6 Practical Activities to Elicit Language at Home
Whether you’re a parent looking for ways to carry-over activities your Speech Language Pathologist has given you to practice with your child at home, a parent who has concerns about your toddler/child’s speech and language development, or a Speech Therapist looking for helpful strategies to help out a parent in need, these activities offer creative approaches to working with limited resources.
We don’t all have access to the latest and greatest material, toys, or resources - let alone the dollars to spend on them. Sometimes, we need to make do with what we already have, or get creative with it! These six activities give you a list of what you need and how to use them to your child’s advantage when targeting language enhancement.
For parents of Late-Talkers or children with limited expressive vocabulary, check out our printable resource:
iSpy
What can I use?
Books
Picture albums
Familiar toys
Kitchen items
Pictures on iPhone/tablet
Living room items
Bathroom items
Backyard items
Bedroom items
iPad/tablet videos or games
Language target examples:
Family member names
Clothing (shoes, hat, shirt, pants)
Outdoor things (clouds, swing, grass, ball)
Functions
Sizes
Shapes
Tastes
Smells
Textures
2. Sand play
What can I use?
Kinetic sand
Homemade sandbox
Outdoor sandbox
Box of sand and preferred plastic toys
Jar of sand and beads
Sand table
Playground sand
Language target examples:
Describing words: “dry, fun, slow, crumbly”
Core words: “more, where, want, up, down”
Increasing length of utterances
Locations (in/out/on/under)
Naming: “boat, cup, bowl, shovel”
Actions: “dig, drop, fall, move”
3. Make up a story together
What can I use?
Picture book (may or may not have words inside)
Familiar toy items
Pictures on iPhone/Tablet app
Bath time routine
Dinner time
Paper and pencil
Another play activity such as: building a fort, sock puppet show
Language target examples:
Turn-taking
Narrative development
Use of new vocabulary words
Sentence structure and word order
Literacy development
4. Build a fort
What can I use?
Couch pillows
Couch cushions
Extra bed pillows
Small corners or nooks
Mail boxes
Moving boxes
Old shoe boxes
Language target examples:
Actions: “throw, catch, crawl, jump, crash”
Locations: “on top, under, next to, on, in, off”
Increasing length of utterance “Whoa!” —> “Whoa big jump!”
Describing words: “big, small, scary, fun, tall, short”
5. Homemade playdough
What can I use?
For homemade play dough recipes, all you need is:
canola or vegetable oil
water
cream of Tartar or lemon juice
salt
flour
food coloring or kool-aid packets
Language target examples:
Describing words: “squishy, (colors), long, short, big, small”
Locations: “under/over, in front/behind, above/below”
Naming pretend objects made from the play dough: “rainbow, apple, cherry pie, car, doll”
Pretend play (eating, drinking)
6. Have a sock puppet show
What can I use?
Old socks
Wash cloths
Old beanies or cloth hats
Paper towel
Old bathroom or dish rags
Old pillow cases
Fabric from old clothes
Language target examples:
Narrative development
Actions
Describing words
Pronouns
Word order
Increasing length of utterance
Introducing new vocabulary words through repetition and context