Winter Speech Therapy Activities for Children at Home

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? 

The holidays may have ended, but, let’s face it — the snow is here to stay for a while! This time of year in Erie, PA there’s usually plenty of snow to build a snowman (or five). Building a snowman with your child can be a fun and engaging way to incorporate some speech and language fun! Below are a few fun ways you can use Mr. Snowman to target your child’s speech and language goals: 

• Planning, describing, and sequencing – Before you go outside and get to work, do some planning. Encourage your child to explain how to build a snowman. Have your child describe the steps you will take to build your snowman (or woman). Discuss the sequence of events that you and your child will take to build your snow person. Encourage your child to use words, such as, “first”, “next”, “then”, “last”. For example: “First, you take a large ball of snow for the bottom. Then, you roll a smaller ball of snow for the middle. Last, roll the smallest ball for the head”. If your child is able, it would be beneficial to grab a pencil and paper; write these steps down to have your child practice his/her written language. Describing is a fantastic way for your child to practice his/her expressive language skills. After you have done some planning, bundle up, go outside, and put those skills into action… build that snowman! Encourage your child to follow his/her sequence for building the snowman. 
• Concepts/descriptive terms – The possibilities are endless for descriptive terms!
  • Concepts/descriptive terms to discuss while building a snowman:
    • Cold
    • White
    • Wet
    • Big/small
• Body part identification, clothing vocabulary – While you and your child are building your snowman, review body parts and clothing vocabulary.
  •  Body parts:
    • Head
    • Nose
    • Eyes
    • Mouth
  • Clothing vocabulary
    • Hat
    • Scarf
    • Sweater
• Recall – After you get back inside and are able to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate, review and ask your child to recall how he/she built the snowman.
• Speech sound practice – Building snowman provides many opportunities to work on the /s/ (e.g., silly, sing) and /s/ blend (e.g., snowman, snow, Frosty, scarf, snowflake, hats, sweater, mittens, sticks) sounds. Sing Frosty the Snowman and/or read the book with your child. As you are singing and/or reading, misarticulate some of the words that include your child’s speech sounds. See if he/she is able to recognize that you mispronounced the word and if he/she is able to correct you! 

Don’t be afraid to get outside and play! Working on speech and language while having fun is one of the best ways to ensure that your child remembers the skills! Don’t be afraid to get outside and play!