15 Fun Summer Speech Therapy Ideas- Let’s Go Camping!

A camping theme is perfect for summer speech therapy

The school year has ended, but many children will still be attending speech therapy in summer school or private speech therapy. How do you keep children engaged when those warm breezes beckon outside

Camping is a favorite theme for summer speech therapy. I have 15 fun ideas for your preschool and elementary students, including a scavenger hunt and microwaved s’mores. Yum!

Set up camp

You’ll need a campfire for starters. (What’s camping without a campfire to sit around?)

Make your campfire from orange, red, and yellow tissue paper. Stuff the “flames” in a metal bucket or in the middle of paper towel tubes for “logs.” An electric tea light in the center would make it even better.

Grab a couple of bag chairs and put them next to the fire. Put a cooler in between them. You can make a “tent” by draping a sheet over a small table or a rope. If you have a small pop-up tent, use it. Your children will be thrilled!

If you’ll be working at a table, try throwing a red, checkered tablecloth over it to set the mood.

Camping theme books

You’ll have plenty of opportunities for wh questions and story retelling with these fun books:

Story Books:

• Boris Goes Camping by Carrie Weston
• Curious George Goes Camping by Margaret and H.A. Rey (Children love the mischievous chimp)
• Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping by Melanie Watt
• PJ Funnybunny Camps Out by Marilyn Sadler
• Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping by Peggy Parish
• A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen is a funny, rhyming misadventure!
• Henry and Mudge and The Starry Night by Cynthia Rylant

Poetry:

Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems by Kristine O’Connell George. These are lovely poems. Explore this book with your older students for vocabulary development.

More speech therapy camping theme activities

Go on a Bear Hunt

Check out The Bear Hunt by the Learning Station for some fun music and movement. It’s terrific for positional concepts and verbs.

Guess the forest animals: Name to a description

Tell your children you’ll give them clues, and that they need to guess which forest animal you’re describing.

For instance: “This animal is black with a white stripe on its back. It can smell quite stinky. What is it?”

Skunks have just the right amount of “ewww” to fascinate my children. This little cut-and-paste reader features a funny skunk, targets /sk/ blends, and has a funny ending.

This activity is from my Articulation and Language Activities for SK pack.

An owl-themed multiple meaning practice freebie

Whoo’s My Homophone? is a feathery free download for you in my store. Please leave me some love when you grab it (A review for this activity), it’s appreciated!

Stamp some stars for S-blends practice. 

Grab dark blue construction paper, a star-shaped cookie cutter and a bit of yellow tempera paint. Dip the cookie cutter in the yellow tempera and stamp it on the paper. Have your articulation students say “star” or “stamp a star” each time.

Go on a scavenger hunt outdoors.

Take a walk together and have your children find something that is:

• crunchy
• smooth
• rough
• bumpy
• brown
• fuzzy
• hard
• heavy
• light
• tiny
• soft
• broken
• smelly (good or bad)
• growing

Make microwave s’mores for sequencing, describing, requesting, and category practice.

Have your students predict what they’ll need to make s’mores.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• graham crackers
• marshmallows
• chocolate bars
• paper plates

Language goals to target:

1. Work on making requests and formulating complete sentences: Have your children ask you for each ingredient
2. Describing: Feel, then taste a bit of each ingredient. Is it crunchy or soft? Smooth or rough? Sweet or sour?
3. Vocabulary: campfire, flashlight, tent, stakes, compass, hike, backpack, bug spray… you get the idea!
4. Categories: Name more foods that are crunchy, soft, or sweet. What else can you make with chocolate?

You may want to “roast” the marshmallows over your “campfire” on a stick before putting your s’more together. What does “roast” mean? What else can you roast? What other food can you cook over the campfire on a stick?

Build your s’mores

Put half a piece of graham cracker on a paper plate. Add a piece of chocolate, then a marshmallow, and top with another half graham cracker. Now it’s ready to cook. 15 seconds in the microwave should do it. Be careful they’re not too hot in the center. Squish and eat! 

When you are finished, talk about how the ingredients changed. Describe the s’mores using “senses” words. How did it feel, taste, smell, look? Did they feel hot? Sticky? Gooey?

Have a good old-fashioned flashlight hunt for any target.

Turn off the lights and give the children flashlights. Have them find or illuminate articulation or language cards.

Find more great camping theme ideas 

On my Pinterest board: Camping Theme Speech Therapy

Find 10 Sizzling Summer Freebies for Speech and Language You’ll Love

Happy Summer!