DIY Articulation
Activities!
It’s no secret, I love articulation sessions. In grad
school, everyone dreaded the boring artic clients… I wanted them! The reason I
love working with kids that have articulation disorders is that there are SO
many options for therapy activities. Sure, you could spend a small (or large)
fortune on materials. It’s easy to do so after browsing the catalogs of great
speech and language companies or TpT! But thank goodness that a little thing
called Pinterest has come into our lives. Pinterest has motivated me to become
a more crafty therapist. I wanted to share with you a few of my go-to DIY
articulation therapy activities that I frequently use in my sessions.
I learned about these while in my internship and I frequently
make more! The photo above is of a game I used from copying shape
templates. The Ellison Die Cut Machine at work also works great for
cutting out shapes. I made some copies, colored, laminated, cut, wrote
some points on the back and BAM! therapy game completed! I have
my students practice a target 3times, then they choose a piece from the
pile. At the end, the kids add up their points or count how many pieces
they acquired during the game. They love these silly games and I get a lot of
opportunities for speech productions.
I love having the kids create fun activities that I can use as
decorations for my speech room. We created a beautiful and colorful
articulation garden! With a little "pinspiration," I picked up some
paint chips from Home Depot. I pre-cut the paint chips into petals to save on
time. During our group, I had the kids think of words that contained their
targets and write them on the flower petals. In the center of the flower, I used
tissue paper scraps that I had leftover from another similar activity I did
during Christmas. There are so many things that you can create from paint
chips!
This is my fabulous game I like to call KABOOM!
It is made from an empty oatmeal container, pretty duct tape, and popsicle
sticks... doesn't get much fancier than that! I got the inspiration from one of
our first grade teachers that plays a similar game with her sight words. So of
course my "speechie brain" insisted that I create an articulation
version for my students.
Here is how you play:
1. Write target words on popsicle sticks.
2. Make some *KABOOM* sticks (I made 4)
3. Put all the sticks in the container.
4. Have students take turns choosing 1 stick out
of the container. If they say the word correctly, they keep their stick, if
they say it incorrectly, they put it back in the container.
5. If a student picks a *KABOOM* stick, they put
all their sticks back! (I also make they shout KABOOM :)
Disclaimer:
This game is never ending... but you sure get a ton of artic practice!!
About once or twice a year, I like to let the kids make their own
speech books. They always enjoy pulling out the crayons and making their own
personalized book. The great thing about this activity is that it works for any
level that the child is at in speech (word, sentence, or conversation) and
it really emphasizes carryover because they love to share their book. I have
found that speech books really make the students very aware of their speech
sound goals they are working on. To make the books, I use the large index cards
and crayons. I prompt students to think of
words that contain their target sound. Usually they are pretty good with this
because we practice target words all the time. But some need some help, so a
brainstorming list of target words is helpful too. Depending on the level of
the child, have them write the word or make up a sentence for the word and
illustrate a picture. On the last page of the book, I add an autograph page.
Students love getting their teachers and friends to sign their book after they
have read it to them. This is awesome for carryover and homework!
I hope that these ideas give you a little inspiration and
bring in some new ideas to your speech room! Please check out Simply Speech for
more ideas….Happy BHSM!
