Back To School Speech Therapy Ideas!

Let's start the school year off on the right foot!

I STRONGLY believe in creating trusting, strong relationships with my students. They need to feel safe in order to open up and give their best!

So, I like to keep things light and exciting for the first few sessions so students feel comfortable and look forward to speech. Below are some ways to kick-start the school year and ensure a fun and productive learning environment.

Top Back-To-School Speech Therapy Games

#1: All About Me

Kids usually like to share their likes and dislikes and anything they did over the summer. Grab any "all about me" worksheets you have or use the ones at Speech Therapy Talk Membership.

This is a great way to get to know your students a bit more. It also serves as a conversation starter, allowing students to share and discuss with their friends in their group.

#2: Scavenger Hunt

Organize a vocabulary or speech scavenger hunt around the classroom or school grounds (if possible). You can create a list of target words related to a specific theme or unit. I prefer to do things around the speech room so the students start to feel comfortable there. Students can search for objects, labels, or images that match the given vocabulary items. This activity promotes word retrieval, categorization, and expressive language skills.

If you are a Speech Therapy Talk Member, I have 12 new scavenger hunts up (6 in Spanish and 6 in English)! Four hunts target phonological awareness and two target vocabulary/language.

#3: Guess Who?

Grab those "about me" answers and play some personal "Guess Who?"

I like to read a response from the "about me" worksheets and then have students in the group raise their hand and guess who wrote that response. It is easy and fun!

This activity will target turn-taking, listening, vocabulary, as well as create an opportunity for students to get to know each other.

# 4: Would You Rather?

I LOVE "Would You Rather" questions and so do most students. You can create your own, have the students take turns creating questions, or use the no-print "Would You Rather" questions here!

"Would You Rather" works on vocabulary, grammar, common articulation goals (/r/, "th"), and turn-taking/listening skills.

#5: Write a story!

I LOVE THIS one!

Start a collaborative story-writing activity where students take turns adding sentences or paragraphs to a shared narrative. Each student contributes to the story's plot and characters, fostering creativity, grammar skills, and cooperative learning. You could also use the website Book Creator to make online stories (not an affiliate).

I suggest using a story grammar outline to help the students create all the different parts of a story and to help with the story retell.

#6: Vocabulary Guessing Games

Games are always a hit! You can grab some fun cooperative ones such as Hedbanz or Charades or even play 20 questions (no prep there! yeah!).

These games are pure fun but also touch on vocabulary and pragmatic goals.

If you want some quick, no-prep games that touch on back-to-school vocabulary, members click on the images below to access Spanish and English guessing games.