Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Activities for Kids
Thanksgiving comes up so quickly after Halloween this year, and we all need quick, engaging activities to use in therapy that don’t require a ton of prep work, right? Here are some activities you can create today for tomorrow’s sessions! Whether you’re looking to target articulation, language, or even social skills, I’ve got you covered with some easy Thanksgiving-inspired ideas that keep kids engaged, practicing, and learning.
Thanksgiving comes up so quickly after Halloween this year, and we all need quick, engaging activities to use in therapy that don’t require a ton of prep work, right? Here are some activities you can create today for tomorrow’s sessions! Whether you’re looking to target articulation, language, or even social skills, I’ve got you covered with some easy Thanksgiving-inspired ideas that keep kids engaged, practicing, and learning. Let’s dive in!
1. Play-Based Language Activities Around Thanksgiving Dinner
What you’ll need: A play kitchen, some play food, or laminated Thanksgiving food pieces (check out my Thanksgiving Dinner Activity Set for easy printables!).
Set up a play kitchen and let kids “prepare” a Thanksgiving feast! This activity is fantastic for working on vocabulary, pronouns, and prepositions. Here’s how to make it interactive and packed with language practice:
Label Foods: Talk about each food item as kids place it on plates. (“That’s turkey! These are peas!”)
Pronouns: Use phrases like, “This is his plate,” “You have my mac and cheese,” or “Here is your milk.”
Prepositions: Practice positional concepts: “The turkey is next to the potatoes,” or “The pie is on the plate.”
Negation: “Uh-oh! I do not like green beans!”
With minimal setup, kids get tons of functional language practice—and they love taking on the “chef” or “server” role. Bon appétit!
2. Turkey Thanksgiving Articulation Craft
What you’ll need: Turkey cutouts, feathers with target sound pictures (or use my Thanksgiving Articulation Craft!).
Have a naked turkey ready for some colorful feathers! Each feather holds a word with your target sound, and kids can earn feathers by practicing each word. For variety, this craft doubles as a smash mat—just add play dough to each target spot for kids to press down as they say their words. This activity encourages repetition and reinforces sounds in a fun, creative way.
Colander Turkey
3. Colander Turkey Feathers for Spatial Concepts and Articulation Practice
What you’ll need: A turkey cutout, an upside-down colander, and craft feathers.
Tape your turkey cutout onto an upside-down colander and push real feathers into the holes. Each feather can represent a sound or phrase for practice, making it an ideal way to get tons of articulation trials. Plus, you can target spatial concepts like “on the side” or “in back” as they place each feather. It’s also a fine motor workout as kids practice their pincer grasp while pushing the feathers into the colander!
Thanksgiving Sensory Bin
4. Thanksgiving Sensory Bin
What you’ll need: Dried black beans or cereal for the base, laminated food items (find these in my Thanksgiving Visuals Set!), plus mini utensils, napkins, or small cups.
For my sensory bin fans out there (you knew this was coming, right?), here’s a Thanksgiving bin setup that’s simple yet effective. Toss in some dried beans, play food items, and a few extras like salt packets, napkins, or small cups. This bin invites language-rich play and helps kids explore textures, vocabulary, and functional language skills as they “serve” their Thanksgiving meal.
5. Turkey Farm Activities
What you’ll need: A play barn and, optionally, the book Turkey Goes to School by Wendi Silvano.
Farm activities are a great theme for November, and you can use them to act out scenarios around a farm or even “search” for turkeys hiding in the barn! Turkey Goes to School is a perfect companion—follow a turkey’s attempts to blend in with other animals so he can attend school. Kids can help act out the story and practice storytelling, sequencing, and imaginative play.
6. Recommended Thanksgiving Books
Nothing completes a session like a seasonal story, and these Thanksgiving and turkey-themed books bring language practice to life. Each is perfect for engaging little ones, enhancing vocabulary, and sparking conversation:
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey by Lucille Colandro
Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson
Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano
Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim
10 Hungry Turkeys by SpeechieTrish
Turkey Goes to School by Wendi Silvano
These stories are packed with repetition, humor, and Thanksgiving themes that resonate with kids of all ages. (These books are affiliate links. I only recommend books, toys, and activities that I love and use in my own practice!)
Wrapping It Up: Quick Reference
For those who skimmed to the end, here’s the quick version of the activities above:
Turkey Articulation Craft (or smash mat)
Colander Turkey Feathers Activity
Thanksgiving Sensory Bin
Turkey Farm Pretend Play
Recommended Thanksgiving Books (each book linked above)
May your sessions be as smooth as pumpkin pie!
Engaging Preschoolers with Interactive Storytime: Using Books, Props, and Play
Using props during storytime can make stories more meaningful and memorable for children. Props can include pictures, stuffed animals, and toys that children can hold and move as the story progresses.
As a speech-language pathologist, I often use books in my therapy sessions to create engaging and interactive themes that help target communication goals. Using books with young children encourages receptive and expressive language skills, facilitates “reading” and listening comprehension, expands vocabulary and syntactic skills, and promotes a love of reading.
As a speech-language pathologist, I often use books in my therapy sessions to create engaging and interactive themes that help target communication goals. Using books with young children encourages receptive and expressive language skills, facilitates “reading” and listening comprehension, expands vocabulary and syntactic skills, and promotes a love of reading.
“Language and literacy develop concurrently and influence one another. What children learn from listening and talking contributes to their ability to read and write and vice versa. For example, young children's phonological awareness (ability to identify and make oral rhymes, identify and work with syllables in spoken words, and the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds—phonemes—in spoken words) is an important indicator of their potential success in learning to decode print,” according to a Preschool Policy Brief by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University, April 2006.
Research tells us that children who fall behind in oral language and literacy development before formal schooling are less likely to become successful readers, and their achievement lag is likely to persist throughout primary grades and beyond. Therefore, it is crucial for SLPs, teachers, and parents to make reading and literacy fun and engaging. It’s not about sitting down to read or listen to an entire book; it’s about engaging children in the story, the pictures, and the words. We can do this by giving kids a “part” in the story with their words, sounds, movements, or props.
Engaging Children with Props:
Using props during storytime can make stories more meaningful and memorable for children. Props can include pictures, stuffed animals, and toys that children can hold and move as the story progresses. For example, books like "5 Little Ducks," "The Gingerbread Baby," and "Tip Tip Dig Dig" are perfect for incorporating props to engage children. I have a variety of book companions ready-made in my store that include props and activities to use in speech therapy, the classroom, and at home.
Types of Books That Engage Children
Books with Repetitive Text: Repetitive text helps children comprehend and remember the story due to repeat phrasing. "The Pout Pout Fish," "5 Little Ducks," and "It’s Mine" are excellent examples of books with repetitive text included in my water-themed companions.
Books That Encourage Movement: Movement helps children attend to longer stories and builds imitation skills and memory. Books like "Tip Tip Dig Dig," "The Napping House," and "Dinosaurumpus" are great for incorporating actions such as stirring, pouring, and whisking, using real-life objects. Click here for Movement themed book companions
To grab the bundle of book companions for year-round props and activities, including books with incorporated movement, repetitive text, lift-the-flap books, and interactive books, click below.
Want to know more about the types of books that best engage preschoolers?
Click to see this blog post, Top Children’s Books for Speech and Language Development. I’ve highlighted the top children’s books, linked all of the books and categorized them by type.
By using books, props, and play, we can create interactive and engaging storytimes that not only make reading fun but also support the speech and language development of young children.
Happy reading!