I created a fun speech therapy fall activity adaptable for any goal and any age.
I LOVE the fall. Who doesn’t enjoy the beautiful colors, yummy foods, cool weather, cozy sweaters, and orange pumpkins, right?!
Most children also love it. Using these materials, you can teach functional vocabulary and concepts easily.
Read below to download a free fall activity and then learn how to adapt it for any child!
Download Fall Manipulatives now!
I created this simple speech therapy fall activity as a reinforcer for my articulation students, but as the day went on, I realized this simple activity was appropriate for all my students.
The more functional and simple therapy materials are the better. The complicated, step-by-step, materials aren’t what communication is all about. Instead, adapting daily activities/work/experiences to create speech and language learning is the way to go.
Therefore, this simple fall speech therapy material can be adapted to create any specific speech and language learning opportunity for your child/client/student.
Now, for the creative types with free time, gathering leaves and other fall manipulatives outside is the most functional. However, that is not in the cards for me this season. So, if you are short on time, this one is for you :)
Click on the link above to download the pictures. Print them out and then cut out the leaves. Now, you are ready to go! Read below on how you can use this tree and leaves to target many speech and language goals.
To work on vocabulary with young children, skip the flashcards. Learning while playing is the research proven way to go!
Below are vocabulary words you can target while you glue leaves on a tree.
Cut
More
Fall
Glue
Leaves
Seasons
Sticky
Branches
Colors
Bonus Free Resources:
Following directions is a crucial language skill needed for academic and social success. However, this skill requires a person to know vocabulary, have good working memory skills, and have adequate attention.
Below are practice ideas for following directions while making a tree.
Sequential: This direction is multi-step and something has to be done first, second, etc..
Before/After: This is a temporal direction. Your child has to do something before or after he/she does something else. This is TRICKY!
Spatial: Give a direction with a spatial aspect (under, over, above).
Basic: Basic means one-step, simple directions. If your child is having trouble, start here!
The game listed below targets both expressive (speaking) and receptive (listening) skills.
I am going to talk about MY FAVORITE game I play all the time! I call it “no hands.”
For this game, I put all the leaves on the table and students get a turn to pick out leaves to glue on their trees. HOWEVER, they can’t point to the one they want (hence the no hands name). Instead, the students have to describe which leaf they want by describing an attribute or using a targeted grammatical structure (adjust the desired response for individual goals)
You can target many areas of language with this game.
Vocabulary:
Strategies for Cues: If a child is having trouble describing their desired leaf, I use the leaves themselves as visual prompts. For example, if a student says, "I want a red leaf," I will lay out all the red leaves. Then, I will verbal prompt for another category such as size or shape if needed. As the student adds another descriptive vocabulary word, I will take the necessary leaves away and this will continue until one leaf is left. If the student says, my leaf has one point, I take the multi-point leaves away. Then, the student may say, "my leaf is tall." I take away the short leaf. Finally, the student may say, "my leaf is skinny."
Yeah! We figured it out. For reinforcement, I usually describe the leaf with all the descriptive vocabulary words as I give it to the student.
After a few times with this game, the student's oral vocabulary really improves!
Grammar:
Sorting: Organize the leaves by attribute before starting the game. This is a great idea if your students need a lot of cues or still in the direct teaching phase of learning. Some ideas for categories are:
Strong speech and language skills are necessary reading, math, social relationships, and language arts! For more specific speech therapy activities, read more about our practice ideas based on age and skill level.
For a quick review, executive functioning is our personal CEO. Executive function skills are our abilities to plan, control impulses and emotions, multi-task, pay and shift attention, and organize. Our executive functioning skills will continue to develop as the frontal lobe continues to grow; however, we can start things off on the right foot!
Like I've said before, there is so much technology and academic pressure put on little ones. As a result, social skill development is lacking these days.
Social skills are one of the MOST IMPORTANT skills we NEED to be successful at school, jobs, and really any aspect of life. Social skills develop throughout our life through experiences, observation, and direct teaching. You can show good social skills from the start through modeling.
During group treatment, I provide one pair of scissors and one glue. That way, the students have to talk to each other and request turns. You can target:
You can practice articulation skills while completing this speech therapy fall activity.
Below are words that will arise when creating a tree. We created sample target words for all sounds in all word positions (beginning, middle, and end).
If your child is working on any of these sounds, pick a word and practice it while you make a tree. Functional and easy!
I also use this tree as a reinforcer during drill practice. Once a child says a sound/word/sentence 10 times, I give them a break by letting them pick out a leaf and glue it on.
Read articulation therapy for how to do speech therapy at home and access free word lists!
For more information on specific sounds, read about our apps for speech therapy!
Sounds
Initial
Medial
Final
B
Borrow
Above
Describe
D
Done
Windy
Red
F
Fun
Colorful
Leaf
G
Glue
Again
Big
J
Giant
Project
Orange
K
Cut
Looking
Trunk
L
Leaves
Yellow
Fall
M
More
Pumpkin
Game
N
Need
Under
Green
P
Pour
Happy
Scoop
R
Red
Orange
Four
S
Small
Listen
This
T
Tall
Little
Next
V
Visit
Over
Above
Z
Zero
Scissors
Because
TH
Thank you
Something
Beneath
CH
Chilly
Branches
Match
SH
Short
Directions
Finish
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Bridget is an ASHA certified, practicing speech-language pathologist. She is passionate about providing parents with information on child speech and language development as well as provide functional, easy activities to do at home! Parents have the power to make a real difference. Follow Bridget at Facebook and Pinterest for more fun!