Bored with the same old games in your speech & language sessions? Here are some Christmas themed speech and language activities you could try with your children in the lead up to Christmas!
Fill a feely bag with lots of Christmas items… tinsle, baubles, wrapping paper, bells, stars, ribbon, etc. Ask the child to close their eyes and reach in to grab one item. Depending on what you are working on, you could then ask the child to :
practice their speech sound before being rewarded with an item from the bag
practice target words containing their speech sound before being rewarded with an item from the bag
name each item they find, focusing on their target speech sounds in conversation
This game is for developing memory skills. Play just like the game ‘I went to the shop and bought a…’ but instead you say ‘On my plate I have some/a…..’ for example turkey, sprouts, roast potatoes, christmas pudding, etc! To help the children, you could gather together some food items (plastic food from the role play area) or photos of food. The children can select a food they like on their plate, and you can line them up as they are selected. At the end, hide the pictures/food items and see who can remember what was there!
Ask the children to get into pairs, and give them a few minutes to ask each other what their partner would like for Christmas from Santa! Afterwards, ask each child to tell the group what their partner would like for Christmas. You could prepare some Question cards, such as ‘What?’ and ‘Who?’ to use in this activity.
Use a feely bag again here, filled with Christmas themed items such as tinsel, ribbon, stars, bells, etc. Take turns to select an item from the bag. Talk about the items, asking key questions such as:
what does it look like?
what does it feel like?
where would we find it?
who would use it?
when would we use it?
You could prepare some Question cards (what, were, who, when) to use during this activity.
Merry Christmas!
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