Valentine's Day is a great time to celebrate love and friendship while working on treatment goals with students and children.
Here are some fun and creative ways to use Valentines Day in your speech and language goals this week.
Conversation hearts are inexpensive, colorful, small, and they don't melt in your hand! They are perfect for therapy.
Sort them by color, and then by size (if you buy a bag with varying sizes.)
You can also sort them by color of writing, number of letters, and number of words on the front of each heart.
Just make sure you read all the hearts first, just in case!
Flip the candies over and write single letters on the backs using permanent marker.
This would be a great way to practice phonemic awareness/spelling activities, and practice articulation sounds.
An example of a phonemic/sound play activity...keep two hearts with the letters A and T next to each other and have the child make different words by changing the first letter.
Example: RAT, CAT, BAT, SAT etc.
Use ten hearts and number them 1-10 using permanent marker. Put them in a box or paper sack.
The child will pull out a heart and that is the number of times they have to say a target word (quickly find target words with the Word Vault app or our online word lists.)
You could play this number game with other goals that require repetition practice, such as a fluency goal at the word or phrase level.
And the treat for completing therapy.... a couple conversation hearts of course!
Cut out 11 hearts (Easy way...fold paper/s in half and cut half a heart around the fold. This makes the most symmetrical hearts once unfolded!)
Then cut and paste these sentences to each heart.
Read this story to the children first, and then ask them to put the hearts in order.
Great for story retell and sequencing goals.(To make easier, only use sentences 1,4,5,8)
Once upon a time there was a queen. She was kind and loving to everyone she met! Her people called her the queen of hearts.
On Valentines Day the Queen decided to visit her dearest friend. She brought with her a dozen red roses and a box of chocolates.
When she knocked at her friend's door, no one answered. So she left the box of chocolates and roses on the porch.
When The Queen returned home, there was a box of chocolates with roses on HER porch too!
The gifts were from her dearest friend, the one she had just tried to visit.They were thinking of each other on Valentine's Day!
The End.
For comprehension, use the following questions...
Cut out ten hearts and print/cut/glue this list of directions (or write on the hearts)...
Then hang the hearts around the room and let the children find them and complete the directions.
Make this more difficult by putting two directions on each heart instead of one.
Tap your right foot.
Jump three times.
Touch your left ear.
Pat your head two times.
Take off your shoes then put them back on.
Spin in a circle with your arms out.
Look up and clap your hands.
Smile then take a bow.
Sing Mary Had a Little Lamb.
Frown and then smile.
Valentines week is a great time for kids to express their feelings to their family and friends. Utilize this language opportunity by making simple Valentine's Day cards.
This is good for verbal expression goals, using complete sentences, sequencing written language, reading aloud, etc.
Whether they make a list of things they love about their Mom, or write a nice letter to a friend, it's all great language practice.
Once the Valentine's card is finished, you can help them put it in an envelope (throw in a few conversation hearts) and it's ready for delivery! (Social goals, hello!!)
This photo website has pictures of hearts in abstract objects. Look through the pictures and choose five or ten to show your students.
This would be a useful activity for children with many types of expressive and receptive language goals, as well as fluency goals. As you look at the beautiful pictures, you can:
I also came across this fun website where you can make your own candy heart pictures...the sky's the limit with therapy here!
Happy Valentines Day!
Lindsey is an M.S. CCC-SLP from Salt Lake City, UT. She received both her B.S. and M.S. from Utah State University. When she's not chasing her 5 crazy kids around, she enjoys creating engaging speech therapy ideas and materials. Read More
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