Summer School Speech Therapy- Let’s Go Camping!

 

 

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

 

 The camping theme is a favorite summer speech therapy because it’s fun. I have 15 ideas for you for preschool and elementary. including a scavenger hunt  and microwaved s’mores. 

You’ll need a campfire. (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 over 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.

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

Boris Goes Camping by Carrie Weston

Curious George Goes Camping by Margaret and H.A. Rey ( I still adore Curious George!)

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 a funny, rhyming misadventure!
Henry and Mudge and The Starry Night by Cynthia Rylant

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

 

 

More Speech Camping Theme Activities

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 the children you’ll give them clues, and they need to they need to guess which forest animal it is. For instance: This animal is black with a white stripe on it’s 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. From my Articulation and Language Activities for SK pack.

 

 

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.

Find something that is:

crunchy
smooth
rough
bumpy
brown
fuzzy
hard
heavy
light
tiny
soft
broken
that smells
that grows

 

You’ll need:

graham crackers

marshmallows

chocolate bars

paper plates

 

Language Goals to target:
Making requests/ formulating complete sentences: Have your children ask you for each ingredient 

 

Describing: Feel, taste a bit of each ingredient. Is it crunchy or soft? Smooth or rough? Sweet or sour? 

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?

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.

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 Friends!