The months of January and February can be a difficult time during the school year but today we are going to have some fun discussing all of the best winter speech therapy activities you should be doing with your students!
Winter is full of so many great learning activities- talking and learning about snow in general, which there are so many fun crafts and sensory play activities that you can do with your students. I’ve written about winter barrier games and winter games and toys for therapy. Winter is also a great time to teach students more about bears and their hibernation. In addition, the 100th day of school usually lands in January or February for most schools, which is very fun to celebrate especially with K-2 students. Here are 5 ideas to engage your students during winter with speech therapy activities:
- 100th Day of School
The 100th day of school is a very fun day to celebrate, especially at the K-2 grades. It is a big celebration at school that revolves around stories, counting, crafts and snacks all related to the number 100. You can easily join in the celebration for speech therapy students as well. These 100 Sound Glasses are the perfect print and go activity for students. This activity has 17 different worksheets of articulation sounds that students can practice. Each page includes a practice tracker and a set of glasses. Help students practice each sound (both initial and final positions) and then cut out the glasses to celebrate practicing that sound 100 times! Students are very proud of themselves when they are able to do this. This is an activity that you could start in the days leading up to the 100th day.
The sounds that are included in the 100 Sound Glasses Activity are:
-P, B, M, N, T, D, F, TH, SH, CH, K, G, S, Z, L, R, S-blends
-One blank set is also included so you can customize this download for use with any student.
Frosty is ready for a chop in this hands-on winter speech therapy activity! In this fun, no-prep craftivity, you will combine the two pages to make a snowman from strips that you chop. Students can practice their speech sounds as they build a snowman. This easy, no-prep craft is ready to use- just add a piece of construction paper. This craft is perfect for Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students to have some winter fun while sneaking in some speech practice! Let them color it as they practice their speech sounds or add a cute felt hat to make their snowman unique. These are great to hang in the hallway to let students “show-off” all winter long!
What’s included:
-F, V, K, G, S, Z, L, SH, CH, TH, R, S Blends, L Blends, R Blends
-CVC words
-Multisyllabic Words
-Blank Sheet
-Winter Vocab sheet
Paper Strip Art Snowmen are part of a bigger craft bundle that
includes 12 simple crafts to make throughout the year during speech and language therapy. This craft is perfect for a winter speech therapy activity because it is simple and low prep, it is a hands-on activity, so it’s engaging for students and it is fun to make! Bonus-it involves cutting so it also works on fine motor skills for students also if you do any co-treating with an Occupational Therapist!
This activity includes different paper strip art activities for every month- you will be set not only for winter but also for Valentine’s Day, spring, summer and fall!
Targeted Sounds:
M, N, P, B, T, D, W, H, F, V, K, G, S Blends, S, Z, CH, SH, TH, L, L Blends, AR/AIR, ER/EAR, IRE/OR, R Blends, J, NG, ZH, CVC, CV/VC, CVCV, Multisyllabic
Language Skills:
Regular Verbs (& pronouns), Irreg. Verbs, Regular Plurals, Irregular Plurals, Who ?, Where ?, What ?, Same/Different, MMW, Retelling, Functions, Category, Prepositions of Movement, Prepositions of Place, Opposites, -ER, -EST, Idioms
- Bear Cave Craft
This Bear Cave Craft is an activity from Funky Fresh Firsties that I have been using for many years now during winter. It is perfect for all elementary ages and I even use it with my students who are non-verbal because they love to growl like a bear! We even use our fingers to tiptoe up to the bear and let the bear “nibble” on our fingers! “Ahhhh! A bear!” This activity pairs really great with the book, Bear Snores On (affiliate link) by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman, which is a favorite of mine! My friend Whitney has a whole companion packet for the book “Bear Snores On” over on TpT if you want to check it out.
To make the bear craft, just cut a paper plate in half and shape it like a cave. Add a sentence strip and some winter trees. Color inside the cave black and add two bear eyes! Students working with AAC can focus on several core words like “in” and “on.”
Side note: if you aren’t using the sticker version of google eyes-you should add them to your supply list right now!
- Snowflake Synonyms & Snowball Antonyms (FREEBIE)
Synonyms and antonyms can be tricky to work on with younger students, yet they are such important skills to teach. Here is a simple idea-Do you ever see those foam snowflakes (affiliate link) and you try to figure out what to do with them? Try cutting them in half, adding magnets to the back and writing pairs of synonyms or antonyms on each. Attach them to a file cabinet in your room and you have a quick, hands-on center activity to use with students all winter long. Sometimes I have one student work on this activity while I work on articulation sounds with another student, then have them switch.
Another great winter speech therapy activity is Snowball Antonyms. This activity is a FREE download and is great for those school days after a snow day or Friday afternoons when it is perhaps a bit harder to get students motivated. Print the snowball pictures and laminate for future use. Place all snowballs facedown on the table. Students should take turns drawing a snowball. Work on making antonym matches. After all of the snowballs have been drawn, the student with the most antonym matches is the winner. Watch out for the bonus cards! You could even make sensory snow to go with this activity or bring in real snow for sensory play or a “snowball fight!” Enjoy!
Will you be trying any of these winter speech therapy activities with your students this year? What are your favorite winter speech therapy activities to do with your students? Let us know below and stay warm!
-Jenna
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