By: Kacy Leuke, M.S., CF-SLP
Speech and language therapy shouldn’t be something that you have to fight to fit into your schedule. Make it easy on yourself! Practicing speech and language in the car is a great option for families who are always on the go. Below are a few ideas for activities that you can use with your child during your car rides.
I Spy
I Spy is one of the easiest speech and language activities that you can do with your child in the car, plus it’s fun! This game can be very helpful for targeting your child’s vocabulary and categorization skills. You can choose a specific category for you and your child to work on while playing the game. For example, maybe during the first round of the game, you’ll want to target colors. For the second round, you could target textures (e.g., bumpy, smooth). Then, for the last round, you could target sizes (e.g., small, gigantic). This game is also great for practicing your child’s speech sounds, especially /s/. Have them focus on making their good speech sounds while saying, “I spy with my little eye, something…” On the other hand, if they are the one trying to guess what you spy, have them focus on their speech sound while they ask you questions.
Story Telling
Another great activity that can be used to target your child’s speech and language skills is to create stories together. Have one person start by making up a sentence, then each person in the car can take turns adding onto the story by making up their own sentence. This can help your child practice skills such as story grammar (e.g., characters, setting, problem), vocabulary knowledge, proper sentence structure, sequencing, and more! This activity can also be used to work on your child’s speech sounds. Tell your child to remember to use their good speech sounds while they are making their sentences, and that you will help them if they need to fix any sounds. Not only is this activity great for your child’s speech and language skills, but it can also make some pretty funny memories.
Search for Your Sound
An easy and fun activity to work on your child’s speech is to search for objects either in or outside of the car. Make sure that these objects include your child’s target speech sound. For example, if your child is working on /r/, you may find objects such as a tree, road, store, red stop sign, or car. If your child is in the mood for a competition, you can see who is able to find 5 objects that include your child’s target sound the fastest.
20 Questions
A game that many kids love to play is 20 questions. You or your child can pick a mystery word, while the other has the opportunity to ask only 20 questions in order to determine what the mystery word is. This activity can be really helpful for your child’s skills with categorization, deductive reasoning, asking and answering questions, vocabulary, and turn-taking. Once again, like most activities, it can be used to practice speech as well. Your child can focus on producing their target speech sound correctly while they ask or answer questions during the game.
If you’re looking for something even more straightforward for practicing speech in the car, you can simply have your child practice their speech sounds in words, sentences, or conversation (depending on what level they’re at) while you’re in the car. For example, you can say words or sentences that target the sound your child is working on by having them play copycat. If your child is targeting /g/, you could have them copy the words, “game, green, bug, frog…” or sentences such as, “the girl gave me grapes.” Sometimes it can also be fun to have your child try to come up with their own silly sentences using their target sound. You can tell them, “Make a silly sentence using the word goat.” If your child is working on their sounds in conversation, tell them to try to think about their target sound while you are talking to each other during the car ride. Let them know that you will be reminding them to fix their sound if they forget and that once the car ride is over, they can be done working on their sound.
All of these activities aim to make speech and language practice as easy and stress-free as possible. It also doesn’t hurt to have some fun while you’re doing it!
Want to make sure your child is on track for their speech and language development? We offer free screenings! Give us a call to learn more!
Enrichment Therapy & Learning Center has locations in the Iowa City, IA area and Des Moines, IA area. We provide individual speech-language therapy and tutoring as well as offering small group academic programs. At Enrichment Therapy & Learning Center our passion is to help kids achieve effective communication skills and gain academic success. Contact us for more information on how we can help your child succeed.
info@enrichmenttherapies.com
740 Community Drive, Unit A
North Liberty, IA 52317
319-626-2553
infodm@enrichmenttherapies.com
5530 West Pkwy, Suite 300
Johnston, IA 50131
515-419-4270
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