Top 11 Summer Speech Therapy Ideas

Simple, Play-Based Activities That Build Real Skills

Summer is one of the best times to support speech and language development. Kids are moving, exploring, and motivated—and therapy doesn’t need to look like “therapy” to be effective.

These summer speech therapy ideas use everyday outdoor play and routines to target articulation, vocabulary, grammar, following directions, narrative skills, and social communication. No special toys. No prep. Just intentional language during play.

A Quick Mindset Shift

Speech and language growth happens when:

• You know the child’s specific goals
• You model language during play
• You keep activities functional and flexible

That’s it. Let’s get to the ideas.

1. Water

What To Do: This is an easy summer speech therapy idea. Play with water. That’s it! There are so many ideas on what you can do with water and kids just love it!! 

You can:

• Get out a water table and toys
• Water flowers
• Turn on a sprinkler
• Use the water hose
• Fill up buckets, cups, and funnels

Target Goals:

• Concepts: Wet vs Dry
• Articulation: /w/, /t/, /r/ (water), /s/ (spray), /k/,/p/ (cup) - the possibilities are endless. Pick out a toy that matches your child’s articulation goal and play with it.
• Vocabulary: Wet, Dry, Spray, Dump, Fill, Half, Full, Splash, Puddle, Jump, Push, Bath
• Following Directions: Give each other directions such as “fill up the small cup” or “water the pink flowers after you water the yellow ones.” 

Something To Think About:

• If you are a parent, tell your child you will play with water. Get out the toys or garden hose. As you play, weave your child’s goals into the play such as modeling articulation sounds or using vocabulary words in a sentence. Easy summer speech therapy idea!
• If you are an SLP, tell your client that goal of the activity and then get playing!

For more specific water ideas, click here. 

2. Speech Therapy Summer Bubbles

What To Do: Another self-explanatory summer speech therapy game… blow bubbles!

Target Goals: 

• Concepts: Up vs Down, Bubble vs Pop, Open vs Close
• Articulation: /b/ (bubble), /p/ (pop), /r/ (run), “ch” (chase)
• Vocabulary: Bubble, Blow Away, Pop, Run, Chase, Wand
• Following Directions: Pop the big bubble, Chase the bubble, Blow bubbles
• Social Skills: Practice taking turns 

Something To Think About:

• If you are a parent, get out the bubbles. Blow bubbles to get your child interested. Next, weave in your target goal. For example, if you are practicing articulation, encourage your child to say the target sound before a turn. If you are practicing vocabulary, use the words in a sentence or model what they mean and encourage your child to repeat. 
• If you are an SLP, tell your client the goal of the activity and then get playing!

For more specific bubble ideas, click here. 

3. Sand

What To Do: Play with sand! If you don’t have a sandbox, you can make one with a bucket and a small bag of sand. This might be your child's favorite summer speech therapy idea.

Target Goals: 

• Concepts: Dig vs Bury, Build vs Knock Down, Construct vs Destroy
• Articulation: /d/, /g/ (dig), /b/, /d/ (build), /m/, /k/, (make), /s/ (sand)
• Vocabulary: Dig, Sand, Soft, Pour, Build, Castle, Pack, Dump
• Following Directions: Find the cup, Fill up the green bucket before the yellow one
• Social Skills: Practice taking turns , Practice asking for items out of reach

Something To Think About:

• If you are a parent, get out a bucket or table and fill it with sand. Next, weave in your target goal naturally. For example, if you are practicing articulation, encourage your child to say the target sound before a turn. If you are practicing vocabulary, use the words in a sentence or model what they mean and encourage your child to repeat. 
• If you are an SLP, tell your client the goal of the activity and then get playing!

For more specific sand ideas, click here. 

4. Hula Hoops

What To Do: Get hula hoops. Dollar stores usually sell them. There are many variations to hula hoops!

For this summer speech therapy game, you can:

• Roll them back and forth
• Put them on the ground for a jumping contest
• Use them as target practice (throw a ball in the circle)

Target Goals: 

• Articulation: “throw” (throw), /r/ (roll), /l/ (roll)
• Vocabulary: Jump, Target, Roll, Spin, Catch, Hit, Win
• Following Directions: Roll the pink hoop before the blue. Throw the blue ball through the hoop. Jump in the center of the hoop.
• Social Skills: Practice taking turns
• Motivation: After working, the child can play a game for 2 minutes

Something To Think About:

• If you are a parent, get out the hula hoop and find a game your child likes. Play and get your child interested. Then, target a speech or language skill. Make it fun!
• If you are an SLP, tell your client the goal of the activity and then get playing. My favorite is jumping from hula hoop to hula hoop. I find that I can target almost any goal in this game and even my older kids like it!

5. Chalk

What To Do: Find chalk and find a sidewalk or driveway. You can target almost any speech or language goal. For example:

• Draw articulation words. 
• Draw objects and then make up a story to practice narrative structure.
• Take turns being the leader and give directions to other players to practice following directions. 

The possibilities for this summer speech therapy idea are endless. If you don't have chalk, Amazon has a lot of options for an affordable price. (affiliate link)

Target Goals: 

• Articulation: /d/ (draw), /k/ and /r/ (color), /m/ and /r/ (more)
• Vocabulary: Colors, Draw, Dust, Picture, (draw any vocabulary word!)
• Following Directions: Take turns giving directions to players for what to draw
• Social Skills: Practice taking turns. Practice asking for items out of reach
• Narrative Structure: Draw a character, place, and action. Then, take turns creating a story using proper narrative structure.

Something To Think About:

• If you are a parent, get out the chalk. Draw and have fun. Play and get your child interested. Then, target a speech or language skill. Another easy summer speech therapy idea!
• If you are an SLP, this will be your go to summer activity. Every child loves chalk, even middle-schooler children. 

6. Flower Walk (my favorite summer speech therapy idea)

What To Do: Go for a walk and find as many flowers as you can. Practice, your speech and language skills along the way!

Target Goals: 

• Concepts: Walk vs Run, Summer vs Winter
• Articulation: /k/ (walk), /f/ and /d/ (find), /r/ (flower)
• Vocabulary: Bloom, Grow, Colors, Flowers, Find, Discover, New, Matching

Alternative Games:

• Play “I Spy” to target summer speech therapy language skills (vocabulary description, i.e., I spy something small and sharp)
• Target articulation skills (find objects with target articulation sounds!)
• Colors: To practice colors, find everything that is a certain color. Grammar: Practice a target verb such as “I see,” or “I discovered” 

7. Follow The leader (my favorite speech therapy summer idea!)

What To Do: Play follow the leader where one person is the leader and gives directions to the followers for this summer speech therapy game. 

Target Goals: 

• Following Directions: As the leader, give directions where to go. As the follower, practice following directions.

Ideas To Chew On: Play Follow the Leader with a twist. Take turns being a leader. The leader creates a treasure hunt by hiding something. Then the leader gives directions or clues on where to find the object. This is great practice for following directions and forming sentences.

8. Explorers

What To Do: Drive to a park or play in the backyard and go on an exploration!

Target Goals: 

• Articulation: /f/ and /d/ (find), /l/ and /k/ (look), /s/and /r/ (discover)
• Vocabulary: Find, Look, Discover, Explore, Play

Ideas To Chew On: Play outside and go on an exploration. The world looks beautiful when in bloom, green and lush. Pick out the sounds you want to practice and then the words that may arise during play. While playing, weave your picked out words into your conversation. Have fun with this summer speech therapy game. 

9. Nature Play

What To Do: Make characters out of rocks, pine cones, sticks, etc... for this summer speech therapy activity. Once your characters are made, have fun telling stories. Model all parts of narrative structure.

Target Goals:

• Narrative Structure: (Setting - who, what, where, Problem, Feelings, Resolution)

Ideas To Chew On: With the little characters you make out of things found outside, make up stories. Make sure to include the setting such as “who” your story is about and “where and when” your story takes place. Then, create a “problem” and talk about how your characters “feel” about it. Try to solve the problem and discuss the “resolution.” You can use chalk too. This “game” is fun for almost any age!

10. I Found

Target Goals: 

• Articulation /f/. /d/ (find), /r/ (explore), /s/ (see)
• Vocabulary: explore, dig, find, excited, guess
• Problem-Solving: Look for clues to where a treasure might be

Ideas To Chew On: This summer speech therapy game can be a lot of fun and a great way to indirectly teach problem-solving skills. The key here is to THINK OUT LOUD. Let’s say you and your child want to see if you can find a pine cone but everything is covered in snow. Talk through your thinking with your child on how to accomplish this task. For example, you might say..."pine cones come from pine trees. I think we should start looking by a pine tree. What do you think?" or “Let’s see if we can feel a pine cone under our feet. How do pine cones feel? What shape are they?”

11. Balls

What To Do: Find balls (bouncy balls, tennis balls, basketball balls) and play for this summer speech therapy idea! If your child is younger, you might just play catch or throw a ball in air. If your child is older, you can play more complicated games. 

Target Goals: 

• Concepts: Throw vs Catch, Roll vs Stop
• Articulation: /th/ (throw), /k/ and "ch" (catch), /r/ and /l/ (roll)
• Vocabulary: Throw, catch, bounce, roll, stop
• Following Directions: Throw the red ball, Roll the blue ball
• Social Skills: Practice taking turns, Practice asking for balls that are out of reach

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