Best-Ever Books for Spring Speech Therapy: The Black Rabbit

Have you read The Black Rabbit book by Phillipa Leathers?

The Black Rabbit Book features a little bunny who is scared of his own shadow. A fun book for preschool and spring speech therapy

The Black Rabbit is a great storybook for speech therapy.

If you’re hunting for the best books for spring speech therapy, rabbit-themed storybooks are perfect. The theme makes it easy to work on articulation of initial /r/ or syllableness (bunny, rabbit). A favorite of mine is The Black Rabbit by Phillipa Leathers.

This story is sound-loaded with initial /r/. The main characters are Rabbit and Black Rabbit so of course, the word “rabbit” is repeated throughout the book, along with run, ran, and right.

A cute little rabbit wakes up and decides to step out of his burrow on a lovely sunny day.

But he is not alone… he sees something scary. It’s a great big black rabbit who follows him everywhere he goes.

My littles are captivated from the start as I read the story with a worried voice. They can relate to feeling scared. Rabbit tries to run away and hide, but no matter where Rabbit runs, Black Rabbit is right behind him.

In The Black Rabbit Book a little bunny is hiding from his own shadow! A story book sound-loaded with R for spring speech therapy

There are plenty of opportunities for wh questions and talking about feelings words while reading Black Rabbit.

Who is behind Rabbit? Why is Rabbit frightened? Where you ever scared? What scared you? What does Rabbit do first? Next? Where does he go? What do you think will happen?

After making several attempts to shake Black Rabbit, Rabbit finally runs into the deep dark wood.

Black Rabbit seems to be gone. But then, Rabbit sees two eyes in the dark! Pretty spooky for little ones right? At this point in the story, they are looking at me intently with worried little faces. On no! Who do you think it is? What will happen next?

A little bunny meets a scary wolf in the woods in The Black Rabbit. A great book that is sound-loaded with R for spring speech therapy.

It turns out to be a wolf and Rabbit runs as fast as he can out of the dark woods. Then, just when things seem desperate, and Rabbit thinks the wolf is about to get him, Black Rabbit shows up and scares away the wolf.

A little bunny walks off hand and hand with his large shadow. The Black Rabbit is a sweet book for preschool speech therapy.

After that, Rabbit is delighted that Black Rabbit is with him. And off they go together…because, of course, Black Rabbit is really just Rabbit’s shadow!

Follow up with more Rabbit and Bunny-themed speech therapy activities

Teach basic concepts with these resources:

Teach next to and between with Where is Bunny?

A set of three interactive books featuring a cute bunny in the spring garden. to teach the concepts of "next to" and "between" in speech therapy

Where is Bunny? Teach the position concepts of “next to” and “between.”

I designed this set of three interactive books to systematically teach positional concepts of next to and between.

So many of my students who are working on basic concepts get confused when they’re presented with an activity that targets multiple concepts. They need to learn a single concept at a time, with plenty of repetition, before they’re ready to tackle mixed concepts.

This simple story features a little bunny who sneaks into the garden.

The pages are shaped like a garden gate, which makes it extra fun. Children place their Bunny stick puppet “next to” or “between” items on the page. Each page in the book offers practice with the position concept, answering where? and learning garden vocabulary.

The pictures below show the “next to” book.

Where is Bunny? interactive book with a bunny stick puppet and moveable garden-themed pieces. Teach the concept of "next to" with this book.

Put Bunny “next to” items in the garden, then complete the sentence.

Next, complete the sentence by putting the matching picture on the sentence strip. Bunny is next to the cabbage. The repetitive text and errorless format provide plenty of support for early learners and the visuals are great with students on the spectrum as well!

Where is Bunny? interactive book with garden-gate pages and moveable garden-themed pieces. Teach the concept of "next to" with this book.

Where is Bunny Next to Book

Where is Bunny? interactive book with garden-gate pages and moveable garden-themed pieces. Teach the concept of "between" with this book.

Where is Bunny? Between Book

After practicing the concept of “next to” with the first book, we practice the position concept of “between” with a second book.

Once a student has mastered the individual concepts, it’s time for the mixed practice book.

Where is Bunny? interactive book with garden-gate pages and moveable garden-themed pieces. Teach the concepts of "next to" and "between" with this book.

Mixed practice with positional concepts of “between” and “next to.”

The books intentionally use a repetitive format and the same little bunny character reduces the learning load and allows the child to focus on the positional words.

There’s also a BW mini-book for homework and printables for extra practice.

A garden-themed cut and paste mini-book to teach the position concept of "next to" in preschool speech therapy

Garden-themed printables to teach the position concept of "between" in preschool speech therapy

Click here to see more of Where is Bunny?

Teach the same and different with Bunny Shapes

Clothespin task cards with bunny shapes and carrot shapes to teach the concepts of same and different in preschool speech therapy.

I have children who struggle with the concepts of same and different. These are pretty abstract concepts when you think about it. Matching is easier, you simply place the identical items together.

Choosing “the same” or “different” from a choice of three is just more difficult for some children.

My little ones really stay engaged with hands-on learning. I love incorporating fine motor practice too, so I designed these bunny and carrot clip-dot-punch cards and activities. It includes two sets: one targets the concept of “the same” and features cute bunny shapes. The second is a set with carrots that targets “different.”

Clothespin task cards bunny shapes to teach same and different in spring speech therapy

Clothespin task cards and more activities with bunny shapes and carrot shapes to teach the concepts of same and different in preschool speech therapy.

Get out the clothespins, dot markers or the hole punch and work those little fingers!

Use the cards 4 ways!
1. Print the cards in color or BW and use them as clothespin task cards. Children fasten the clothespin on the correct shape. Or…

Bunny shapes and carrot shapes: activities to teach the concepts of same and different in preschool speech therapy.

2. Print them in black and white and dab the correct pictures with dot markers.

3. Even more fun, especially for kindergarten and up… use a hole punch to mark the correct puncture!

4. They can also be printed out as a mini-book that includes a parent page to send for homework.

Get more practice with printables for folder games or cut-and-paste activities.

Folder games with bunnies and carrots to teach the concepts of "same" and "different" in speech therapy this spring.

I also included a fun open-ended game to use with any target.

An open-ended bunny shapes game for spring speech therapy.

What are some more fun themes for spring?

Try ducks, frogs, gardens, flowers, bugs or farm babies. You can find some inspiration on crafts, books, and activities for spring on my Spring Speech Therapy Activities Pinterest board.