Articulation activities for preschoolers that will keep even the busiest of little ones engaged! Preschoolers can be so much fun to work with, but it can be challenging to keep their attention and keep them engaged. Especially when working on articulation skills. Just straight drill is not going to work with most little ones. So here are some of my favorite articulation activities for preschoolers.
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Preschool Articulation
“My child still can’t say _____, do they need speech or should we just wait and see?”
I get asked a variation of this question all the time! In fact, just tonight my husband got a text from an old work buddy saying, “Hey, can you ask your wife about this? My wife is worried about our daughter.” Of course, I don’t mind because I love what I do and sharing what I know! As moms (or dads, or grandparents/caregivers/guardians/teachers) the more we know, the sooner we can take action when needed. I usually recommend seeking a referral to a certified SLP for a full evaluation anytime a parent has concerns about their child’s speech.
Developmental Norms
Articulation refers to how we make speech sounds using our articulators (mouth, lips, and tongue). For example, we need to be able to say the /l/ sound in order to say “lunch” instead of “wunch” or “yunch.” (ASHA)
By age 5, most children can produce 90% of consonants correctly (Source: McLeod and Crowe, 2018).
Typical age that consonant sounds are mastered:
| Age 2 | /p/ |
| Age 3 | /b, m, d, n, h, t, k, g, w, ng, f, y/ |
| Age 4 | /l, j, ch, s, v, sh, z/ |
| Age 5 | /r, zh/, voiced /th/ |
| Age 6 | voiceless /th/ |
Source: McLeod and Crowe, 2018
For a free download of the above chart and information, check out my free resource library. I have an instant download that you can print and have ready to share with parents as needed.
Why Treat so Early?
Let’s use that tricky /r/ sound as an example. For years, it has been assumed that /r/ is a much later developing sound and shouldn’t be addressed until age 8 or 9. But what if I told you that was way off base and you could have much more success starting earlier? The truth is, while /r/ may very well be a “later developing sound,” most children have developed 90-100% of speech sounds by age 5, with initial and vocalic /r/ sounds developing by age 5-6.
What can we learn from this? Sometimes it IS appropriate to pick up that kinder or first grader to work on /r/ AND you may just get better, quicker results. Which leads to fewer life-longers in speech! Win for everyone.
While outdated norms and thinking about “how it’s always been done” may suggest waiting to treat some of these sounds, it’s time to update what we’re doing. If you look at the chart above, you’ll notice that the majority of sounds are typically developed by age 3-4. By age 4, you should be able to understand 90% (or more) of what a child says. So in most cases, it’s totally appropriate to start working on articulation in our preschool populations. Not only appropriate but best practice as early intervention is the key to success!
Fun Articulation Activities for Preschoolers
We all know that preschoolers do not have the longest attention spans and it can be difficult to keep them on task for a significant period of time. So typical drill, at the therapy table therapy, is probably not going to be the way to go. So instead, we play! Play therapy will get you the most bang for your buck, especially with these littles.
Here is an example of using play therapy, following the child’s lead (in this case my son, age 3), and using their interests to lead therapy planning.
Click here to see the example video.
Articulation Activities for Preschoolers – Free!
Some more of my favorite activities for littles are listed below:
- Blocks
- Cars
- Puzzles
- Short Books
- Crafts
Printable Articulation Activities for Preschoolers
For those littles who like the structure of sitting and doing an activity or craft, these are some of my favorites to use.
Speech therapy worksheets for simple syllable patterns. These one-page speech therapy worksheets are a simple way to target syllable structure (CV, VC, CVC, & CVCV) with multiple trials on each speech therapy worksheet and very little prep time. These printable speech therapy worksheets and phonological process activities can be used in isolation to target students’ articulation goals or they are also perfect to use within the cycles approach – all in one downloadable speech therapy worksheets pdf!
What’s Included:
- Target words for CV, VC, CVC, and CVCV words
- CVC and CVCV coloring pages to use as reinforcers or home practice
- CV, CVC, CVCV sentence completion pages
- CV, CVC, CVCV ”wh” questions
- CV, CVC, CVCV functions
- 5 bonus coloring pages (CVC words)
Tips for Use:
- Use the target word pages to teach the sound patterns, use for drill/repetition, student coloring pages, or homework
- Use the reinforcer pages with or without a dice for additional practice
- Use the sentence completion tasks to target in connected speech
- Use the “wh” questions and functions pages to target language goals while still getting in additional trials for speech targets
- Send copies of any of the pages home for practice with instructions for parents or keep in a student folder that goes between school and home
I also have these activities for other speech sounds available in my store.
I also love doing simple crafts with my kiddos.
Here is a growing bundle of some of my favorite simple, printable crafts. Crafts for speech therapy – ready to print and go! Articulation crafts for speech therapy can be so much fun and engaging for your school-age kiddos and these crafts for speech therapy are ready to print and go! There is no prep needed! Easy crafts, speech therapy aligned, and no-prep… what else could you need?
What’s Included:
- Themed craft speech therapy sheets
- Targeted sounds: initial /f, v, k, g, ch, dg, sh, l, r, s, z/, initial /l/ blends: /bl, kl, fl, gl, pl/, initial /r/ blends: /br, kr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr/, and initial /s/ blends: /sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw/
- 2 or more different designs in each download
Tips for Use:
- Print target page for each student
- Practice target words individually with student as they color and cut
- Glue target pictures onto the sloths/hearts
- Paste on bright paper and display and/or send home for extra practice
At-Home Articulation Activities for Preschoolers
Here are some of my favorite tips to share with families that they can easily use at home.
- Good Speech Time
- If your child is receiving speech therapy services and they are at the point that they are ready to start carrying over some of their sounds, I suggest setting aside “good speech time” to work on their sounds. Constantly trying to monitor sound production can be frustrating for everyone, so I find this much more beneficial.
Example: Choose dinner time as your “good speech time.” Let your child know you will be listening for their good ____ sound. Monitor, give reminders, and model correct production as much as possible during this time.
- Guessing Games
- Describe something and have your child guess what you are talking about. It’s kind of a play on “I Spy” but it’s more “I’m thinking of…”
Example: “I’m thinking of something that is a vehicle, it goes in the sky, and can hold lots of people. What is it?”
- Don’t Focus on Mistakes
- When your little one makes an error, don’t worry about correcting it or pointing out what they did wrong. Instead, just model the correct form.
Example: child: “I ride-ed the bike today”
adult: “Yes, you rode on the bike today!”
child: “My favorite color is wed.”
adult: “Oh, I like the color red too!”
For a free download that includes all my tips, check out my freebie library and download it today!
Short graphic – home tips download
Articulation Games for Preschoolers
One of my favorite, super-simple go-to activities for those times when you just need to get moving, is a musical stepping stones game!
- First, I put out pictures in a large circle around the room*
- I put velcro on the back of mine because I have carpet squares in my room, but you could do tape too if you have tile (to prevent slipping)
- When the students arrive I have them each stand on a picture
- We review the rules (e.g., no running, no skipping in line, when the music stops, you stop, etc.)
- I start the music!
- When the music stops, they stop on whatever picture they are on/closest to and complete their individual task (say the word or phrase with their target sound, or maybe just practice in isolation)
Other games I love are bean bag toss games with articulation pictures and simple board games such as Candy Land, Hi Ho Cherrio, and Chutes and Ladders.
Speech Articulation Activities for Preschoolers and Beyond
Articulation Activities for Toddlers
I have these little plastic pumpkins from Target that I love using every year in therapy. I used them at home with my little one to work on expressive vocabulary, but they could be used for so many different games. The plastic pumpkins are basically like Easter eggs and easily come apart to hide items inside. To get littles interested, you can shake them, act excited, and ask, “I wonder what’s inside?” Then open up the pumpkin to name what’s inside, practice a sound associated with the item to work on simple syllable shapes and patterns, answer “wh” questions about the item, or hide pictures or erasers with the students’ target sounds inside for repetitive articulation drill. So fun and engaging!
Articulation Activities for Kindergarten
These are some of my favorite activities for Kinders:
- Coloring
- Blocks
- Cars
- Puzzles
- Short Books
- Crafts
Anything to keep their little hands busy!
My daughter found these cute blocks in the dollar spot at Target one day and we got some for home and for my kiddos at school. There are so many possibilities with these… keeping hands busy while waiting their turns, earning pieces for each number of trials, roll a dice for pieces on each turn, etc. I love watching what my students think up to make!
Articulation Activities for Elementary Students
For older students, I love using color by code sheets, games, and digital materials to keep their attention during articulation therapy.
I have a bunch of color by code for articulation activities in my store. You can find them all here!
For more articulation activities for preschoolers and preschool ideas:
QUICK AND EASY ARTICULATION ACTIVITIES FOR SPEECH THERAPISTS from Teaching Talking
13 Most Effective Speech Therapy Activities For Toddlers from Laura Cramb
20 Fun Articulation Homework Ideas For The Whole Family from Communikids
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I hope you found some of these ideas helpful and can use one or more in your therapy room. Please leave a comment or shoot me an email if you want to share some of your favorite articulation activities for preschoolers.
