Top Summer Speech Therapy Ideas

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Who doesn’t LOVE summer?!  Summer is a great time to spice up your speech therapy ideas. Do you need ideas for speech-language activities during the summer break? Read on!  After reading tons of ideas from Speech Therapy Talk here are some of my top suggestions…

1. Water

What To Do: This is easy. Play with water. That’s it! There are so many ideas on what you can do with water and kids just love it!!

You can:

  • Get out a water table and toys
  • Water flowers
  • Turn on a sprinkler
  • Use the water hose
  • Fill up buckets, cups, and funnels

Target Goals:

  • Concepts: Wet vs Dry
  • Articulation: /w/, /t/, /r/ (water), /s/ (spray), /k/,/p/ (cup) – the possibilities are endless. Pick out a toy that matches your child’s articulation goal and play with it.
  • Vocabulary: Wet, Dry, Spray, Dump, Fill, Half, Full, Splash, Puddle, Jump, Push, Bath
  • Following Directions: Give each other directions such as “fill up the small cup” or “water the pink flowers after you water the yellow ones.”

Something To Think About:

  • If you are a parent, tell your child you will play with water. Get out the toys or garden hose. As you play, weave your child’s goals into the play such as modeling articulation sounds or using vocabulary words in a sentence.
  • If you are an SLP, tell your client that goal of the activity and then get playing!

    2. Bubbles

    What To Do: Another self-explanatory one… blow bubbles!

    Target Goals: 

    • Concepts: Up vs Down, Bubble vs Pop, Open vs Close
    • Articulation: /b/ (bubble), /p/ (pop), /r/ (run), “ch” (chase)
    • Vocabulary: Bubble, Blow Away, Pop, Run, Chase, Wand
    • Following Directions: Pop the big bubble, Chase the bubble, Blow bubbles
    • Social Skills: Practice taking turns

    Something To Think About:

    • If you are a parent, get out the bubbles. Blow bubbles to get your child interested. Next, weave in your target goal. For example, if you are practicing articulation, encourage your child to say the target sound before a turn. If you are practicing vocabulary, use the words in a sentence or model what they mean and encourage your child to repeat.
    • If you are an SLP, tell your client the goal of the activity and then get playing!

      3. Sand

      What To Do: Play with sand! If you don’t have a sandbox, you can make one with a bucket and a small bag of sand.

      Target Goals: 

      • Concepts: Dig vs Bury, Build vs Knock Down, Construct vs Destroy
      • Articulation: /d/, /g/ (dig), /b/, /d/ (build), /m/, /k/, (make), /s/ (sand)
      • Vocabulary: Dig, Sand, Soft, Pour, Build, Castle, Pack, Dump
      • Following Directions: Find the cup, Fill up the green bucket before the yellow one
      • Social Skills: Practice taking turns , Practice asking for items out of reach

      Something To Think About:

      • If you are a parent, get out a bucket or table and fill it with sand. Next, weave in your target goal naturally. For example, if you are practicing articulation, encourage your child to say the target sound before a turn. If you are practicing vocabulary, use the words in a sentence or model what they mean and encourage your child to repeat.
      • If you are an SLP, tell your client the goal of the activity and then get playing!

        4. Chalk

        What To Do: Find chalk and find a sidewalk or driveway. You can target almost any speech or language goal. For example:

        • Draw articulation words.
        • Draw objects and then make up a story to practice narrative structure.
        • Take turns being the leader and give directions to other players to practice following directions.

        The possibilities are endless.

        Target Goals: 

        • Articulation: /d/ (draw), /k/ and /r/ (color), /m/ and /r/ (more)
        • Vocabulary: Colors, Draw, Dust, Picture, (draw any vocabulary word!)
        • Following Directions: Take turns giving directions to players for what to draw
        • Social Skills: Practice taking turns. Practice asking for items out of reach
        • Narrative Structure: Draw a character, place, and action. Then, take turns creating a story using proper narrative structure.

        Something To Think About:

        • If you are a parent, get out the chalk. Draw and have fun. Play and get your child interested. Then, target a speech or language skill.
        • If you are an SLP, this will be your go to summer activity. Every child loves chalk, even middle-schooler children.

          5. Flower Walk

          What To Do: Go for a walk and find as many flowers as you can. Practice, your speech and language skills along the way!

          Target Goals: 

          • Concepts: Walk vs Run, Summer vs Winter
          • Articulation: /k/ (walk), /f/ and /d/ (find), /r/ (flower)
          • Vocabulary: Bloom, Grow, Colors, Flowers, Find, Discover, New, Matching

          Alternative Games:

          • Play “I Spy” to target language skills (vocabulary description, i.e., I spy something small and sharp)
          • Target articulation skills (find objects with target articulation sounds!)
          • Colors: To practice colors, find everything that is a certain color. Grammar: Practice a target verb such as “I see,” or “I discovered”

At Across Health Home Care we provide in-home pediatric speech with the goal of helping every child reach their full potential. We are committed to improving your child’s quality of life and ability to increase independence. Listed below are some of the common areas where we specialize.

Pediatric Speech Language Therapy helps children improve:

  • Articulation and phonological processing (speech)
  • Augmentative communication
  • Executive functioning
  • Expressive and receptive language
  • Feeding, swallowing, and oral motor
  • Fluency (stuttering)
  • Parent education/home exercise program
  • Pragmatics
  • Voice