Strategies for boosting your child’s speech and language skills don’t always have to be in your home or in a therapy setting. Now that the weather in Chicago is warming up (finally!), there are many ways to work on speech and language goals in your yard, a park, and any other outdoor setting!
Here are 5 spring-themed language building activities to work on with your toddler in the great outdoors:
- Take walks and talk about what you see on the way (birds, trees, dogs, cars, etc.). Talk about the colors, shapes and sizes (big/little) you see and sounds you hear. Use phrases such as “I see,” “I spy,” and “I found.”
- Make a list of spring items and go on a scavenger hunt.
- Play hide-and-seek with spring vocabulary picture cards. (See vocabulary suggestions below!) Discuss where the picture cards were found. For example, “I found flower on the bench” or “I found butterfly under the swing”.
- Play a matching game with spring vocabulary picture cards. Have your child identify what they have found and when they found the “same” or “different” picture.
- Read spring-themed books with your toddler, and use your outdoor surroundings to point out real-life things you see that are in the book! (See suggestions below!)
Spring Vocabulary Suggestions:
- Umbrella
- Rain
- Mud
- Rain Boots
- Puddle
- Lady Bug
- Worm
- Garden
- Flower
- Bird
- Butterfly
- Bee
- Snail
- Garden Gloves
- Seeds
- Flower Pot
- Cloud
- Sun
Spring-themed books we love:
- Splish, Splash, Spring
- When Spring Comes
- Frog and Toad Storybooks
- And Then It’s Spring
- There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Chick!
- There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Frog!
- Up, Down, and Around
Enjoy this time with your child, and as always–have FUN!
By Judy Morris, M.S.,CF-SLP