Categories are an important part of vocabulary development. They help build stronger connections between words children already know and make it easier to understand and remember new words. So, how do you teach categories in speech therapy? Let’s dive in! Here’s a step-by-step guide to teaching this important language skill.
What Are Categories?
Categories are groups of words that go together because they share something in common. For example:
- Animals → dog, cat, horse
- Fruits → apple, banana, orange
- Clothing → shirt, pants, hat
Why Are Categories Important?
Learning categories helps children organize words and ideas in their minds. This supports vocabulary development and helps children understand, remember, and use new words more easily.
We also use categories in many ways in everyday life. For example, clothes are organized in our bedrooms (shirts, pants, socks), food is grouped in the fridge (dairy, produce, etc.), and items are arranged by category at the grocery store (fruits and vegetables, bread, meats, frozen foods). We also use categories when cleaning up and organizing by putting items where they belong.
When Are Categories Typically Learned?
Children begin learning simple categories at a young age.
- Around 2–3 years: children can group familiar items (e.g., animals, foods, clothes)
- Around 3–4 years: they begin identifying categories and naming items in a group
- Around 4–5+ years: they can sort into more specific categories and explain why items belong together
How To Teach Categories in Speech Therapy
Step 1: Introduce What Categories Are
Start by teaching what categories are in a simple, clear way.
You might say:
- “These are categories. They are groups of things that go together because they have something in common.”
Use visuals and real-life examples to show different categories. Make sure to use common items the child has likely been exposed to and provide plenty of models and examples to help the child understand how we group things together.
Step 2: Practice Categories in Different Ways
Once the child is introduced to the concept of categories, they can practice the skill in different ways. Activities can gradually move from simple to more complex. Take a look below for an example of how you could target category knowledge. For each of these, you could use real items or pictures.
1. What Belongs in the Category
At first, you can start with simple tasks like finding which item belongs in a given category. I usually offer visual choices here for extra support. This helps students understand the concept of categories with some scaffolding.
For example:
- “Which one is a food: an apple or a car?”
- “Which one is an animal: a chair, a book, or a dog?”
2. What Doesn’t Belong in the Category
Next, you could have the child practicing what doesn’t belong in a given category. Further, you can also ask them to say why it does not belong.
For example:
- Dog, cat, turtle, apple → “Which one doesn’t belong?”
- Book, shirt, sock, pants → “Which one doesn’t belong?”
3. Sorting
Then, you can have the child sort items into different categories.
For example:
- Sort into 2 groups (e.g., food vs. clothing)
- Sort into 3 groups (e.g., animals, foods, toys)
4. Convergent Naming
After that, you can practice convergent naming. In this task, you show items and the child identifies the name of the category the items all belong to.
For example:
- “Dog, cat, horse. These are…?” → Animals
- “Apple, banana, orange. These are…?” → Fruits
5. Divergent Naming
Then, you can practice divergent naming. In this task, you give a category and the child names items that belong in it.
For example:
- “Name 3 animals”
- “Tell me 3 things you can find in a house”
Encourage the child to think of multiple examples to build flexibility and strengthen vocabulary.
6. Carryover Games
Finally, you can help the child apply category knowledge in functional and natural ways!
For example:
- Guessing games (“I’m thinking of an animal…”)
- “I spy” with categories
- Finding items in the room that belong to a category
Activities to Teach and Practice Categories
Here are some of my favorite ways to teach and practice categories in speech therapy sessions:
Toys
Toys can be great to introduce and practice categories with real objects. You can use toys from two different play sets to have items that do not belong in a given category and to sort items within two categories (e.g., food vs. vehicles). Here are some great toy sets you could use:
- Play kitchen and play food sets
- Toy animal sets
- Car and truck sets
- Dress-up clothes or costumes
- Toy tool sets
Play food sets are amazing for practicing simple and more complex categories. For example:
- Sorting with simple categories: “Let’s put all the food in the basket and all the cars in the bin.”
- Sorting with more complex categories: “Let’s put the fruits in the basket and the vegetables in the box.”
Books
Books are an amazing way to talk about categories in context. For example, you can use the pictures on the page to talk about categories:
- “Can you find all the animals on the page?”
- “Which things can you find at school?”
- “What category do these belong to?”
Structured Activities
Structured activities like printable activity sheets can help children practice categories in a focused way. They’re great to use as mini-lessons to pre-teach a skill before practicing it in natural contexts like books and toy play.
If you’re looking for no-prep materials for teaching categories, I created a Categories Activity Packet that includes visuals for introducing the skill and structured activity pages that include different ways of practicing category knowledge.
Adapting Activities for Older Students and Virtual Sessions
Older students
When working with older students, you might want to use activity sheets or classroom assignments to ensure the activities match the student’s age and interests. You can also increase the complexity of categories by focusing on sub-categories. Instead of broad categories like animals, clothing, or food, you might target more specific categories such as countries, vowels, school supplies.
You can further challenge older students by expanding on divergent naming tasks. For example, you can take turns naming as many items as possible within one category like fruits, sports, types of music, etc. This is a super fun game that doesn’t need any materials and you can relate it to a topic they’re covering in the classroom!
Guessing games are also a great option for older students. You can pick an object in the room or from a set of images and talk about the different categories it belongs to so the child can guess what it is. Take turns giving clues and guessing! For example, you might say “it’s a type of furniture, you can sit on it, and it has wheels” and the child can use their category knowledge to guess what the item is.
Teletherapy
You can teach categories virtually with a variety of activities like games, online books, picture scenes, and digital worksheets. For example, see the image below for a fun activity to target categories virtually, which is included in the Activity Packet. The guessing game and divergent naming tasks described in the older students section above also work really well virtually!
Carryover and Home Practice for Categories
Practicing categories outside of speech therapy helps the child strengthen their language processing skills and apply what they’ve learned in other situations.
Caregivers and teachers can support this skill during daily routines by asking simple questions about everyday items. For example:
- “What category does this fit in?”
- “Is this a vegetable?”
- “Is this a type of furniture?”
- “Where do we keep all our painting supplies?”
These conversations can happen naturally during activities like:
- cooking
- cleaning
- getting dressed
- making crafts
- playing with toys
You can also use information handouts to provide caregivers and teachers with simple ideas for practicing categories outside the therapy room.
What’s Next After Categories?
Once children have strong category knowledge, they can continue developing their language processing skills by learning other types of word relationships.
Some related vocabulary development skills include:
- Object Functions (what we use objects for)
- Word Associations (words that go together)
- Describing attributes (what something looks like, feels like, or does)
- Similarities and differences
- Synonyms and antonyms
These skills help children build deeper vocabulary knowledge and stronger connections between words and ideas.
A Step-by-Step Resource for Teaching Categories
We’ve discussed how to teach categories in speech therapy step by step. Whether you’re a speech therapist, parent, or educator, teaching this skill can be simple and effective! If you’re looking for a structured way to teach and practice categories, my Categories Activity Packet provides leveled activities designed to support this skill.
The packet includes visuals to help introduce categories as well as structured activity pages that target different ways of practicing the skill, such as what belongs, what doesn’t belong, sorting, convergent naming, divergent naming, and fun guessing games to apply knowledge of categories in an interactive and engaging way!
These activities are perfect as mini-lessons to introduce the skill or to use during therapy sessions for structured practice and alongside play-based activities to support vocabulary development.
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