Articulation

Grades K-2

• Speech sound scavenger hunt - Look around your home and outside in your neighborhood for things that contain your child's target speech sound(s). You can even take a picture of each item with your cell phone and keep them in a folder to use as your child's personal picture word list.

• I Spy - Choose an object in the room that starts with your child's target sound (e.g. "couch" if the child's target sound is /k/) and give a clue: "I spy with my little eye something..." The child must guess the object.

• Read Together - Even if your child cannot yet read, books are a terrific way to practice speech sounds. As you read to your child, point out words that contain his or her target sound and have them repeat them after you. Point out the spelling of the word. Seeing the connection between the letters and correct speech sounds will support both their speech sound development and reading skills. If your child can read, go through the book first to find any words that contain the target sound. Have your child say them, then go back and read the book aloud to you.

• Board Games - Any board game can be used. Before the child's turn, they must say words from their practice list. For games that contain dice, the number they roll can be both the number of spaces they move and the number of words they have to say before moving.

• Sound Collage - Using magazines or catalogues, have the child cut out several pictures that have their sound. You can talk about whether the sound is at the beginning, middle, or end of the word. As the child says the word, they glue the picture to a large piece of construction paper to make a collage.

Grades 3-5

Any of the activities above would also be appropriate for grades 3-5. Here are some more activities that work well for older children:

• Reading - Your child may no longer read aloud to you often at this age, but this is a good way to help them carry over their speech sound progress into their everyday speech. Give them a limit, such as two pages of a chapter book or 5 minutes of reading. Have them read aloud to you, and make sure to tell them to focus on producing their target sound correctly in any words they find.

• Wacky Web Tales - This is a fun way to get kids thinking about speech sounds and practicing them in reading. These are like free online Mad Libs. Choose a story to do, then work with your child to think of words that contain their target sound. Select "See Your Wacky Web Tale." Then have your child read the story, focusing on his/her target sound. Find the website here: Wacky Web Tales

• Pictionary - Write out words that contain the target sound on strips of paper. They must be things that can be drawn. Put the paper strips in a bowl and take turns being the drawer and the guesser. You can still make this work with just two players! Set a timer on your phone and work together to see how many you can draw/guess in a certain amount of time.

• Charades - Just like for Pictionary, write out words that contain the target sound on strops of paper. They must be things that can be acted out. Take turns being the actor and the guesser!

• Mommy Speech Therapy - FREE picture word, phrase, and sentence lists for all speech sounds.

• Custom Bingo Cards: http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/ (choose words/pictures with your child's target sound)

• Do 2 Learn (songs for speech sounds): https://do2learn.com/games/Sing-A-Long/Frameset.htm

• Kenn Nesbitt's Poetry4Kids: https://www.poetry4kids.com (read the silly poems using best speech sounds)

• Lonn Swanson’s online artic games: http://www.quia.com/pages/speechersclass.html

• Mrs. Ramsay's online games (all pictures for non-readers): https://www.quia.com/pages/allpicturesfun.html

• Quia - mixed articulation and language games: https://www.quia.com/shared/speech_therapy/

• Tongue Twisters: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/tongue-twisters (practice the ones that contain your child's speech sound)

• Tracey Boyd’s online artic games: http://www.quia.com/pages/havemorefun.html

• Very Silly Tongue Twisters: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~ralph/tt.html

• Wacky Web Tales: http://www.eduplace.com/tales/ (have your child use words with their target sound to complete the stories)

• Word Dice game: http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2literacy.html (scroll past the first few games to get to "Word Dice"; use words with your child's sound and have them say the words that are rolled)