Since it is September, it is officially time to get into Fall mode, right? These are some of my favorite Halloween activities for speech therapy, Halloween games for speech therapy, and Fall speech therapy activities.
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Halloween Speech Therapy Ideas – Describing Costumes
Last year (2020) was such a crazy year and we felt so disconnected from everyone and everything. We did anything we could to connect with our students’ families and thankfully, we had technology on our side for this. So when Fall rolled around last year and events were canceled, some kids couldn’t go trick-or-treating, parents couldn’t come to classroom parties, etc., we decided to get creative. We messaged parents and asked them to send us a picture of their child in their Halloween costume. It could be a current picture, from previous years, their favorite costume, or just their favorite dress-up outfit. We took the pictures and put them in the center of a graphic organizer and then as a group we used a strategy (EET is one of my favorites, click here to learn more about how I use it) to describe the costume/character.
For our older students (or any student who doesn’t dress up for any reason) we had them choose what they wanted to be when they grow up, we searched for an image that they liked and that matched their goal, and put that in the center of their graphic organizer. For students who we did not receive a picture of from their families, we helped them find a picture that closely resembled their costume or anything else they’d like to be, and put that on their organizer. We had so much fun with this!
Free Halloween Speech Therapy Activities – graphic organizer
Grab these graphic organizers in my freebie library. Link to open in google slides so you can insert any picture you want!
Expansion Activity – compare/contrast costumes
We then used our completed graphic organizers to compare and contrast the different costumes and characters to expand upon the describing task. Usually, the way I tackle this is to first have students highlight the similarities and differences in different colors. Then we review what a Venn diagram is and where the similarities and differences should go. For older groups, after the initial model and teaching, you could (as appropriate) have each student have their own graphic organizer and pair up to compare/contrast with your guidance. With younger groups, I suggest doing one diagram all together with lots of modeling.
Halloween Speech Therapy Games
I also love to mix in some fun holiday games to use as reinforcers with my students (especially to work in lots of drills for articulation). It’s amazing to me how the simplest games can be so much for my kiddos. Here are a few of my favorite Halloween speech therapy games.
Fun with Mini Erasers and More Halloween Activities for Speech Therapy
Ready for some cheap, simple, no-prep Halloween activities for speech therapy? I love using Halloween games for speech therapy and who doesn’t love mini erasers and those cute little puzzle erasers? The possibilities are endless with these little cuties!
There were these cute, colorful pumpkin erasers a few years ago in the Target dollar section. I bought them on a whim and we made a few short, silly games out of them. We put all of them in a bucket and in between drills, after a student’s turn, etc., had them blindly reach their hand in for one pumpkin. If they got orange, other colors…. They could keep it. If they got a blue one, they had to pull all of them back. Whoever had the most pumpkins at the end, won. Super simple, but they loved it!
I just got these brain erasers off of Amazon and I’m going to do the same game with these and call it “bucket of brains.”
I also ordered these spiders from Amazon and I am going to do a similar game with these. Other possibilities: black spiders worth 2 points, white spiders worth one; put red spots on some and if you get one of those you have to put yours back, etc.
Halloween Speech Therapy Activities with plastic pumpkin containers
Last year my intern told me about these cute little plastic pumpkins at Target and I knew I had to have them right away! I used them at home with my little one to work on expressive vocabulary, but they could be used for so many different games. I will definitely be “stealing” these from home to bring to school this year. 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.
Click here for an example of me using these with my little guy
Fall Speech Therapy Activities
While I love some fun Halloween activities and games, sometimes generic Fall themes are the way to go. These can last a little longer (through November as well), are perfect for schools and families who may not celebrate Halloween or other holidays, and is a great wait to target vocabulary that may be more frequently used.
Fall Speech Therapy Activities for Articulation
Need some Fall-themed worksheets for articulation? These Fall speech therapy activities are just what you need to get multiple trials in for all of your students’ articulation goals. They are also perfect to send home for extra practice.
The following sounds are included: CV & VC words, CVC words, multisyllabic words, /k, g/, /t, d/, /s, z/ /s/ blends, /l, r/, /l/ blends, /r/ blends, & /sh, ch, dg/.
These are the different types of activities in the packet:
- Roll & Color pages for all sounds + 1 blank
- Stamp and Say Pages (3 styles) for all sounds + 3 blank
- Cut & Paste picture scenes (3 styles) for all sounds
These worksheets can be used in isolation to target students’ articulation goals or perfect for use within the cycles approach. Pair a dice with the Roll & Color pages for a simple game in group therapy (each student can have a page with their individual sounds). Use the Stamp and Say pages with crayons, markers, stamps, etc. for a quick, simple way to get 50+ trials. Use the Cut & Paste pages for a simple, no-prep craft that students can take home for extra practice.
Free Fall Speech Therapy Activities
I have some free Halloween speech therapy activities exclusively in my free resource library. These Halloween articulation worksheets are a quick, no-prep activity for you to work in tons of drills with a fun Halloween theme.
More Halloween and Fall Speech Therapy Ideas:
Engaging Fall Speech and Language Ideas from The Dabbling Speechie
Fall Speech Activities with Books from Bilinguistics
Free Halloween No Print Activities from Stacy Crouse
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I hope you found some of these ideas helpful and can use one or more in your therapy room this season. Please leave a comment or shoot me an email if you want to share some of your favorite Fall or Halloween activities for speech therapy.
