Articulation Activities Speech Therapy Ideas

Articulation Activities Speech Therapy Ideas

Trying to get those 100+ trials during articulation therapy can be challenging! Student motivation and mixed therapy groups can make it tough to get high repetitions. I wrote this blog post to introduce new articulation activities for speech therapy sessions. It’s not just your kids that need new ways to practice speech sounds; you want to have FUN too. Keep reading if you need articulation ideas that will get high reps in a session!

Articulation Activities Speech Therapy Ideas

This DIY ZAP IT game is perfect for getting high repetitions.  My students stayed motivated the entire session.  Write different numbers on popsicle sticks (make sure you put some high numbers like 10 and 15).  Then, write zap a friend, zap 1, zap 2, etc.  Stick the popsicle sticks in a bucket and have students pick a stick. If they pick a 15, they get 15 points and must say their speech sound 15 times.  The person with the most points wins the game! HERE is a rule guide that you can print and reference during therapy.
For those days when you need to get a quick drill done for everyone in your mixed groups, the articulation therapy activities I turn to are my articulation flipbooks. You will have word, carrier phrase, and sentence-level activities that you can use during direct instruction or create an articulation station for independent work. Within 5 minutes or less, my students have gotten at least 100 trials and they LOVE the dry-erase marker (Amazon affiliate link.) Try my /l/ flipbook for FREE or consider using the No Print version to pull up on your iPad or for teletherapy. 

 Keep Hands Busy During Speech Sound Production Practice

One way to keep your students motivated to practice their speech sounds is using a DIY abacus. You can help your students to visually see how many productions they got as well! Check out this blog post for more information on how to make for your students. 

Adapting Games for Articulation Practice

The Race To 100 game is a great way to get 100 productions and keep the session energy up! Put my Race to 100 game card on a plastic protective sheet or laminate.  Grab a die (make your own with a wooden block to add high numbers like 8, 10, 12, 15) and start rolling!

Grab the free articulation game printable by clicking the pink button below!

You can also use the digital Race to 100 games from the digital speech folder activities to get those high trials in person or through teletherapy. When you create a digital speech folder, you can add various articulation activities for quick drills.
Find games like Uno to use during articulation therapy. Play the game as the rules intended, but whatever card the student lays down, that is how many times they have to practice their speech sound.  If the student gets a draw 4, make them practice 20 productions!  Get creative with your “speech rules” for practicing during this game.

You can use a Toss Across Game (amazon affiliate link included) to get high articulation repetitions. Use post-it notes to write numbers on the Xs and Os. When the student throws the bean bag and hits an X or O, they have to say their articulation sound that many times.

use the toss across game in speech therapy to adapt goals for students!

Articulation Therapy Crafts for High Trials

Articulation Foldable Wallet Books craftivity are a fun way to keep hands busy during the session.  Students can practice each word 5x, which makes 105 productions with this craftivity.  I love this activity because it can also be sent home for additional practice!  Try my final s-blends & l-blends wallet books for FREE. If you are looking for more high-trial articulation therapy crafts, check out this gumball craft and this paper plate paddle craft.
Back-To-School Speech Therapy Activities

Back-To-School Speech Therapy Activities

At the beginning of the new school year, doing a back-to-school-themed therapy unit is a way to reinforce school vocabulary and discuss concepts about school! Kids already have school on the brain, which helps to use therapy to build personal connections around going to school. If you are looking for engaging back-to-school speech therapy activities to cover your elementary caseload, you came to the right blog post!
This blog post has been completely updated with back-to-school-themed resources, toys, and materials as it was first published in 2015 and just got an upgrade in August 2022.
Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience. I receive a small commission when you use my link at no additional cost.

Back-To-School Themed Books for Speech

Prek-1st:

Lola Goes to School by Anna McQuinn
The Pigeon Has to Go to School by Mo Willems
I Got School Spirit by Connie Schofield-Morrison
The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes
The Pout Pout Fish Goes to School by Deborah Diesen

 

2nd-3rd:

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard
If You Take a Mouse to School by Felicia Bond

 

4th-5th:

Suki’s Kimono by Chieri Uegaki and Stephane Jorisch

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania of Jordan Al Abdullah

 

 

 

 

For more themed therapy ideas, check out this blog post to get a free themed therapy idea guide and planner! If you need Pout Pout Fish speech therapy activity ideas, this blog post has some great ones!

Need some help with planning back-to-school speech and language activities? Check out this blog post with links to books, toys, materials and more!

Back-To-School Speech Therapy Activities for Younger Students

Need some help with planning back-to-school speech and language activities? Check out this blog post with links to books, toys, materials and more!

No need to look further for back-to-school speech therapy activities for your preschool and early elementary students.

Check out the Themed Therapy SLP membership if you need activities with a back-to-school theme. You can have a toy guide, printables, Google Slides, open-ended activities, themed therapy cheat sheets, book cheat sheets, and no print materials to help you teach school vocabulary and concepts with your Prek-5th grade caseload. Sign up HERE.

For toys to use in play-based speech therapy sessions, check out some of these back-to-school toy sets (affiliate links are included):

Melissa and Doug School Bus Play Set

Melissa and Doug The Wheels on the Bus Sound Puzzle

Fisher-Price Little People Toddler School Bus or Battat School Bus

School Toy Play Sets to work on pretend play while talking about school vocabulary

 

To shop all the books, toys, games, and materials for a back-to-school theme, head to my Amazon Store Page

Back-To-School Picture Scenes

Materials that include picture scenes allow for practice with the themed vocabulary and are easy to adapt for many goals. You can use speech words for your student’s target sounds, building MLU and morphology, answering wh-questions, CORE words, story retelling, and describing.

Here are some picture scene materials that include a school theme:

Melissa and Doug Wooden Magnetic Matching Picture Game

 Hidden Pictures School Puzzles

Omazing kids has some school picture scenes

Check out this blog post for more ways to use picture scenes in speech therapy.

Need some help with planning back-to-school speech and language activities? Check out this blog post with links to books, toys, materials and more!

Back-To-School Speech and Language Activities That Are Digital

Need some help with planning back-to-school speech and language activities? Check out this blog post with links to books, toys, materials and more!

If you are on the hunt for digital activities that follow a back-to-school theme, here are some great materials to check out:

Back to School Vocabulary and Grammar Boom Cards

Grammar Challenge Boom Cards

Back to School Games from ABCYa

Search for school themed games on Baamboozle

Use back to school GIFS on Google Slides – check out this tutorial for how to add them, skip to around the 8 minute mark to see the step-by-step directions

Crafts for a Back-To-School Theme

Some engaging simple back-to-school crafts can be just what your mixed group or whole class lesson needs! You can work on functional goals or glue/write students speech or language targets on the back of the craft.

When you join the annual subscription for the Themed Therapy SLP membership, you get No Print Visual Craft Directions for each theme. For back-to-school, you get a pencil craft and a school bus.

There is also this FREE backpack craft that you can use to discuss your student’s speech and language goals. 

Need some help with planning back-to-school speech and language activities? Check out this blog post with links to books, toys, materials and more!

Language Activities to Teach School Vocabulary

Need some help with planning back-to-school speech and language activities? Check out this blog post with links to books, toys, materials and more!

If you are looking for language activities to support your back-to-school theme, check out the following resources:

Back to School Push-In Language Lesson Plan Guides
Back to School Vocabulary and Grammar Activities for K-2
Back to School Grammar Task Cards FREE version

Back to School Grammar Task Cards Full Version

Back to School Seasonal Flipbook FREE

 

Back to School Prek-5th Grade Unit – when you purchase an annual membership, you get access to all the themes at once. This is part of the August themed membership unit.

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