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As school-based speech-language pathologists, we run weekly whole group lessons in our classrooms. So as the Halloween season is approaching, we are sharing our themed speech and language whole group activities to help you go big or gourd home! Check out our spooktacular Halloween large group lesson ideas plus don’t miss our Free Build A Monster activity below.
We like to have three to five activities ready to go for a large group speech and language session. Sometimes classes move through activities very quickly and other times not so much. We find it is best to be prepared for anything! So here are our five Halloween themed activity ideas to do with a large whole class group!
Looking for more tips and tricks for planning a large group speech and language session? Check out our 5 Tips For Planning A Productive Large Speech & Language Group blog post here!
Halloween Speech and Language Whole Group Activity #1: Themed Book
We like to incorporate some type of literacy whether that be a book, chant, or call and repeat activity. Once we choose our literacy component, we like to plan the rest of the large group activities around the book theme!
With that being said, there are SOOOOOOOOO many fantastic Halloween book choices out there. Check out the list below of our favorites along with the Youtube links to each story.
- There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat
- Splat The Cat And The Pumpkin-Picking Plan
- Ten Timid Ghosts
- The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything
- EEK! Halloween!
- Five Little Pumpkins
- Little Blue Truck’s Halloween
- It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse!
For our Halloween themed speech and language group this year, we are excited to read Go Away, Big Green Monster with our little friends. We love this book because it targets so many language skills. Your speech and language students will enjoy identifying colors, producing adjective + noun phrases, answering WH questions, and sequencing.
I have super fond memories of this book as my supervisor during my education placement used this story. I had never heard it before then, but it has quickly become one of my favorites to teach especially during my whole speech and language groups.
Halloween Speech and Language Whole Group Activity #2: Interactive Fun
Now that we picked our literacy piece to our whole group Halloween lesson, we like to include an interactive activity. All of our classrooms have Smartboards or BenQ boards so we often use BOOM Cards. In case your classrooms do not, we are sharing a non-Smartboard activity as well!
Technology Activity
For those of you will technology available, we love to use BOOM Cards! For our lesson, we found these Halloween Basic Language cards from Play And Learn Resources. Want something to go closely along with our book theme? Check out these Go Away, Big Green Monster BOOM Cards from Speechin Made Easy.
Our students love coming up to the board to tap, move, and say whatever concept is being targeted. We have also found that waiting for a turn and listening to our friends is just as valuable!
In addition, I like to send a parent email home at the end of each week with a summary of my whole group lessons. Through the BOOM Cards website, you can create a “fast pin” link with a password. This link alongs parents to access the deck of BOOM Cards at home for one week. Perfect for carry-over at home and additional practice. Plus parents love seeing what their child worked on during the school day!
Read More: How To Increase Speech & Language Parent Involvement
Non-Technology Activity
Another activity we love to use in a whole group Halloween lesson is to make a monster face together! Print and cut out our Free Build A Monster activity. You can laminate the activity for repeated use or color the blank templates whatever color you would like!
We like to stick a magnet on the back of each piece then use a cookie sheet during our large group lesson to act as our “Smartboard” if needed. Give each student a piece and have them assemble the monster as a group. Call each student up by giving a descriptor, following the sequence of Go Away, Big Green Monster, or by name depending on your group’s skill level.
Click here or the image below to grab your activity for free!
Halloween Speech and Language Whole Group Activity #3: Fine Motor Activity
After completing an activity on the Smartboard (or a cookie sheet! 😉), we like to have something to keep little hands moving. Plus your fellow OT will love you! For our Halloween large group, we like to roll a big ol’ pumpkin into the classroom and pass out golf tees. Now we know what you are thinking…how is this going to work!? Trust us! The kids will love it!
Students will take turns hammering in golf tees into the pumpkin with a soft mallet. For an even extra fun touch, have students wear safety goggles and vest! If you have specific goal areas you need to target, now is the perfect time to incorporate speech sounds or WH questions during each individual turn.
I did this activity with my students last year for the first time! I swear I had two little boys ask me EVERY single speech session after that lesson if we were going to hammer pumpkins. No joke…every session until the end of the school year. This is such a fun and memorable way to target skills. And you will be so surprised at how much spontaneous language you will hear throughout too!
Halloween Speech and Language Whole Group Activity #4: Song Time!
We love ending our whole groups with some type of music. Whether we sing a familiar song or nursery rhyme all together or listen to a song on the Smartboard, the kids love to get up and dance along. For our Halloween lesson, we chose the song: If You Are Spooky And You Know It!
This song also happens to be a book, but I enjoy just singing it with the kids. They all tend to know the tune so they join in quickly! Feel free to print picture cues so they know what is coming next. We have included the link to the book so you can sing along.
Halloween Speech and Language Whole Group Activity #5: Carry-Over Task
Lastly, we always like to provide a carry-over task or extension activity for the classroom teachers. In addition, these activities can be sent home so parents can see what we did that day too! For our Halloween themed lesson, we printed these Halloween Language Mini-Books. There are five different skills targeted in five different books. Since we focused on colors in adjective + noun phrases during our story, we decided to use the Halloween Colors mini-book.
If you find you have gotten through the above activities rather quickly, these books come in large print and full color. Have students follow along with while you read for an addition whole group activity!
Teachers can choose to use these mini-books as part of their centers or rotations too. But at the end of the day, these books are the perfect print out to send home in backpacks for skill carry-over. Our preschoolers absolutely love having their very own mini-books to color and practice especially at home!
Download yours here or by clicking the image below!
More Halloween fun? Don’t miss Our (New) Favorite Halloween Speech And Language Activities blog post to make your small group or center rotations equally spooktacular!
Now that we have planned your whole group lesson for the week, we hope you can find some time to “treat” yourself! Wishing you a happy Halloween speech and language whole group style!
Kate & Mandy
Talking Mama Bears
