Articulation cards are widely used in speech therapy sessions, but they don’t have to be used for repetitive drills. I love using my articulation cards in various ways that keep kids engaged and having fun while practicing their speech sound! Here are 5 easy ways to use articulation cards with your therapy groups to ensure your students stay motivated while practicing.
1. Card Games
You can play almost any card game you know with articulation cards. As a kid, I loved playing card games – well, I still do as an adult. Some of my favorite card games to play with my students are Memory Match and Go Fish. Growing up, I played those two games with my sister for hours. It’s only natural that I’d play these with my students as well!
Memory Match
How to play: select about 8-12 pairs of articulation cards and lay them face down. Have students take turns flipping two cards to find a matching pair. The students say the word on the card they selected.
Quick tip: this game works well when the kids in the group are practicing the same sound. However, if they have different targets, you can mix the cards from each target sound deck. When a student flips a card, they say the word. If that word has their target sound, great! They get to practice it. If not, they get to model that sound for the other students in the group. You can also have the students say whether the word on the card has their sound in it or not, which increases awareness.
Go Fish
How to play: Shuffle pairs of articulation cards that contain your student’s target sounds. Deal 5 cards to each player. On their turn, players ask each other for a card matching a card in their hand (e.g., “Do you have a soup”). Whoever has the most matches in the end wins!
Quick tip: This game is great for practicing sounds whether the child is asking for a card or answering a question. The students get to model sounds for each other in this game as well, but also get to practice when answering (e.g., “yes, I have a soup” or “no, I don’t have a soup”).
2. Treasure hunt / hide and seek
Who doesn’t love a good game of hide and seek? Hide the articulation cards around the therapy room and have the students find them. Once they locate a card, they practice the target sound on the card. This is a great movement-based activity which can help keep kids engaged. You can have a lot of variety in this game – hide the cards in little containers like Easter eggs, etc. to add to a themed session!
3. Pair with a board game
On busy days, I just grab an easy board game and pair it with articulation cards. Bam! My session is planned. The student picks a card from the articulation deck and practices their sound before taking their turn in a game. Some of my favorite grab-and-go games are Jenga, Snakes and Ladders, Uno, and Candyland. Everyone can practice and play together – simple!
4. Continuous story
Continuous story is a great activity for groups where students have different speech sound targets. Each student has their own deck of articulation cards with sounds they are practicing. One person starts a story by making a sentence with their articulation card. Then, the next student continues the story by making a sentence with the word on their own articulation card. Then the next student continues and so on and so forth. This way, each student practices their sound while contributing to the story! It’s also a perfect way to practice speech at the sentence level and for carryover.
5. Use Articulation Cards with a Card Companion in Your Therapy Group
You can use a card companion to go with your articulation cards to provide extra practice at any level within the articulation hierarchy. I have made these card companions specifically for this purpose! There are empty spaces on the page in which students can place their articulation card. First, the student can use the warm up section to practice the sound in isolation. Then, at the word level, the child can get multiple repetitions of the sound in the word. The child can roll a die to pick a phrase or sentence to practice with their word. Finally, at the loaded-sentence level, they get a sentence that has two blanks for them to put two cards in and create a silly sentence that is loaded with their speech sound.
These card companions are versatile and provide an easy way to use articulation cards while focusing on only the speech sounds you want to target. If you have a student working on /s/ – you can download the articulation card freebie which contains cards for initial /s/ and companions as well!
Incorporating these 5 easy ways to use articulation cards with your therapy groups can elevate the way you use articulation cards. You can get lots of repetitions and articulation practice in a more dynamic and enjoyable way for your students. Ready to take your therapy sessions to the next level? Download our free articulation cards and check out the articulation card bundle available on The Speech Boat TPT store. Let’s make speech therapy fun and engaging together!
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