Speech Outside the Box: 5 Ideas for Therapy Outside

Spring is here and I am absolutely loving this weather! What are your favorite springtime activities? I have created a few activities that will help bring your therapy room outside. While these activities are designed for the outdoors, many of them can be completed inside as well. 

MAKE YOUR SPEECH POP

For this activities you will need bubbles and the "Make Your Speech POP" recording sheet. (Grab it HERE). To play, blow the bubbles. Then, have students count how many words they can say with their speech sound(s) before all of the bubbles pop. Students can record their totals in the bubbles. 


NATURE WALK: AROUND MY SCHOOL 

Nature provides so many opportunities for language development including describing, comparing and contrasting, following directions, answering questions and so much more. For this activity, provide each student with the "Nature Walk" activity sheet (grab it HERE) and begin your nature walk! Instruct students to color the items as they see them on your walk. Students can describe each item as they find them (category, function, attributes, etc.). They can also compare and contrast the animals, insects and plants that they see. 
I SPY
This activity requires no prep and I'm sure many of your students have played this game before. Have students practice describing by "spying" an item outside and describing it to the group (category, function, attributes, etc.). The others students in the group will guess the items. You can also do this activity with students working on articulation by having them describe items with their speech sound(s). 

ARTICULATION HOPSCOTCH

For this activity, you will need chalk. I found this 20-piece set at the Dollar Tree. 
Once you draw the hopscotch, instruct your students to take turns tossing a rock or bean bag to any number. Students must first, say that many words with their speech sound (having a word list will help with this activity, but it's not necessary). Then, students will complete the hopscotch, but skip the number with the rock or bean bag. For example, if I tossed my rock on "6," I would say 6 target words and then skip the number 6 while doing the hopscotch. To make this a friendly competition, I let students keep score until the end of the session.  
WRITE THE WORLD
This activity is a spin on "Write the Room." For this activity, you will need the "Write the World" activity sheet (grab it HERE). Instruct students to make a list of items they see with their speech sound(s) as you take a nature walk. At the end of the walk, have students write a sentence using two words from their list. 

Hope you and your students enjoy these activities outside!