
Choosing speech therapy activities for group speech and language sessions can be a challenge.
You spend so much time redirecting behavior, that you can only manage to get a few repetitions for each student and by the end of the session you’re frustrated and exhausted. Sound familiar? Here’s the secret:
Use hands-on, high-interest speech therapy activities that keep little hands engaged!
Add an action verb like “smash” to the task, and the kids are all for it. I’m going to share my favorite hands-on speech therapy activities to keep those wiggly, antsy little ones engaged and focused during sessions. Activities that are low to no-prep and don’t interrupt the flow of your sessions.
Let’s talk about a favorite way to use play dough…

Keep children engaged with play dough and smash mats.
How to use smash mats in speech therapy
2. Give each child some dough and have them roll small balls to put on top of each circle. I like to give my kiddos extra so they don’t have wait time after rolling the balls. They can continue rolling and squishing their extra dough while waiting their turn.
- final “sh” or verbs: Have your student say “squish, squash” as they smash their dough.
- the pronoun “I” or verb tenses: Prompt students to say “I will smash it. Smash! or “I smashed it.”
- Expanding sentences or using descriptive words: “I smashed the green one. I smashed the red one.”