On-the-Go Speech Activities for the Car

Speech and language therapy shouldn’t be something you have to fight to fit into your schedule. Make it easy on yourself with on-the-go speech activities you can use anywhere, especially in the car. Practicing speech and language during car rides is a great option for families who are always on the move. Below are a few ideas you can try with your child.

I Spy

I Spy is one of the easiest speech and language activities you can do with your child in the car, and it’s fun too. This game can be very helpful for targeting your child’s vocabulary and categorization skills. You can choose a specific category to work on during each round. For example, target colors in the first round, textures (like bumpy or smooth) in the second, and sizes (like small or gigantic) in the third.

This game is also great for practicing speech sounds, especially /s/. Have your child focus on making their good speech sounds while saying, “I spy with my little eye, something…” If they’re the one guessing, have them focus on their speech sound while they ask you questions.

Storytelling

Another great way to target your child’s speech and language skills is to create stories together. Have one person start with a sentence, then let each person in the car take turns adding onto the story. This activity helps your child practice story grammar (characters, setting, problem), vocabulary knowledge, proper sentence structure, sequencing, and more. It can also be used to work on speech sounds. Tell your child to remember to use their good speech sounds while making their sentences, and let them know you’ll help if they need to fix any sounds. Beyond building speech and language skills, this activity tends to make some pretty funny memories too.

Search for Your Sound

An easy and fun activity for working on speech is to search for objects in or outside the car that include your child’s target speech sound. For example, if your child is working on /r/, look for objects like a tree, road, store, red stop sign, or car. If your child enjoys a little competition, see who can find five objects with the target sound the fastest.

20 Questions

Many kids love playing 20 questions. One person picks a mystery word, and the other has 20 questions to figure out what it is. This activity helps build categorization, deductive reasoning, question asking and answering, vocabulary, and turn-taking. Like the other activities, it doubles as speech practice, since your child can focus on producing their target sound correctly while asking or answering questions.

Simple Speech Sound Practice

If you’re looking for something more straightforward, have your child practice their speech sounds in words, sentences, or conversation, depending on their level, while you’re in the car. For example, play copycat with target words: if your child is working on /g/, have them repeat words like “game, green, bug, frog,” or sentences like “the girl gave me grapes.”

It can also be fun to have your child create their own silly sentences using the target sound. Try saying, “Make a silly sentence using the word goat.” If your child is working on their sound in conversation, ask them to think about their target sound while you talk during the ride. Let them know you’ll gently remind them to fix the sound if they forget, and that once the ride is over, they’re done working on it for the day.

We’re Here to Help

All of these activities aim to make speech and language practice as easy and stress-free as possible. It doesn’t hurt to have some fun while you’re doing it, either. Want to make sure your child is on track for their speech and language development? We offer free screenings. Contact us to learn more.