Searching for back-to-school speech remedy actions on your preschool and elementary caseload? A back-to-school theme is a straightforward solution to reinforce college vocabulary, discuss new routines and experiences, and assist college students make private connections to what they’re studying in speech remedy.
And since college is already in your college students’ minds, you should utilize one theme to focus on quite a lot of speech and language objectives together with your teams.
On this publish, you’ll discover back-to-school speech remedy concepts for books, toys, play-based actions, crafts, language actions, and extra. Many of those concepts will be tailored for various objectives, which makes planning for blended teams a complete lot simpler!
This publish was initially printed in 2015 and up to date in August 2026 with new back-to-school speech remedy actions, assets, and concepts.
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One of many best methods to plan a back-to-school speech remedy theme is to start out with one core materials that you should utilize throughout a number of teams. For me, that’s typically a e book!
A great back-to-school e book can provide you alternatives to work on vocabulary, grammar, story retell, inferencing, articulation, perspective taking, and extra. As an alternative of discovering a unique exercise for each purpose, take into consideration how you should utilize the identical e book with a number of college students and easily change what you’re concentrating on.
Listed below are a few of my favourite back-to-school books for speech remedy that can assist you get began.
Again-To-College Books for Speech Remedy
There are such a lot of nice back-to-school books you should utilize in speech remedy! When selecting a e book, take into consideration your college students’ objectives and search for tales that provide you with alternatives to focus on a number of expertise with the identical read-aloud.
Listed below are a few of my favourite back-to-school books organized by age:
Again-to-College Speech Remedy Actions for Preschool & Youthful College students
For preschool and youthful elementary college students, I like incorporating play-based actions right into a back-to-school theme. You’ll be able to recreate acquainted college routines with toys and props, which provides college students plenty of pure alternatives to observe communication expertise.
Attempt establishing a faux classroom, packing a backpack, driving a toy college bus, or appearing out totally different components of the varsity day. You don’t want loads of particular supplies both. Use toys you have already got and add a number of school-themed props or visuals.
Listed below are a number of methods you may goal speech and language objectives throughout play:
College bus play: Work on prepositions and following instructions by having college students put individuals on, subsequent to, behind, or in entrance of the bus. You may also goal verbs, pronouns, requesting, and articulation phrases throughout play.
Pack a backpack: Observe following instructions, describing, classes, object features, and faculty vocabulary as college students resolve what they want for college. Put gadgets within the backpack which can be college provides and a few foolish issues. You’ll be able to work on sure/no, grammar “I might NOT carry a hammer to highschool,” and giving predictable clues for college students to guess.
Faux classroom: Take turns being the instructor and college students to observe asking and answering questions, sequencing college routines, social communication, and classroom vocabulary.
For toys to make use of in play-based speech remedy periods, take a look at a few of these back-to-school toy units (affiliate hyperlinks are included):
Need extra back-to-school themed supplies? Contained in the Themed Therapy SLP membership, you’ll discover a toy information, themed remedy cheat sheets, e book cheat sheets, printables, Google Slides, open-ended actions, and no-print supplies for concentrating on speech and language objectives together with your PreK–fifth grade caseload.
Need extra choices? You could find all of my favourite back-to-school books, toys, video games, and supplies on my Amazon Store Page.
Again-to-College Image Scenes for Speech Remedy
Image scenes are one in every of my favourite low-prep back-to-school speech remedy actions, particularly for blended teams. Everybody can take a look at the identical college image whilst you change the goal based mostly on every pupil’s speech or language objectives.
Search for image scenes exhibiting acquainted college settings reminiscent of a classroom, playground, cafeteria, college bus, or library. These give college students a shared context for working towards college vocabulary whereas additionally making it straightforward to work on quite a lot of communication objectives.
Listed below are some methods you should utilize one back-to-school image scene throughout your caseload:
Articulation: Discover gadgets or actions with the coed’s goal sound, observe the phrases, after which use them in phrases or sentences.
MLU & grammar: Describe what persons are doing, broaden sentences, or goal particular morphology and sentence buildings.
WH-questions: Ask who, what, the place, when, and why questions on what’s occurring within the scene.
Inferencing: Discuss what could have occurred earlier than the image, what may occur subsequent, or how the individuals within the scene could also be feeling.
Narratives: Use the scene to create a narrative, sequence occasions, or observe story retelling.
AAC & core phrases: Mannequin core vocabulary reminiscent of go, cease, need, assist, look, extra, and totally different whereas speaking in regards to the scene.
Describing & vocabulary: Describe college provides, individuals, actions, and places utilizing attributes, classes, features, and associations.
Want some back-to-school image scenes to make use of? Listed below are a number of school-themed choices:
If you need much more concepts for adapting one image scene throughout your caseload, take a look at my publish about utilizing picture scenes in speech therapy.
Digital Again-to-College Speech Remedy Actions
Digital actions are one other straightforward solution to incorporate a back-to-school theme into your speech remedy periods, particularly whenever you want one thing low prep! I like utilizing brief movies, digital job playing cards, interactive video games, and Google Slides as a result of you should utilize the identical exercise with a number of teams and alter the speech or language purpose you’re concentrating on.
For instance, pair a brief back-to-school video together with your college students’ objectives. You’ll be able to pause the video to work on WH-questions, vocabulary, inferencing, grammar, describing, articulation carryover, or story retelling. You may also use digital job playing cards or interactive video games for added observe after your direct instruction.
Completed-for-You Digital Again-to-College Actions
Should you don’t wish to spend time looking for movies and creating digital actions, the Themed Therapy SLP membership has back-to-school Google Slides prepared so that you can use together with your PreK–fifth grade caseload.
The slides embrace hyperlinks to themed movies, songs, and e book learn alouds together with digital job playing cards and actions so you may goal quite a lot of speech and language objectives whereas sticking with the identical back-to-school theme.
That is particularly useful for blended teams as a result of you may pull up one themed exercise and adapt what you’re concentrating on for every pupil.
If you’re on the hunt for digital actions that observe a back-to-school theme, listed below are some nice supplies to take a look at:
- Back to School Games from ABCYa – nice for recreation reinforcers with a again to highschool theme!
- Search for school themed games on Baamboozle – for fast actions you can tie in speech and language objectives.
- Boom Learning – You’ll be able to seek for back-to-school Growth Playing cards, together with speech/language actions. Growth at the moment has a big library of interactive decks and particularly helps speech remedy.
- Pink Cat Games – Good for utilizing a recreation as an open-ended reinforcer whereas college students observe their particular person speech/language targets. Curiously, SLPs are nonetheless recommending Pink Cat in latest 2026 discussions about on-line remedy assets.
- JeopardyLabs – Might work particularly nicely for older elementary college students. You’ll be able to create a back-to-school class recreation or use it as an open-ended exercise with your individual targets. It’s additionally being really useful by SLPs in latest discussions.
- Wordwall – An alternative choice for interactive video games that you would pair with college vocabulary or your individual speech/language targets. SLPs additionally point out it amongst helpful digital remedy assets.
Again-to-College Crafts for Speech Remedy
Crafts will be a straightforward hands-on exercise to pair together with your back-to-school theme, particularly for blended teams or whole-class classes. And also you don’t want a unique craft for each speech and language purpose!
Select one easy school-themed craft and alter what you’re concentrating on for every pupil. You’ll be able to write articulation phrases, vocabulary, sentence targets, or pupil responses instantly on the craft or glue their observe phrases to the again.
Methods to Use Crafts for Speech and Language Objectives
As college students full the craft, you may work on:
Following instructions: Give instructions utilizing temporal and spatial ideas reminiscent of first, subsequent, earlier than, after, above, and under.
Articulation: Observe goal phrases earlier than including every bit to the craft or write goal phrases on totally different components.
Grammar: Have college students create sentences about college utilizing their focused verb tense, pronoun, conjunction, or sentence construction.
Vocabulary: Describe college provides by class, operate, components, attributes, and associations.
Sequencing: Have college students clarify the steps they adopted to make their craft utilizing first, subsequent, then, and final.
AAC: Mannequin core phrases reminiscent of put, on, extra, assist, need, totally different, go, and completed all through the exercise.
Listed below are some enjoyable again to highschool crafts you should utilize in your speech remedy periods:
Need the craft already deliberate for you?
Contained in the Themed Therapy SLP membership, you’ll discover back-to-school crafts together with a pencil craft and faculty bus craft, together with No Print Visible Craft Instructions. The visible instructions make it simpler to work on sequencing, following instructions, and practical communication whereas college students full the craft.
Again-to-College Language Actions for Vocabulary & Grammar
A back-to-school theme offers you plenty of alternatives to work on practical vocabulary and language expertise as a result of college students are experiencing these ideas day by day. You’ll be able to goal college provides, individuals in school, places round campus, classroom routines, actions, and anticipated behaviors whereas additionally engaged on every pupil’s particular person language objectives.
As an alternative of solely working towards college vocabulary by naming footage, strive utilizing the phrases in several contexts all through your back-to-school unit. This offers college students repeated alternatives to grasp and use the vocabulary throughout books, play, crafts, image scenes, and conversations.
Concepts for Focusing on College Vocabulary in Speech Remedy
Classes: Kind vocabulary into college provides, individuals, locations, actions, lunch gadgets, and classroom gadgets.
Describing: Describe college gadgets by their operate, components, location, attributes, and class.
Grammar: Use school-themed footage to observe pronouns, verb tenses, conjunctions, prepositions, and increasing sentences.
Phrase relationships: Have college students clarify how two college phrases are associated, reminiscent of pencil/paper, instructor/pupil, or cafeteria/lunch.
WH-questions: Ask questions on college routines and experiences: The place do you eat lunch? Who helps you within the library? Why will we increase our fingers?
Evaluate and distinction: Evaluate a pencil and marker, classroom and library, backpack and lunchbox, or instructor and principal.
Narratives and private connections: Have college students describe their first day, inform about one thing that occurred in school, or sequence their morning classroom routine.
Fundamental Ideas – work on earlier than, after, first, subsequent, final whereas speaking in regards to the college day. College students can draw out their schedule, what they do earlier than and after college to be taught these ideas.
Want ready-to-use back-to-school language actions? Listed below are some assets that can assist you goal totally different language expertise:
Nonetheless planning your first week again? Take a look at my First Week of Speech Therapy Activities for concepts that can assist you get to know your college students, set up routines, and begin the varsity 12 months with out overplanning.
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