Using one simple speech therapy activity all day is a game changer. It is a simple and effective way to reduce prep time for busy SLPs. Bowling is a simple activity that you can use in early intervention, preschool, and with school aged children to target speech and language skills.
Why I love bowling as a speech therapy activity: Bowling is a fun and motivating activity that is easy to set up and clean up, can be shared with parents, is versatile, involves movement, can be used with kids of all ages, and gets you a tonne of trials!
How to set it up: You can use plastic bowling pins, rolling over cards that are on binder clips, or paper bags. If you use paper bags, you can place items/cards inside the bag or draw on the bag for extra fun and practice. Ask your student to help you set it up to get even more practice!
So, what goals can you target? What can't you target should be the question!
communication temptations: place the pins and the ball in a clear tote.
turn taking: take turns rolling the ball, setting pins up, or cleaning pins up.
prepositions: aim for a particular pin and talk about where pins are while you are setting up the game
functional vocabulary: early vocabulary words and phrases such as go, my turn, stop, down, up, more.
concepts: fast, slow, up, down, all, some, none, same, different
negations: talk about which pins you didn't hit or aren't standing
plurals: model if you knocked over more than one pin
speech sounds: think of target words that occur naturally in the activity that have your sound
If you're interested in learning how to simply your therapy (we share HUNDREDS of simple and actionable tips and ideas in the course), check out the Ultimate Play Based Speech Therapy Course! We have created 13 practical modules to teach you everything from how to choose a toy, how to plan a session, how to take data, how to play and groups and MORE! Doors open twice a year, so make sure to get on the Waitlist!