Summer School Speech Therapy- Let's Go Camping!

Camping is a perfect summer theme for speech therapy.

The school year has ended but many children will still be attending speech therapy in summer school or in private therapy. How do you keep children engaged when those warm breezes beckon outside?

I love using summer-time themes in speech therapy, and camping is a favorite. There are plenty of easy activities you can do for super speech sessions. Most of all, it's fun! Here are a few ideas for you:

Set up camp

You'll need a campfire. (What's camping without a campfire to sit around?) Make your campfire from orange, red and yellow tissue paper. Stuff the "flames" in a metal bucket or in the middle of paper towel tubes for "logs." An electric tea light in the center would make it even better.

Grab a couple of bag chairs and put them next to the fire. Put a cooler in between them. You can make a "tent" by draping a sheet over a small table or over a rope. If you have a small pop-up tent, use it. Your children will be thrilled!

If you'll be working at a table, try throwing a red, checkered tablecloth over it to set the mood.

Read Books about Camping

You'll have plenty of opportunities for wh questions and story retell with these fun books:

Story Books:

Boris Goes Camping by Carrie Weston

Curious George Goes Camping by Margaret and H.A. Rey ( I still adore Curious George!)

Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping by Melanie Watt

PJ Funnybunny Camps Out by Marilyn Sadler
Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping by Peggy Parish
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen a funny, rhyming misadventure!
Henry and Mudge and The Starry Night by Cynthia Rylant

Poetry:
Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems by Kristine O'Connel George These are lovely poems. Explore this book with your older students for vocabulary development.

More Speech Camp Activities

Go on a Bear Hunt to Practice Positional Concepts

Check out The Bear Hunt by the Learning Station for some fun music and movement. It's terrific for positional concepts and verbs.

The Bear Hunt by the Learning Station

Guess the forest animals: Name to a description
Tell the children you'll give them clues, and they need to they need to guess which forest animal it is. For instance: This animal is black with a white stripe on it's back. It can smell quite stinky. What is it?
Skunks have just the right amount of "ewww" to fascinate my children. This little cut and paste reader features a funny skunk, targets /sk/ blends and has a funny ending. From my Articulation and Language Activities for SK pack.

Fun cut and paste reader for S-blend practice.

Owl-themed multiple meaning practice freebie
Whoo's my Homophone is feathery free download for you in my store.. Please leave me some love when you grab it (feedback in my store), it's appreciated!

FREE Multiple meanings vocabulary fun with owls

Stamp some Stars for S-Blends practice. 

Grab dark blue construction paper, a star-shaped cookie cutter and a bit of yellow tempera paint. Dip the cookie cutter in the yellow tempera and stamp it on the paper. Have your articulation students say "star" or "stamp a star" each time.

Go on a scavenger hunt outdoors.
Find something that is:

crunchy
smooth
rough
bumpy
brown
fuzzy
hard
heavy
light
tiny
soft
broken
that smells
that grows

Make Microwave S'mores for sequencing, describing, requesting and categories

Have your children predict what they'll need to make s'mores.

You'll need:

graham crackers

marshmallows

chocolate bars

paper plates

Language Goals to target:
Making requests/ formulating complete sentences: Have your children ask you for each ingredient 

Describing: Feel, taste a bit of each ingredient. Is it crunchy or soft? Smooth or rough? Sweet or sour? 

Categories: Name more foods that are crunchy, soft, or sweet. What else can you make with chocolate?

You may want to "roast" the marshmallows over your "campfire" on a stick before putting your s'more together.. What does "roast" mean? what else can you roast? What other food can you cook over the campfire on a stick?

Build your s'mores

Put half a piece of graham cracker on a paper plate. Add a piece of chocolate, then a marshmallow and top with another half graham cracker. Now it's ready to cook. 15 seconds in the microwave should do it. Be careful they're not too hot in the center. Squish and eat! 

When you are finished, talk about how the ingredients changed. Describe the s'mores using "senses" words. How did it feel, taste, smell, look? Did they feel hot? Sticky? Gooey?

Have a good old-fashioned flashlight hunt for any target.

Turn off the lights and give the children flashlights. Have them find or illuminate articulation or language cards.

Find more great camping theme ideas 

on my Pinterest board: Camping Theme Speech Therapy

Happy Summer Friends!