall-themed sets in my TPT store.

Lervåg, A. , Hulme, C. and Melby‐Lervåg, M. (2017). Unpicking the developmental relationship between oral language skills and reading comprehension: It’s simple, but complex. Child Development. Advance online publication. doi:10.1111/cdev.12861

Work on Comparing and Contrasting with Fall Vocabulary

If you ask classroom teachers what skills they are working on in language arts, one skill that they often share they are teaching is comparison.

Teaching your students how to feature match to find similarities and differences will help them analyze characters from stories and similar items.

You can work on the compare/contrast skill using fall-themed vocabulary. Check out the word lists at Words To Use for some ideas. If you want to avoid thinking of similar items, grab these compare/contrast cards for fall in my TPT store.

Want a free graphic organizer for comparing and contrasting? Grab this one in my store!

Learn about 5 fall language therapy activities you can use with your mixed groups in this blog post.

Use Fall Photos to Build Inferencing Skills

Learn about 5 fall language therapy activities you can use with your mixed groups in this blog post.

You can cover many language goals using real photos from a theme, so why not use fall-related images to target inferencing skills?

One of the main benefits of a theme-based approach is that while you are working on the theme’s concepts, you can build background knowledge simultaneously.

While asking your student’s inferencing questions, you can also help build schema around the fall season. To find fall-themed photos, you can use Pixabay, Google Photos (don’t post this on the internet because you could be violating copyright), or any free, open-source photo site. But, if you want to save time, you can use the fall inferencing photos ready to go with questions and thought bubbles. 

Teach Comprehension With Short Stories

Often we have students on our caseloads with various language needs who struggle with comprehension because vocabulary and syntax are significant areas of need. On top of that, retaining all the components of a story can be difficult if the text is long.

So, I like having short stories to help break down the wh-questions, help build vocabulary, and work on retelling while also targeting syntax.

To help me follow a theme-based approach, I have made fall-themed short stories with fall concepts embedded in the story.

You can find my scaffolded fall short stories in my Themed Therapy SLP membership and the fall sequencing short stories. If you are still deciding whether to try out the membership, I also have a set of fall-scaffolded short stories in my TPT store.

Build Vocabulary with Fall Sensory Bins

Making a fall-themed sensory bin can be a great way to reinforce vocabulary while keeping your students engaged during the session.

A typical therapy plan for me is using a fall-themed book and pairing it with a sensory bin.

You can provide direct teaching with the book and allow the child to explore and use the fall sensory bin to target goals. If you need a fall-themed sensory bin companion, I have this set in my store!

Plus, I have sensory bin cheat sheets in the Themed Therapy SLP membership. For more fall-themed sensory bin ideas, check out this post.

What Fall Language Activities Do You Plan With Your Students?

Do you have any fall language activities that are a big hit with your students? How do you plan for your language goals using a fall theme? Share any books, websites, or resources you use for your speech therapy sessions in the comments. For more fall-themed therapy ideas, check out these blog posts.

 

Easy Fall File Folders for Language

Easy Fall File Folders for Language

by | Oct 28, 2022 | Therapy Materials, Uncategorized

One way to keep your students engaged in your speech therapy sessions is to use interactive materials.

Making your fall file folders for language goals can be an easy way to plan for various goals.

And, once you prep the file folder, it’s easy to store in your bag, a filing cabinet, or a book shelf holder.

Today, I will share four easy fall file folders for language that you can pair with your favorite books.

Amazon affiliate links are included in this blog post, where I earn a small commission for using the link.

How to Make Your Fall File Folders for Language

Check out these fun fall file folders for language therapy to help you cover a LOT of different goals with one activity.

You can make DIY file folders using a file folder, printables, and lamination sheets.

First, you want to glue the printables that will be the activity’s base onto the file folder. The bottom printable will not move and require you to laminate the file folder.

If you have a school laminator, you can run your file folder through that. You must run your file folder through twice with two laminating sheets when using your laminator.

Ensure your laminator can fit a file folder because it measures a little wider than paper.

My Swingline laminator is wide enough to fit file folders.

Whatever pieces you want to move or place on the central part of the activity must be laminated and attached with Aleene’s Tack It or Velcro dots.

Fall Seasonal Clothing File Folder for Language

Using this Dress Me Seasonal Clothing file activity is a great way to work on categories for clothing, body parts, and weather.

You can build vocabulary with categories but also work on functional communication, describing by the colors of the clothing, building MLU, sequencing, and CORE words.

Grab this resource HERE.

Check out these fun fall file folders for language therapy to help you cover a LOT of different goals with one activity.

Monster and Jack O’ Lantern File Folder Language Activities

During October, it’s fun to use a monster theme or books that reference Jack O’Lanterns in your sessions.

One of my favorite books with a jack-o-lantern is the book, The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams.

After you read a book, your students can design their jack-o-lantern or monster.

Using interactive file folders is highly motivating because they control how to make their monster or jack-o-lantern, and you can get a lot of excellent language practice!

If you need these two file folders, they are in the monster push-in language lesson plans and the pumpkin push-in language lesson plans.

For more monster-themed ideas, check out these posts.

Check out these fun fall file folders for language therapy to help you cover a LOT of different goals with one activity.

Dress a Turkey File Folder Activity

Having a dress-a-turkey file folder activity can be fun to pair with your turkey-themed books!

You can work on the clothing category, describing by color, building sentences, explaining how they dressed the turkey, and answering yes/no questions.

If you need this file folder activity, it is in the turkey push-in language lesson plan guides.

For more turkey-themed activity ideas, check out this blog post.

If you are struggling with making worksheets engaging for your students, one way to make worksheets interactive is by turning them into file folder activities. You can read more about how to do that in this blog post.

How would you use these file folder activities to target goals with your students? Share in the comments. 

Easy Spider Speech Therapy Sensory Bins

Easy Spider Speech Therapy Sensory Bins

by | Oct 16, 2022 | sensory bins, Uncategorized

Are you planning a spider speech therapy unit and need some hands-on ideas for your sessions? Check out these two easy spider speech therapy sensory bins to use with your elementary speech therapy caseload.

If you plan it right, you can find many spider elements at Dollar Tree or Walmart during the Halloween season for a steal of a deal!

Fillers and Materials for Your Spider Sensory Bin

Easy spider speech therapy sensory bin ideas to use with your mixed groups!

Here is a list of items you need to make your bin (Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience):

  • Painter’s tape
  • Various sized spiders
  • Purple glitter spiders are from Dollar Tree, and the smaller spiders you can get on Amazon.
  • The fake webs can be found at Dollar Tree or Amazon.
  • You can add insects into the bin to talk about what the spider caught. There are a variety of mini insect sets on Amazon. 
  • Hand scoopers were from an insect kit from Dollar Tree, but you can also find scoopers on Amazon.

Themed Therapy SLP Membership has a Spider Unit

Do you love themed therapy but don’t have the energy or time to plan all the activities for your Prek-5th grade caseload? You can now enjoy your themed therapy while letting someone else take lesson planning off your plate. The Themed Therapy SLP membership provides the following:

  • Book cheat sheets.
  • Hands-on activities.
  • Google Slides.
  • No Print activities.
  • Task Cards.
  • Open-ended activities.
  • Reading passages for your elementary caseload.

Sign up for the annual and access over 24 themed units at once, including this spider theme! This spider unit is part of the October themes.

Spider Speech Therapy Sensory Bin – What Did the Spider Catch?

With this first spider speech therapy sensory bin, you can add the webs as your filler. You can throw in some mini insects and play “What did the spider catch in their web?” 

If you have mini objects, you can also throw those in the bin. Your students can hunt for mini objects that the spider caught that have their target sound!

With this activity, you can work on the following goals:

 

  • “What” questions
  • Discuss the process for how spiders catch their prey, focusing on the vocabulary spin, prey, catch, wrap, suck, cover, strand, poke, fangs, venom, inject
  • Describe the insects or items by attributes
  • Target sentence structures and MLU such as “I found ____” or “The spider caught _______.”

You can see this bin in action on Instagram.

Spider Speech Therapy Sensory Bin to Teach Vocabulary

I spotted this balance spider web sensory bin from Happy Toddler Playtime and knew there are a lot of ways to use this sensory bin in your speech therapy sessions. 

First, you put painter’s tape across the top of the bin. Then, have your students try putting spiders on the tape to balance the web strand.

To make this sensory bin more versatile, find different-sized spiders or types of spiders to use with the activity. By having different sizes, you can target big and little.

With your older students, you can demonstrate the tier II vocabulary of balance, tumble, carefully, sticky, and any other vocabulary you can think of to use with this spider activity!

Your students can earn spiders after each speech sound production and then see how many spiders they can place on the web before one topples off the web.

 

How Could You Use These Spider Sensory Bins With Your Student?

What other speech and language goals can you target with these spider sensory bins? One of the BEST ways to learn how to adapt materials is to ask SLPs to give ideas. If you can expand one of these sensory bins for specific goals, share your thoughts in the comments.

Easy spider speech therapy sensory bins to use with your mixed groups!
Feed the Monster Prop for Speech Therapy

Feed the Monster Prop for Speech Therapy

by | Oct 9, 2022 | DIY materials, Uncategorized

The ONE thing you need for your monster theme is a feed-the-monster prop! By having an easy-to-adapt-themed therapy prop, you can increase your sessions’ engagement without reinventing the wheel for activities in each mixed group session. Plus, this DIY feed the monster-themed prop is cost-effective to make! If you want to know where you can find more themed props, check out this blog post. 

Supplies You Need To Make Your Feed the Monster

Amazon affiliate links are included in this blog post. Here are the supplies you need to make your Monster:

Mini trashcan – I found one at Dollar Tree before, but if they don’t have one, you can get this set on Amazon.

I have also found this one, or the container store has a mini trashcan.

Googly eyes – There are usually googly eyes at Dollar Tree, but you can also find these on Amazon or any craft store.

Pom pom balls and pipe cleaners

Hot glue gun

Open Ended Activity Idea With Your Feed the Monster Prop

Get some eyeball ping pong balls from Dollar Tree during the Halloween season and use them to feed the monster. After every turn for any speech or language goal, your students can feed the monster an eyeball. You can also feed your monster mini trinkets or put cut-up index cards face down with numbers written on them. Then, you can have your student pick a card at each turn, and they get to feed the monster that number of eyeballs or earn that amount of points. I am sure if you have smaller play food, you could also feed that to your monster! Check out the visual sentence strips in my store to get high trials at the word or sentence level. They have sound-loaded carrier phrases to help get lots of trials.

All the BEST tips for how to use a DIY feed the monster prop in speech therapy!

Themed Therapy Monster Language Activities for Push-In

If you work with prek-2nd grade students and need some monster-themed language activities for small groups and push-in therapy, this monster lesson plan guide will save you time and stress! Plus, your students will dig into all the activities and not know they are working hard to build their language skills. 

Tips for Adapting This Themed Therapy Prop in Speech Therapy

All the BEST tips for how to use a DIY feed the monster prop in speech therapy!

The beauty of this monster prop is that you can feed him ANY flashcards you have on hand. It’s the best mixed group activity. Each child in your group can have their cards to feed the monster. If you are looking for Halloween-specific cards, there is a set in my TPT store using Halloween vocabulary to target grammar and language goals with grammar flashcards.

You can also give your monster food items and then discuss the item by adjectives such as sweet, sour, hot, cold, etc. In the monster push-in lesson plan guides there are flashcards and sentence strips for this activity.

For your students using AAC to communicate, there are a LOT of CORE words you can target while using the monster prop. While using the eyeballs, mini trinkets, small play food, or flashcards, here are some ideas for CORE words to target:

“what” – ask “what did the monster eat?”

“put” and “in/out” – while putting the eyeballs or items in and out of the monster’s mouth

“eat” and “like/don’t like” – to talk about what the monster is eating and if he liked it or not

“more” and “all done” – to feed the monster more or have him say he is all done with eating.

What CORE words would you use during this activity? Share in the comments.

If you need some low-tech AAC flipbooks and visuals, check out this resource. 

How Would You Use this Monster Prop in Therapy?

Let’s share some other fun ways you would use this monster prop in therapy! Drop your ideas in the comments!

For more monster-themed therapy ideas, check out these blog posts:

Digital Monster Activities for Teletherapy

Monster Sensory Bin for Speech Therapy

Check out this blog post for monster-themed activities that are FUN

Monster Activities for Speech Therapy

All the BEST tips for how to use a DIY feed the monster prop in speech therapy!
Leaves Preschool Activities – Hands on Ideas for SLPs

Leaves Preschool Activities – Hands on Ideas for SLPs

by | Oct 8, 2022 | Play-Based Therapy, Themed Speech Therapy, Uncategorized

Working with preschool-aged students who need some engaging leaves preschool activities?

Well, you came to the right blog post!

When working with the younger crew, we want to find ways to spark their curiosity, and most often, that means ditching the traditional drill tasks and pulling out hands-on activities.

DIY Falling Leaves Hands-On Activity

Easy leaves preschool activities to use in your play-based speech therapy sessions!

To work on labeling the colors of the trees and the essential concept word pair on and off, make this DIY falling leaves hands-on activity. Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience.

You need the following supplies:

Colored cardstock
Jumbo popsicle sticks
Velcro dots
Fall colored pom pom balls
Pincher tool (optional)
Styrofoam square (get from packaging, or you can order some here.)

Your students can work on putting leaves on and taking them off and target the verbs put, fall, drop, pick, and gather. Naturally, use this to get high trials by having your students practice their speech targets for each pom pom ball they put on or take off the tree.

How would you use this DIY leaves activity? Share in the comments of the blog post.

Leaves Preschool Activities for Pretend Play

You can create a dramatic play activity for kids to pretend to pick up fallen leaves off the ground. Buy fake leaves, a basket or container, and a plastic rake. Your students can work on sequencing the steps for raking the leaves, targeted verbs, vocabulary, and answering “who” questions. For example, you can have students take turns raking leaves and ask, “Who has the rake?” 

Leaves preschool activities that will keep your students engaged during your speech therapy sessions.
Leaves preschool activities that will keep your students engaged during your speech therapy sessions.

Here is a list of other variations to do with the leaf raking activity:

 

  • Have a race to see how long it takes to rake the leaves
  • Throw some leaves in the air and see how many they can catch with a basket. The number of leaves is the number of words the child has to practice.
  • Teach students vocabulary such as collect, toss, pile, pick, dump, fall, gather, carry, drag, scoop
  • Add painter’s tape or a blanket on the ground. Have your students try to rake the leaves onto the blanket. When all the leaves are on the blanket, they can try to fold the blanket and then dump the leaves into a container. You can problem solve if leaves fall out or if the blanket is too big, how to ask for help. 

Movement Activity With Leaves

Cut up colored construction paper into the form of a leaf. You can put different numbers, directions, verbs, or any speech or language target. Hide the leaves around your room. Tell your students that leaves have fallen off the tree around your room. Carry a container while students find the leaves. You can work on basic concept clues, and then when they see the leaf, they can practice their speech sound the number on the leaf.

What Leaves Preschool Activities Do You Use With Your Students?

If you have any fun leaves preschool activities you do in your speech therapy sessions, share them in the comments. If you need more fall-themed therapy ideas, check out these blog posts:

Preschool Leaf Lesson Plan for Co-Teaching

Engaging Fall Themed Speech and Language Activities

Fall Sensory Bin Ideas to Make Therapy Fun!

10 Fall Themed Sensory Bin Fillers

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