Do you use themes for your speech and language activities? Using year-round speech therapy themes are the best because you can grab them to use during any point throughout the year!
Using themes really saves you time because the activities are already prepped ahead of time, plus using fun themes make speech and language lessons much more engaging and exciting for your students.
Not to mention using non-holiday themes is a true money-saver as opposed to holiday specific themes because you can pull out these types of themed materials 3-4 times per year if you want to.
I have many different posts written about different speech therapy theme ideas linked at the bottom of this post.
Today, let’s talk about how to plan out a super fun “pets theme” for your speech therapy students.
Plus, want an entire month of pet-themed lessons planned out for your speech therapy sessions?
GRAB THE PETS THEMED SLP KIT!
Pet-Themed Books for Speech Therapy
Not Norman by: Kelly Bennett
This funny story is about a boy who wanted a cool pet like a cat or a dog, not a goldfish named Norman. He thought Norman couldn’t do fun things like playing or cuddling. But when he tries to trade Norman for a “better” pet, things don’t go as planned.
Some Pets by: Angela DiTerlizzi
This cute story with vibrant illustrations follows the adventures of a diverse group of kids and their pets. From dogs to cats, birds to bunnies, each child has a special animal friend. Together, they explore the joys and responsibilities of pet ownership.
Lola Gets a Cat by: Anna McQuinn
Lola daydreams about all of the fun things that her and her pet cat can do together… like cuddle and play and practices daily with a stuffed animal cat. When reality sets in, she realizes that owning a cat is actually a lot of responsibility.
Interactive Vocabulary Book about Pets
This interactive book set covers:
- labeling pets
- following directions about pet homes
- naming feelings about cats
- describing dogs through basic concepts
This book goes hand in hand with the critter vet clinic featured below under the “Pet toys section.”
Pet-Themed Songs for Speech Therapy
These extremely easy songs feature repeated words, making them ideal for young learners. They’re great for practicing animal sounds, word patterns, action words and basic vocabulary for speech and language with early childhood ages.
Pet-Themed Games for Speech Therapy
Color and Play Pets Bingo
Ways to use during speech therapy:
- Describing BINGO: pull out each picture and give a physical description of the item.
- Classifying BINGO: name the category of the item on the calling card.
- Articulation carryover BINGO: Use a carrier phrase for each card when called. ie: I spy…. or I found….
Feed the Dog Articulation Boom Cards
Feed the interactive dog in this online game! He is very hungry!
Using this game makes it easy to target all of the articulation sounds that your students are working on because your student will “feed the dog” their speech sounds and the computer will even make a crunch sound when he eats them making it super engaging for kids!
Pet-Themed Toys for Speech Therapy
Critter Clinic Toy Vet Set
This toy has gotten tons of use in my speech therapy room (I even turned it into a Gingerbread House in December)! This toy is so much for for preschoolers because it has little doors to open and close, lock and unlock. It comes with 2 stuffed furry animals plus 5 veterinary tools.
Here are some ways to use this toy with students (this one is so much fun they won’t even realize you are working on speech and language goals with them!):
- Use the critter clinic to work on core words such as: in, out, open.
- Teach new vocabulary words like: vet, clinic, treatment
- Work on following directions: “Put the dog in the blue room.”
- Sequencing Skills: Have a child follow a sequence such as “feed the cat, give him water and then put him to bed.”
Hape Family Pet Houses
These are the perfect little accessories for your speech therapy unit on pets! Kids love all of the small pieces with this one! This little set is really great for targeting tons of different language opportunities.
Here are some ways to use this toy with students:
- Concepts such as: in, out, behind and next to.
- Problem solving situations: Make different situations with the animals in which kids have to decide what to do.
- Social Skills such as pretend play and sharing are perfect with this set!
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: 7 TOYS FOR SPEECH & LANGUAGE PRESCHOOL EVALUATIONS
Crafts for the Pet Theme in Speech Therapy
Clifford the big red dog is one of the best pets we know and you can read some of the books to accompany this sweet craft from Crafty Morning.
Sensory Play for the Pet Theme in Speech
This final idea is all about a fun themed sensory bin to use with your pets theme.
To make:
- Fill a plastic bin with artificial grass or rice dyed green to look like grass or even small pebbles.
- Stick any small pet toys inside like this cat and dog set or even some play dough for kids to create dog bones out of.
- You could even use a pet puzzle for this- hide the puzzle pieces in the sensory bin and have students assemble the puzzle as they find them.
Use describing to say what parts you see sticking out to try to have students find the pet.
For example: “I see a pointy black ear.”
4 Weeks of Speech Therapy Pet Lessons Planned For You
If you like the ideas above but don’t have time to plan out all of the things that you want to work on during this theme then your answer is to grab the Pet Themed Speech Therapy Kit because it has everything you need.
It includes an entire month (that’s 4 weeks) of lessons and activities!
It includes therapy printables, interactive play resources, 4 circle time lessons, parent handouts, crafts, book companions and MORE!
More Speech Therapy Themes for the Year
Are you all-in on using themed activities during speech and language therapy yet? Here are some more ideas for you:
- SLP Theme Apple Kit
- SLP Farm Theme Kit
- SLP Flowers Theme Kit
- Snowman Theme SLP Kit
- Camping Theme SLP Kit
- SLP Theme Pumpkin Kit
- Back to School Theme SLP Kit
- Space Theme for Speech
- Firefighter Theme for Speech
- Winter Theme Ideas for Speech
What are your favorite themes to use in speech therapy?
