Apple-solutely Awesome Ways to Incorporate Autumn, Harvest, and Apples into Speech Therapy!

I think we all get this feeling that comes over us as we say goodbye to summer and look forward to fall. We embrace pumpkin lattes, cozy sweats, and evenings at home with a good book or movie in front of the fireplace. The onset of autumn brings to my therapy room a season of fun, effective, and engaging activities that make for quick planning & successful sessions!

Why a Theme?

I love themes… number one, because they make my life easier. When I pull out a thematic unit, I know I can reach in and pretty much find something that I can work into a session for all of my children. I feel the best benefit to using themes is the whole language concept. The vocabulary and timing of themes that can be used with all of my students, encompasses a huge host of learning opportunities even if they aren’t specifically targeting my goals with them. For instance, I may use the Autumn-Themed Cariboo cards as a simple reinforcement for articulation drills, all the while this child can be learning new vocabulary!

Harvesting Learning!

I want to share with you some of my favorite ways of incorporating an autumn/apple/harvest theme into speech therapy sessions!

These BOOKS are the Cream of the Crop!

1. Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Park 

2. My Autumn Book by Wong Herbert Yee

3. One Red Apple by Harriet Ziefert

4. Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

5. Apple Picking Day! By Candice Ransom & Erika Meza 

6. Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

7. Tree Full of Wonder by Anna Smithers & Martyna Nejman 

8. We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by  Steve Metzger & Miki Sakamoto 

9. The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming & Nicola Slater 

10. The Very Hungry Caterpillar's First Fall by Eric Carle

GAMES that are a Bushel of Fun!

1.  The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game

2. Outfoxed!

3. Cariboo is such a fantastic game—I really wish they hadn’t discontinued it! I still have two from when my boys were young, and I’ve used them in therapy for years. I’ve even created a large collection of Cariboo cards featuring various themes and categories, Autumn, Farm, Hallowee, and Thanksgiving. There are over 20 different sets that can be swapped out for the original cards!

3. TABLE TASKS

Many times, we SLPs have to sit at the table in therapy sessions because this provides a structured and visually supportive nature, which we know facilitates skill learning and practice. They help in focusing a child’s attention and keep distractions low, so we can get lots of practice in!  

A-peel-ingTable Tasks for Autumn:

1. Farm Stickers: All of my kids are really into stickers! Using them with your clients can make for a really productive speech-therapy session! I like to use this cute farm animal sticker set but you could use a piece of paper and any farm themed stickers for a simple reinforcement for articulation and language tasks.

2. Smash Mats: Smash mats are simple but highly productive for repetitions and vocabulary. All you need is Play-Doh, and children can smash down the balls over targeted pictures after completing their speech-language task. My clients always enjoy using smash mats. I have created various smash mats that target vocabulary, speech sounds, syllable shapes, and wh- questions, including Fall vocabulary! 

3. 100 Artic Drills: Break out your daubers, and allow children to dot one of the apple-themed circles for each repetition of their target word (I ask them for ten repetitions, then they can fill in an entire row at once.) Your students will have 100 reps of their word(s) in 10 to 15 minutes! Get yours here! 

4. Color by Numbers: These pictures are another quick way to get maximum repetitions of target words in a short amount of time. You can also target colors, numbers, and, of course, apples! Here are some to grab: Apple Seed Reinforcer, Apple Tree Reinforcer

4. LET’S MOVE!

My kids love when we get up from the table to do activities. Even just standing is great motivation for them. I often will send my children across the room to complete a small gathering or matching task, and then they come back to me. As you can imagine, they create all fun ways to travel… hop, skip, crawl! For instance, with the food photo cards below, I place the food cards in another part of the room, the child goes to pick one, and upon return, complete their speech/language task. 

Activities Your Students with FALL for:

1. Food Photo Cards: This activity can certainly be done as a table task, but I like to hang the I Like/I Don’t Like, Will Try/Won’t Try, or Yum/Yuck or category headers on the wall and have the children walk or run to hang their food card under them. Hang signs on the wall and allow children to stick photos under the headings accordingly. You can also play hide & seek with the cards or print double the photos for a memory game. You can use this activity for articulation, phonology, and motor speech as well as vocabulary, sentence development, categorization, word associations, and many other language goals!

2. Fruit and Veggie Sort: I often use this cute food set that comes with sorting buckets as a hide and seek game, which the children love! I hide the fruits and vegetables and children find them and sort them into color-coded baskets. 

3. I found this adorable apple activity, and my kiddos have loved it! You use the free pattern they provide to make red, green, and yellow apples. After you attach them to a TP roll and secure to a vertical location, children then drop popsicle sticks through the tubes, trying to hit the target below. I took it a step further by using colored sticks with coordinating cup colors under them. It was tougher than it looked, but my students loved the challenge!

   
   

Using a theme can really enhance a holistic approach to speech and language therapy sessions. Using materials that center around apples/fall/harvest provides so many opportunities for learning about this cozy time of year while allowing us SLPs to focus on specific targets. A built-in source that provides a rich context for practicing vocabulary, articulation, storytelling, categories, concepts, and, well, pretty much anything! Leaf your planning worries behind, and use some of these ideas for sessions that provide plentiful success!