St. Patrick's Day Themed Speech Therapy Lesson Plan

If you’re a pediatric Speech Language Pathologist looking for a fun St. Patrick' s Day speech therapy ideas, keep on reading!

There is something about Leprechauns that preschoolers, kindergarteners and early elementary students just LOVE.

Putting together a themed speech therapy session doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming. A combination of book, game, toy, movement activity, and hands on activity can make a quick theme come together!

Here are some fun and engaging therapy activities you can use in your speech therapy sessions.

Games:

RattleSnake Jake: This game might be the scariest of my speech therapy games but my kids love it! My favorite part is that you can use any mini objects for the game - you don't have to use the gold pieces that come with.

You can pair this game with my Speech Therapy Game and Toy Companions so you can target ANY goal (over 60 goals included, covering articulation, phonology, apraxia, language and more!) .

It includes all of this games (and waaayy more- over ONE HUNDRED) as well as some of my favorite toys!

Books:

How to Catch a Leprechaun: Part of the series: How to Catch a… book will have your students laughing and engaged! No matter the traps the kids in the story set, they just can’t catch the leprechaun. A perfect introduction to building your own Leprechaun trap! IF you're looking for a no-prep craft companion for this book (and over 100 others, check out my No Prep Book Craft Sheets.

The Night before St. Patrick's Day: A cute book all about getting ready for St. Patrick's day!

Sensory Bin:

A St. Patrick sensory bin will be a hit in your therapy room! A mix of shamrock stickers, green rocks, cut up green necklaces, and fillable pots (all from the Dollar store) are perfect fillers for this sensory bin!

If you want to start using sensory bins in speech therapy, but have no idea where to start, make sure to check out these blog posts “Making Sensory Bins on a Budget” and snag this free list of sensory bin fillers!

I also have a one stop product that includes labels, manipulatives, visuals and open ended scenes for over 30 themes - including yetis!! You can check out my Thematic Sensory Bin Product here.

Drill Activity

If you need a little bit of structure to get loads of trials - make sure to incorporate an activity that keeps your students engaged and encourages lots of practice. One of my favourites is this Themed Drill Sheet. Paired with mini erasers, mini objects, or a dry eraser maker this activity will keep your students practicing and engaged the entire time (honestly, I don’t understand why - but it’s true!). You can write in your own targets or use any of the over 60 goal strips included covering receptive language, expressive language, articulation, phonology and more!

Movement Activities

If your preschoolers are anything like mine, they NEED to move in speech. Here are some of my favorite preschool movement activity to use in speech therapy.

Leprechaun Says: One of my easy (and no prep) ways to incorporate movement is to play a variation of “Simon Says”. For a St. Patrick's Day theme, you can play “Leprechaun Says”. You can make the game as complex or simple as suitable for your student.

St. Patrick's Day Feed and Move: A feeding game with a twist! You and your student take turns spinning the spinner and doing the action towards the yeti to feed him a themed snack! Don’t drop the snack or you will have to start again! There are loads of therapy ideas included so you will be able to use it with your entire caseload! It also includes other winter characters so you can use it for a long time! I love to pair this game with any St. Patrick's Dayi themed book and pretend to feed the St. Patrick's Day characters!

Play Activities

St. Patricks' Day Critter Clinic: Transform your Clinic Clinic into a Leprechaun town and look for leprechauns, hide gold coins and more! Includes a cheat sheet for loads of goals to use in play!

Leprechaun Gold: Use a toy Pot of gold and some gold coins. For each production the child says correctly, let them keep a coin For any mispronounced words, put a coin in the pot for the Leprechaun. This was sooo motivating for my students!