Preschoolers aren’t made to sit still during Speech Therapy (or ever, for that matter!). That’s a fact.
It is not developmentally appropriate for a preschool or kindergarten student to sit for an hour. Set your students (and yourself!) up for success by incorporating movement into your speech therapy sessions!
Moving during speech therapy sessions doesn’t have to be difficult, fancy, or complicated. You can move as a break, but I prefer to incorporate movement as a therapy activity (but, remember, you can do whatever works for YOU and your students).
Goals you can target within movement activities are:
Verbs and verb tenses
Vocabulary
Pronouns
Spatial concepts
Concepts (fast/slow, high/low)
Here are some quick and easy ways that you can get your kids moving in your speech and language therapy sessions.
1) Use books that incorporate movement. This is the easiest way to get little ones moving! Some of my favorites are:
Repetitive Seasonal Books by Anna Dee SLP
Shake a Leg by Constance Allen - watch it on Youtube here
Dance by Matthew Van Fleet - watch it on YouTube here
We're going on a Bear Hunt by Micheal Rosen & Helen Oxenbury - watch it on YouTube here
Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig and Marc Brown - watch it on YouTube here
I also have a list of Top 20 Movement Books in this Post.
2) Use pictures of animals. Place them in a bag, hide them around the room, or knock them over with a ball popper. However you present them, your students will love moving like the animal they see! You can print some animal images from Google or grab these in my TPT store!
3) Hide things around the room. This is the EASIEST activity ever. Simply hide toys, puzzle pieces, cards around the room. For an extra element of fun, pair the activity with binoculars, a flashlight, or a pointer.
4) Obstacle Course: Use the items you have in the room to create a simple obstacle course. (If you have access to trampolines, tunnels, or hula hoops - you can use those, too!). The student can even help you set up the course, for more opportunities for language!
5) Go for a walk. This sounds so simple - and it is! If you are able to, head outside (or walk around the school). Remember - language is everywhere!
6) Simon Says: This is another fun and simple way to MOVE in sessions while working on a tonne of therapy goals. You can easily incorporate speech sounds, negation, and verbs into this activity. I really love using this activity in groups!
7) Throw stuff: Balls, crumpled paper, bean bags can all be thrown! You can make a target on the ground out of tape, aim at buckets, or aim at a net. Incorporate goals, such as the concepts in/out, hard/soft, fast/slow, close/far and verbs such as throw, toss, catch!
8) Follow their lead!: Kids will often move while playing because it is so natural to them! So bring out some toys, and do what they do!
9) Jump!: You can jump syllables of words, jump between targets on the group. Mix up the jumping by using a hop, two footed jump, and single foot jump!
10) Dance! Play Music, play instruments, and move your body! Some of my favorite songs for preschoolers come from Super Simple Songs and Songs for Speech.
Have you found some activities you haven’t tried? Let me know below!
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