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Brrrr!!! It’s winter time and that means we have lots of themed speech and language fun for you! Check out these winter speech and language activities for whole group lessons plus some bonus small group ideas. Don’t miss the winter mini-language book freebie to target a variety of language skills and send home for the perfect homework activity.
We like being overly prepared for whole group speech therapy lessons. Typically we have four to five activities ready to go for a 20-30 minute large group session. And since we did the work for you this week, you will be extra prepared! So here are our five winter speech and language activities to do with a large whole class group!
Winter Speech and Language Activity #1: Themed Book
With every whole group lesson, we like to incorporate a literacy component. We realize there are a ton of amazing winter themed books out there, but you can’t go wrong with this classic. We enjoy reading The Mitten by Jan Brett during this time of year. This book really has it all…vocabulary, sequencing, inferencing, and more!
Did you know that this fan favorite comes in a shortened, adapted version as well? When I worked with the older kids, I enjoyed the full length version; however, since making the switch to early childhood, this abbreviated story is ideal for the younger age range. Check out the adapted board book version of The Mitten here!
Want even more winter speech and language themed activities and ideas? Check out these other blog posts packed with snow much winter fun:
A Whole Week of Winter Speech and Language Activities
Winter Speech Therapy Activities For Every Articulation Goal
No Prep Winter Speech Therapy Activities (With Bonus Language Ideas!)
Winter Speech and Language Activity #2: Interactive Fun
If you choose to read The Mitten, students will love sequencing the animals by placing them into a “mitten”. I simply copied and colored each animal from the story then laminated them. Having students label and describe each animal is a perfect way to learn vocabulary from the story as well as practice narrative retell. We also like pretending to sneeze all together then dumping out the animals on the floor!
If you go with another book or no book at all for your speech and language whole group lesson, no worries! Place arctic animals into a mystery box or sensory bin for another interactive and hands-on activity. Students can identify and label winter animals while also working on sentence expansion and requesting. This winter speech and language activity easily works in the use of many core words such as more, in, out, cold, want, and like too!
Winter Speech and Language Activity #3: Technology
While we like having students get up, move around, and manipulate materials, we also like having students practice turn taking on the Smartboard too! With these fun winter themed WH questions from Play and Learn Resources, just read the question and have students choose the corresponding answer. These winter themed Boom Cards target pronouns, WH question comprehension, expressive vocabulary, and sentence expansion.
Winter Speech and Language Activity #4: Music Time!
Our students LOVE ending our speech and language whole group lessons with a fun song! We like finding songs that have some sort of direction following element in addition to the theme. And who does that better than…Laurie Berkner! Her song “I Live Inside A Snowglobe (Shake It Up)” is definitely winter themed, but will probably get stuck in your head. Sorry in advance!
We passed out jingle bells to all of our students, but feel free to grab whatever you have on hand! As Laurie sings, there are moments to shake the bells along and moments when the bells should be still. This is ideal for those functional large group skills such as listening, waiting, and following directions. PLus the kids absolutely love this song. We even enjoyed it at home together!
Winter Speech and Language Activity #5: Carry-Over Task
These Freebie Winter Mini-Language Books are hands down one of our favorite winter themed activities! These books are perfect for mixed goal groups, but also go with pretty much any winter themed book or speech and language small group activity. With so many skills included, these books are also ideal for speech and language homework after your winter whole group lesson!
Just instantly download and print the winter mini-language books. Our students were able to create their own personal books to take home for additional practice plus we were able to reinforce skills in our small groups as well! Grab your Winter Language Mini-Books to target the following:
❄️ Winter Vocabulary
❄️ Winter Colors
❄️ Winter Directions
❄️ Where Is The Snowflake?
Click here for more whole group speech and language lesson tips and ideas: Whole Group Speech & Language Lesson: Clothing Activities & 5 Tips For Planning A Productive Large Speech & Language Group
Bonus Winter Speech and Language Small Group Ideas!!!
Need some winter speech and language activities for your small groups too? We have you covered! We love this Arctic Animals Speech Therapy Articulation Craft to target every sound in every position of words. It pairs nicely with the winter themed activities discussed above or as a stand alone winter speech activity!
If you need more language or vocabulary based activities, check out these scavenger hunts below! While you can grab them in our TPT store, just know all of our products listed in this blog post can be found in our official Talking Mama Bears store at a lesser price! Be sure to grab your winter speech and language activities for all of your sessions today!
We hope you found these winter speech and language activities and ideas helpful when planning your next whole group lesson! Let us know your how your next winter themed speech and language whole group lesson goes by tagging us on social media. We would love to see! Until then, stay warm!
Kate & Mandy
Talking Mama Bears
