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6 Practical Activities to Elicit Language Opportunities at Home

Heather Ismay

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:

20 First Word Tracker & Parent Survival Guide

  1. 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

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