Here are 5 no prep articulation group activities for speech therapy! Finding activities that can target a variety of articulation goals is a great way to minimize prep time, especially when you have a large caseload. With that in mind, I created a list of 5 great games that I highly recommend for artic groups. Like all of The Speech Boat activities, these games represent diversity and are perfect for engaging students of various ages.
1. Would You Rather
Would You Rather is a nice conversation-based activity that can be done in small groups. It’s also a wonderful way to get to know your students and it’s perfect to support generalization of target sounds. Students also tend to get drawn into conversation to the point where they forget they are practicing their speech!
Set-Up: Would You Rather is a pretty straightforward activity. Just take turns asking your students what they would rather do based on the activity prompts. Every student can either get a printout of the activity for their sound, or you can simply present the questions and images on a tablet.
Fun Tip: My students take turns asking the question while the other students in my articulation group are encouraged to answer afterwards. It generates great conversation and opportunities for peer modeling. It can also lead to some hilarious exchanges!
Get the full activity at The Speech Boat TPT store.
2. Roll and Say
Roll and say is an easy no prep activity that can be used one-on-one or in an articulation group. All you need is dice!
Set-Up: Each student gets their own activity page specific to their target sound. They take turns rolling dice and saying the corresponding word on their game board, then placing a token on that picture. The goal is to fill out the entire board (saying all of the words). The game comes in color and black-and-white versions.
Fun Tip: What I love about this game is that you get a lot of repetitions and the kids have such a fun time playing it. I also love hearing about variations to the game. For example, one therapist used a big foam dice that the kids could roll across the room and chase after while saying their words! It’s such a fun and creative way to involve movement into your therapy sessions.
If you want to see if Roll and Say is right for your sessions, download a freebie here.
Get the full activity at The Speech Boat TPT store.
3. Carryover Picture Scenes
Such a great activity for my younger students. It’s easy to use and no prep, therefore perfect for busy speech therapists.
Set-Up: Each student of the articulation group gets a scene with a word bank specific to their goal. They take turns picking a picture and saying the word.
Fun Tip: These scenes are packed with engaging visuals and speech targets and come in color and black-and-white versions. I highly recommend using the black-and-white version in therapy groups as it gives kids the opportunity to color while waiting for their turn to say their word. I find incorporating coloring into the session keeps the other students busy while one student is practicing their sounds.
Try out the Carryover Picture Scene freebie here!
Get the full activity at The Speech Boat TPT store.
4. Spot’Em
This is a super fun game that can easily be played in groups. What’s great about this one is that it’s the same sheet for each student – or even the same tablet screen. If you have access to a Smartboard, that’s even better! You can use this one activity to target multiple sounds for groups of any size (even larger groups, like 6 students if you have to do those!)
Set-Up: Set a timer for 20 seconds. During that time, the students look at the scene and try to find the one image with their target sound. For example, a student working on “sh” will look for the picture of the shoe and the student working on “r” will look for the picture of rain. When the time is up, if a student has found their picture, they earn 2 points. If the student did not find their picture, they can take another look and find it to earn 1 point. After everyone has found their pictures, each student practices at their own level on the articulation hierarchy. Then you move on to the next scene! There are many scenes to work through so you can have many repetitions per session. The student with the most points at the end of the game, wins!
Fun Tip: I really like this game because all of your students get to participate at the same time and you can use the same sheet/screen for everyone! The very best part is that the kids tend to repeat their target sound over and over again while searching for their picture. Nothing better than hearing my student silently whisper his “sh” sound repeatedly while scanning the images!
Get the full activity at The Speech Boat TPT store.
5. Block Companion
This is a great tie-in to a classic favorite game – Jenga. It actually works with any board game and as a stand alone word list with accompanying pictures.
Set-Up: Before my session, I print out the block companion sheet specific to my students’ targets. Each student gets their own sheet and works their way through their own lists while taking turns removing blocks from the Jenga tower. In order to accommodate a variety of ages, I’ve included four versions of this companion resource. I have color and black-and-white versions with accompanying pictures (perfect for emerging readers!), and color and black-and-white versions with the only words (perfect for older students!)
Fun Tip: When the tower falls your kids may want to play again! But if they want to play another game, no worries here! Just carry your block companion list into your next game. It can be paired with any game, so you don’t have to get another set of words! The students also get a peak at their target words which sets their expectations for the sessions and can be used to track their progression within that session.
I use this block companion activity regularly with my students from the early grades to high school with great success. It’s also super easy to send as homework.
Get the full activity at The Speech Boat TPT store.
There you have it! We’ve discussed 5 no prep articulation group activities for speech therapy.
I hope you found some of these activities useful for your group therapy sessions.
