Thanksgiving
In this post, you’ll find Thanksgiving speech therapy ideas that are packed with opportunities to practice expressive language, articulation, following directions, and more. These ideas will bring a little holiday spirit—and a lot of learning—into your sessions this November.
Thanksgiving Themes
As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s the perfect time to bring a little seasonal fun into the speech room while building language, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills. Here are some of my favorite themes to consider as Thanksgiving approaches:
- Harvest (pumpkins, squash, corn, etc)
- Family/Friends
- Farm
- Turkeys
- Sharing/Caring
- Forest Friends (Bear Gives Thanks)
- Thanksgiving Foods
- Giving Thanks
Thanksgiving Books
Here is a short list of some Thanksgiving books for you to consider and some of the skills that you can target with each book. (includes Amazon affiliate links)
The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz (pictured above). The Ugly Pumpkin has waited all through October for someone to take him home, but no one wants him because he doesn’t look like other pumpkins. This book is great for practicing perspective taking and identifying feelings. You can also compare/contrast pumpkins vs squash.
Run, Turkey, Run! by Diane Mayr: Target /r/ “run”, repetitive line “Run Turkey Run”, farm animals, sequencing/retell, feelings/emotions, predictions/inferences, problem solving, compare/contrast the different farm animals in the story.
Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano: Target farm animal vocabulary, sequencing/retell, feelings/emotions, predictions/making inferences, problem solving, and compare/contrast the different farm animals in the story.
Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson: Target /th/ “thanks”, forest animals, foods, manners, sequencing/retell, and answering questions.
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson: Target /l/ “lady”, /s/ blends “swallowed”, rhyming, repetitive lines, sequencing/recall, food vocabulary. (Tip: I change the line “Perhaps she’ll die” to “I don’t know why”)
Thanksgiving Activities
- Playdough Turkey: One of my favorite Thanksgiving activities is making a playdough turkey! Give each student a small ball of playdough to form the turkey’s body. Provide colorful craft feathers, popsicle sticks, or pipe cleaners for the feathers. As students build their turkeys, they can choose feathers one at a time. For each feather, you could have them complete a task related to their speech and language goals (vocabulary, describing, articulation, answering questions, etc). Add googly eyes, a paper beak, and a red wattle. Review the activity at the end and practice sequencing the steps that you followed to make your turkey.
- Fall Sensory Bin: Fill a bin with dried corn kernels, beans, or rice. Add small pumpkins, acorns, artificial leaves, vegetables, and mini turkeys or farm animals. Students can take turns picking an item from the bin and describing it or answering a WH-question about it (e.g., “Where do you find acorns?” or “What color is the leaf?”). They can also sort toy vegetables and fruits. Help the squirrels find acorns or take turns hiding the turkey and then talk about where it was hiding. You can also add small picture cards or objects that relate to articulation targets. There are so many options!
- Chipper Chat® Let’s Talk Turkey (pictured above): One of my favorite open-ended activities for November is the Let’s Talk Turkey Chipper Chat® game from by Super Duper Publications® (pictured above). This resource includes magnetic chips, a magnetic wand, and 10 different game boards that you can use all year long. You can find a variety of different Chipper Chat® activities on the Super Duper website. As a Super Duper affiliate, I have a special code for you to use anytime you place an online order at Super Duper Publications®. Use code Pinwheel10 to save 10% off your order (only valid on regular priced merchandise). Click HERE for a link that automatically applies a 10% off discount at checkout.
- Turkey Talk Activity (pictured above) – Practice articulation skills as you decorate the turkey features with dot markers, stickers, crayons, magnetic chips, etc.
- Turkey Craftivity – Practice articulation and language skills with these turkey craft wheels.
- Pie Splat! – These smash mats are designed to be used with playdough. Your students can smash their playdough “pies” as they practice their articulation skills.
- Save the Turkeys! – Articulation Board Games (Print and Digital options) This activity pairs well with Run, Turkey, Run! and Turkey Trouble because the turkeys are running away from the farmer to get to the forest.
Digital Thanksgiving Resources:
- Turkey Match Memory Games Boom Cards – Articulation Activity
- Feed the Turkey Boom Cards – Articulation Activity
- Turkey Tac Toe – Articulation Activity
- FREE Turkey Tac Toe Boom Cards – R and R Blends Activity
- Guess My Turkey – Language Activity
Your turn!
I would love to hear some of your favorite Thanksgiving activities. Please comment below!
