Speech Development Session Structure
Speech Development Activities for Children
Speech Development Session Structure
This guide offers fun and interactive activities to help children develop speech skills, improve physical balance, and strengthen sensory-motor connections through engaging exercises.
1. Physical Warm-Ups
These activities help children stay active, improve focus, and prepare for speech exercises by boosting energy and brain flow.
Ragdoll: Stand with feet apart, arms relaxed by your sides. Bend forward at the waist, keeping legs straight (or slightly bent if it's hard), letting your head and arms hang loosely. Hold for 10-15 seconds, then slowly stand up. Do this once.
Friendly Hands: Stand with palms pressed together at chest level, elbows out, arms parallel to the floor. Squeeze palms tightly for 5-10 seconds, then relax for the same time.
Hands Argue: Same starting position. Interlock fingers (like hooks or woven together). Pull hands apart without letting fingers separate, hold for 5-10 seconds, then relax for the same time.
Jumping Shoulders: Stand with arms relaxed. Lift and lower one shoulder, then the other, then both together like they're hopping up and down.
Turtle: Pretend to be a turtle. Stretch your neck forward and up (shoulders down) like peeking out of a shell, then pull your chin to your chest (shoulders up) to hide. Turn your head side to side slowly.
2. Sensorimotor Speech Foundation
These exercises connect sensory and motor skills, building a strong base for speech development.
A. Breathing Exercises
Inhale-Exhale: Lie on your back, head straight, arms along your sides, palms flat, fingers still. Keep legs straight and still. On the adult's "inhale" command, breathe deeply through your nose (mouth closed). On "exhale," breathe out noisily through a wide-open mouth.
Balloon Belly: Lie on your back. Start with an exhale, pause, then breathe in deeply through your nose, feeling your belly rise like a balloon. Place a hand on your belly to check. Hold briefly, then exhale slowly through your mouth. Follow the adult's commands or count: inhale on "one," exhale on "two."
B. General Motor Skills
Pharaoh: Lie on your back, head still, eyes on the ceiling, mouth closed, arms along your sides, palms flat, fingers still, legs straight and still. On "one," lift your head without raising your shoulders. On "two," lower your head and relax.
Log Roll: Roll across the floor like a log in two ways:
Arms and legs straight, arms pressed to sides (like standing tall).
Legs straight, arms stretched overhead, palms touching.
C. Fine Motor Skills (Hand Coordination)
Clap Game: Clap your hands, then clap with a partner (both with crossed arms), clap alone, clap with your partner's left hand to your right, clap alone, clap with your partner's right hand to your left. Add more claps to make it trickier.
Walking with a Pencil: Hold a pencil between your fingers so the middle and ring fingers are under it, and the index and pinky are on top. Walk the pencil across a table using your middle and ring fingers, changing speed. Repeat 3-4 times.
Thumb Dance: Interlock fingers, leaving thumbs free. Slowly rotate your thumbs around each other at a steady speed in one direction, making sure they don't touch. Focus on the movement. Stop when the adult says "stop."
D. Articulation Exercises
Scared Chick: Stand, hands on hips. Open and close your mouth wide, stretching the corners, keeping your tongue (the "chick") still in its "nest."
Advanced: Bend elbows, fists at shoulder level, palms up. Open and close fists as you open and close your mouth.
Smile-Tube: Stand, hands on hips. Switch between pulling lips forward into a tube and stretching them into a smile, keeping teeth hidden.
Advanced: Bend elbows, palms up at shoulder level. Push arms forward with the "tube" lips, then spread arms sideways with the "smile."
3. Sound Awareness
Learn about loud/quiet and high/low sounds to sharpen listening skills.
Wonder Sounds: Listen to nature sound recordings. Talk about what you hear, how sounds are alike or different, and where you might hear them. Start with very different sounds, then try similar ones.
Two Rabbits Game: Use simple instruments (e.g., piano, whistle). Guess if the "big rabbit" or "small rabbit" is playing based on how loud the sound is.
Three Bears Game: An adult uses different voices behind a screen for Papa Bear, Mama Bear, or Baby Bear. Guess who's talking based on voice pitch. Then, try speaking as your favorite bear.
4. Naming and Vocabulary
Moving Day: Each child gets 2-4 pairs of similar item pictures (e.g., cup-glass, scarf-hat, mittens-gloves). The adult names one item, and children pick the right picture to pack in a box. If you pick the wrong one, you keep it. The goal is to have no pictures left.
Lotto: Each child has 4-7 pictures. The adult pulls a picture from a box. If you have it, name it correctly to win it. Only the right name gets the picture.
5. Logical-Grammatical Skills
Front and Back: Look in a mirror and name body parts in front (e.g., nose) and behind (e.g., back). Then, with eyes closed, touch and name front or back parts.
Hand and Body: With an adult in front of a mirror, do actions together, saying: "Hand above head," "Hand under nose," "Hand behind ear," etc.
Higher-Lower: With an adult, name body parts' positions (e.g., "What's at the top? Bottom?"). Then answer: "What's above the mouth?" or "What's lower than the shoulders?" Later, try with eyes closed.
6. Connected Speech
Encourage kids to enjoy stories and talk about them to build conversation skills.
I See, I Say: Talk about daily activities (e.g., at home, the store, or school) in detail. Use questions and answers to help kids share their thoughts fully.
7. Listening and Speech Attention
Use speech activities to practice listening, recognizing sounds, and building vocabulary.
Freeze Game: Move in a circle and freeze when you hear a chosen sound (e.g., bird song, drum, whisper, vowel "A"). Stay frozen until the adult says to move.
Signal Game: Clap, stomp, raise a flag, or jump when you hear a specific sound (e.g., car engine, bird song, loud/quiet sound, a vowel, or a word like "pigeon").
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