Easy Summer Articulation Activities at-Home

by Holly F.

Summer is a great time for fun in the sun, splashing in the pool and, articulation? Don’t let the downtime set your child back; encourage them to continue maintaining their target speech sounds with great at-home activities.  Even if you’re not signing up for formal training with the Speech Buddy Kick Start summer event, speech therapy at home is each to achieve. Sometimes it can take a little planning while at other times it can happen spontaneously- like deciding to write articulation targets or sounds in sidewalk chalk (above). Here are some easy articulation activities to try.

Make Use of those Popsicle Sticks

In the warm summer months you’re surely to have popsicles lying around and what else, their sticks. Save those sticks for some quick artic tasks by writing target words or sounds on each stick and collecting them. SLPs from around the web often share great ideas, here are some for popsicle sick artic:

Boink!

From The Speech Clinic. The creators of this game suggest the following rules: take turns pulling out a Popsicle stick from the jar.  If the player pulls out a Popsicle stick with a target word, that player says the target word, or makes up a sentence with the target word.  If the student produces the word correctly, he keeps the Popsicle stick in front of him, and it is the next player’s turn.  If the student says the word incorrectly, the Popsicle stick is returned to the jar.  If a student pulls out a “BOINK!” stick, then that player returns all of his Popsicle sticks to the jar.  If a student pulls out a “BOINK a friend!” stick, he gets to choose another player to return all of their Popsicle sticks to the jar.  The student with the most sticks at the end of the session wins.

Feeling a little more creative about popsicle sticks? Check out Speech Lady Liz’s creative idea for an articulation popsicle stick pirate boat here:

Water Play

Water play is an essential part of summer for everyone. Try incorporating articulation targets in the pool by writing them onto diving sticks. This idea comes from icanteachmychild.com where sight words were used but an SLP or parent can quickly see how this can be a fun game for articulation too!

 

Can’t get enough of the pool? Try this concept with any items that also float or can be thrown back and forth to make a game out of it. Using a beach ball, write targets on each colored triangle. When a player catches the ball, have them say the word using their target speech sounds.

Parents' Corner Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Therapy Techniques