Fun Ideas for Speech Therapists Working with Children

By Sue Antinoro PhysicalTherapistSource.com

One of the great things about working with young children is that you can teach them something and even though they are learning, they are having fun. Perhaps, as a Speech Therapist working with kids, you are looking for new ideas to add to your bag of tricks. Why not try some of these suggestions:

1. Fill up a backpack or paper bag with objects that can be easily identified, having the child take one out at a time. Some ideas for objects include a brush, toy car, mirror, car, spoon, doll, hat, etc. Kids will be even more eager if you keep the bag closed and have them put in their hand without looking so they can feel around the bag first, then pull something out. You might say, "OK, pull out something soft and tell me what it is", etc.

2. Have the kids go play shopping with a child's shopping cart. Use plastic food and have the children name the items they 'buy'.

3. Get out the play doh and cookie cutters, play kitchen and food and have the kids create a meal. Have the name all the foods they make that are yellow, all the foods that are fruits, etc.

4. Play doctor with stuffed animals and dolls, using real bandaids and a toy medical kit, naming the parts of the body that need to be fixed up.

5. Have the kids go on a scavenger hunt with objects, treats or prizes. They should tell where they are looking, and where the item was, or other you could have other kids speak some of the clues.

6. Around the holidays, you could have one child hide a seasonal object like a small ornament or pumpkin, and have the child give the other children clues to describe where the item is.

7. Here's a word game you can play with any number of children. You can start off by saying something like "I can think of something bigger than a pencil". The first child should name an object, for example a banana. You can respond with "I can think of something bigger than an banana", and the next child will think of another bigger object. Keep this up and see how many objects the kids can come up with. You can switch it around by starting with an object that is smaller, hotter, colder, etc.

8. Here's another easy game that requires no materials and deals with vocabulary and discriminating sounds. The leader will choose a sound such as /d/ and come out with a small list of words. The player must clap every time they hear a word that begins with that same sound. You can have them repeat the word after they clap. To make it a little more challenging, you may have them listen for the sound in the middle and at the end of words.

Don't be afraid to give a child to be the chance to be a leader in some of these games. Often being the 'leader' or 'teacher' can be more of a lesson than just following along. Have fun!