Twenty 5-Minute Speech Therapy Activities You Can Do at Home
The goal of each 5-minute session will be to get your child to practice the skill correctly as many times as possible (by practicing accurately).
Imagine shooting for 50-100 repetitions of the same skill. You may not always get to that but it's a great goal. So, if your child is working on saying the "p" sound, you want him to say that sound 50-100 times while you do a quick activity.
Or, if your child is practicing pronouns, you want him to repeat 50-100 sentences that use the pronouns "he" or "she" while doing the activity.
If the skill you're doing takes a little longer to practice, you can reduce the target number of repetitions. In order to make this happen, you will need an activity that doesn't take a lot of time and won't take away from the goal of the 5 minutes, which is to practice the skill over and over again.
Here are some great ideas of activities you can do while getting your child to practice his skill:
--Use a Counter
Go to a sporting goods store and purchase a counter. This is a small, round object with a single button. Each time you push the button, the counter goes up by one.
Set a goal for your child (number of repetitions) and tell him to push the button each time he/she does the skill correctly.
--Once he/she hits the target number, he/she's done.
Time them and see if he/she can beat their old score (but he/she has to say it correctly for it to count, no rushing through and messing up!).
--Bankruptcy Game
Put a bunch of plastic coins in a bag but color one of them red. After each repetition, you and your child will both pull out one coin. If anyone pulls out the red coin, they have to put all of their coins back (bankrupt!). Whoever has the most coins after 5 minutes wins.
--Hold Yoga Poses
Look for pictures of yoga poses for kids online. Have your child choose one and hold it while he/she does his skill. See how many repetitions he/she can get in before he/she loses the pose.
--Trace Lines or Shapes
Draw lines or shapes on a piece of paper. Then, laminate that page or put it in a plastic sheet protector. Have your child trace the lines or shapes with a dry erase marker while repeating his skill. When he/she's done, erase and use again next time.
--Put Blocks on a Tower
Each time your child practices the skill, give him a block to place atop a tower. When the tower falls, take the blocks back and start over. See how tall he/she can make it before it falls.
--Play Hopscotch
Draw a hopscotch track (or other shapes/numbers) on the ground and have your child do the skill once before each jump or move on the track.
--Turtle Race
You need at least 2 people for this but you can be the second person if need be. Have both people sit on their bottoms with their knees up. Each time your child does the skill, everyone gets to move forward one scoot. Bottom must stay on the ground, no picking it up and jumping. Whoever gets the farthest in 5 minutes wins.
--Moving Beans or Marbles
Place beans or marbles in a small container. Get a second similar container. For each repetition, move one bean or marble to the other container. When all the beans/marbles are moved, you're done!
--Make Me Jump
Each time your child does the skill, have someone else (you or another adult/child) jump or do another action. See how many times your child can make that person jump during 5 minutes.
--Playdough
Give your child a pinch of playdough (or a similar substance) for every repetition. Once your child has all of the playdough, he/she can play with it.
--Tickle Me
Start with your hand on your child's head or toes. For each repetition, move slightly closer to his belly. When you get to their belly, tickle them like crazy. Then, start over and repeat until the 5 minutes is up.
--Go for a Walk
When you are walking somewhere with your child, have him take one step for every repetition. Try this one when you're walking to the playground from the car or into the house when you get home.
--Stoplight Speech
While you're sitting at a red stoplight, see how many times your child can do the skill correctly before the light turns green.
--Playing Cards
Get a playing card for every repetition. When your child has all of the playing cards, you can play the game with him.
--Blowing Bubbles
Blow bubbles for every 10 repetitions that your child does.
--Puzzle Pieces
Give your child a puzzle piece for every 10 repetitions he/she does.
--Graph Your Results
Count how many correct productions your child can do in 5 minutes. Graph that on graph paper and see if he can beat it the next time.
--Connect Four...Or More!
Drop connect four pieces into the game randomly, one for each repetition. At the end, see if there are any patterns or designs created from where they all landed.
--Wind-Up Toys
Wind up a toy and let it go. See how many times your child can do the skill correctly before it runs out of power.
--Throw a Ball
Throw a ball back and forth and play catch while your child practices the skill.
Author, Carrie Clark, M.S. CCC-SLP