Autumn is Calling!
As fall approaches, the air is crisp and cool. The fall colors are beautiful and the animals are busy preparing for winter. After a long hot summer, it is the perfect time to explore outside while practicing speech and language skills in a natural environment. This blog post includes some of my favorite fall speech and language activities for children. Whether you are a parent, teacher, or speech-language pathologist, I hope you will find some new ideas!
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Apples
There are so many fun ways to use APPLES during speech and language sessions! You can sort, describe and compare apples (How are these two apples the SAME? How are they DIFFERENT?). You can talk about the parts of an apple (stem, core, seeds, skin, leaf). Don’t forget to review the apple sequence (seed, sprout, tree, blossom, apple)! Depending on your preference, you could use real apples or a toy set like this one: Apple Sorting.
If you are looking for a printable activity, you might be interested in “Speech Apples“. This resource features an apple theme and can be used with dot markers, magnetic chips, mini erasers, etc. The Apple Craft pictured above targets speech and language skills (articulation, fall vocabulary, apple sequence, etc).
There are also many apple snacks that you could make together. This website features some adorable apple snacks. I especially like the Apple Smiles and the Apple Turkey! Practice sequencing and following directions as you slice the apples and assemble the snacks. Practice descriptive language as you taste the different varieties (SWEET, TART, CRUNCHY, JUICY, etc)! One of the teachers in our school used to make applesauce in a crockpot with apples from her yard each fall. The halls filled with the smell of cinnamon as we anticipated the applesauce all day. We reviewed the applesauce sequence with the students as we waited for the apples to cook. Finally, we enjoyed the applesauce at the end of the day!
Fall Scavenger Hunt
One of my favorite fall speech and language activities is going outside and searching for fall items. When we take our session outside, we are engaging all of our senses. We can SEE signs of fall, HEAR the leaves crunching under our feet, FEEL the wind, and SMELL the trees. If going outside is not an option, you could always set up a scavenger hunt inside by hiding leaves, acorns, pine cones, apples, mini pumpkins, etc around the room (or in a sensory bin). Collect the items, describe them, and compare them with one another. Put one in a box or bag and play guessing games to practice listening and descriptive language. Click on the image below for two FREE printable scavenger hunts (Fall scavenger Hunt and Fall Color Hunt) to help support speech and language skills! Depending on your student’s goals, you could target fall vocabulary, commenting, pronoun “I”, answering questions, expanding utterances, or even speech carryover skills. A scavenger hunt pairs well with the book We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger.
Harvest
It is also fun to explore vegetables during the fall season. You can compare and contrast different vegetables. Sequence vegetable soup (pretend or real). Set up a fall sensory bin with corn or beans and toy vegetables. My youngest students always love Mr Potato Head and these veggie friends “Spud Buds” are a fun fall addition (Mr. Corn Head, Mr. Carrot Head, etc). You can even make your own Mr. Pumpkin Head with a foam pumpkin from Dollar Tree! (see photo above). Simply poke holes in the pumpkin and use with Mr. Potato Head body parts. The harvest theme also ties in with Thanksgiving foods so it can carry into November.
Fall Games
There are a few commercially available games that I like to use in the fall:
Squiggly Worms Catch the wiggly worms and match the colors
Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Use the squirrel tongs to collect acorns as you play this simple game (see photo above)
Hoot Owl Hoot A cooperative matching game by Peaceable Kingdom
Finally, I have also listed a few of my favorite fall activities below from the Pinwheel Speech store:
Fall Trees Printable Articulation Activity (see photo above). This resource pais well with the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game. Don’t miss these FREE SAMPLE pages on TPT.
Fall BINGO Read riddles and try to guess the fall item that is being described
Fall Hidden Pictures Use a magnifying glass to search for articulation words and fall vocabulary pictures (see image below):
Stay Tuned!
You might also be interested in this blog post that is all about my favorite Fall books! I will also be sharing my favorite Halloween activities in October. What are some of your favorite fall speech and language activities? I would love to learn some new ideas! Comment below!
