speech therapy exercises for 3 year old

speech and language therapy and resources

Have fun with these 15 awesome toddler speech delay exercises that are designed by a Speech and Language Pathologist and will help your toddler to talk before you know it!

Exercises are a fantastic way to teach language and to get your toddler talking! These exercises are fun and motivating for your child, and they provide a focus for you to teach your child new skills.

If you find these 15 exercises helpful, why not check out my big book of 50 easy exercises to get your toddler talking?

Repetition is important in learning these new skills, so don’t worry about doing your child’s favorite exercises over and over if that’s what they want. Feel free to pick and choose the ones that work best for you, your child and your family.

These exercises are designed so that you can easily adjust the level to the level of your child.

If your toddler is not yet talking, these speech delay exercises will help your toddler to talk, especially when you use language strategies as well. If your toddler is already talking, these exercises will grow and develop their language skills.

Above all, these exercises are designed to be fun! That’s how children learn best!

STRATEGIES IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Children learn language from listening to language. They absorb the language spoken by their parents, siblings and the other people around them.

Children need to hear language over and over again for months and years before they will start to use it for themselves.

As a parent, you are the single most important person in your child’s language development. The strategies you use in everyday life to build your child’s language will have the biggest impact on their speech and language development.

Using language strategies will make a big difference and can be used as part of everyday life in all of your interactions with your child.

Want a little more?

Grab your free copy of the Speech and Language Strategies Essential Cheat Sheets. Print off and use to help alongside the toddler speech delay exercises to boost your child’s speech and language. Enjoy!

15 TODDLER SPEECH DELAY EXERCISES

The exercises are based around the following key areas:

• Exercises to build listening skills
• Exercises to encourage first words
• Exercises to build vocabulary
• Exercises to build understanding
• Exercises with flashcards
• Exercises to build grammar
• Exercises for early reading skills

EXERCISES TO BUILD LISTENING SKILLS

This first section of speech delay exercises to help your toddler talk are designed to build listening skills . Attention and listening is a foundational skill for language. We watch babies develop this as they start to focus on their parents’ faces, respond to sounds, and start to respond to their own name.

In a few years they will be able to listen attentively to stories, listen to their friends, and because they are able to listen, they will know how to respond. Language isn’t possible without a strong foundation of attention and listening.

1. Find the Sound

Find the Sound is a fun way to build listening skills. Get a toy or piece of equipment that makes a noise. Wind up or musical toys can work well for this, or even general household items such as an egg timer or metronome. Ask your child to close their eyes, and hide the item somewhere in the room- e.g. under a cushion, behind the door.

This helps children to learn to listen. To make it more challenging, try turning the sound down so it’s even quieter. This is a game for younger children and is great for building attention and listening which are foundational skills for language.

You can even use this with babies- put the object somewhere around the room and see if they turn their head to find the sound. If they don’t, you can make it obvious and point at it saying, “ Wow! Can you hear the music? It’s there!”

2. Stop and Go

Stop and Go is a fun active game for kids. The basic principle is that when you say ‘go’, they can run around. They have to listen out for the word ‘stop’ which means they have to stop and freeze in place immediately.

To make this game even more beneficial, why not give them different variations when you say ‘go.’ You might say, ‘ok this time when I say ‘go’ I want you to walk like you’re tigers/ ballerinas/ hop on one foot/ walk backwards,’ or anything else you can think of.

When you say ‘stop’ you could walk around to check that they are being perfectly still. If you are playing with a group of kids, you could eliminate anyone who moves or wobbles.

EXERCISES TO ENCOURAGE FIRST WORDS

These speech delay exercises for toddlers are focused specifically on first words. They are designed to engage your child, and motivate them to say their first words.

Your child’s first word is a moment all parents are super excited about! As understanding of language grows, your child’s use of language will start to develop.

When you are encouraging first words, pick ones that are motivating. Also pick words where there is the opportunity to use it in lots of ways throughout the day. Aim to repeat it lots and lots in different contexts all through the day.

3. Catch the Gap

Catch the Gap is a clever game to help your child to say their very first words. Understanding comes before talking, so teach your child lots of nursery rhymes. Don’t be afraid to be very repetitive.

The Catch the Gap exercise is when you say the Nursery Rhyme that your toddler is now familiar with, but then stop just before saying the last word in a line.

Look at your toddler and show on your face that you’re encouraging them to finish the line.

For example, you could say: Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the waterspout/ Down came the rain and washed the spider…. (out)

If your child doesn’t say the last word, pause for just a few seconds, and then say it for them and continue with the rhyme. Don’t be put off- persist with this strategy.

Rhymes are engaging and fun and toddlers become very familiar with them easily so it’s a lovely easy way for them to say their first words.

4. Phrase Completion

Phrase Completion is another easy, low-pressure way to help your child say their first words.

It’s a little like Catch the Gap but without the rhymes.

Simply say a phrase (pick one that your child is familiar with) and stop before saying the last word.

For example, you might say:

• Go to (bed)
• Let’s brush your (teeth/ hair)
• Open the (door)

Use phrases that you find yourself saying everyday to your toddler. Use phrase completion in context (e.g. while holding the item) and make it very obvious with your voice.

Make your voice rise at the end so it’s clear that another word is coming and give lots of eye contact and smile to show your toddler you want them to finish your sentence.

EXERCISES TO BUILD VOCABULARY

A strong vocabulary is needed for great conversations, to engage with friends, and for learning across all subjects in school. Remember that vocabulary is not just made up from naming words.

To expand your child’s vocabulary, choose lots of different types of words- action words, describing words, location words and emotion words. Your child will need all of them to be able to engage in conversations.

Building vocabulary is a big focus of toddler speech delay exercises.

5. What’s My Man Missing? (Body Parts)

This is a great game that’s fantastic for teaching body parts. Draw two men side by side. On one drawing, leave out a body part such as an arm or the head. Ask your child, ‘what’s my man missing?’

They might know the word, or if they don’t they can point at the first man to show. When they do this, feed in the language of the body part. Repeat it two or three times so they really hear it and will start to remember it.

Don’t be afraid to make your missing body parts more and more obscure once your child is confident with basic body parts. You could leave out the elbow, the knee, an eyebrow- get creative!

Initially, your child will give the general area such as ‘leg.’ You can say, ‘that’s right. He’s missing part of his leg. That part is called the knee. He’s missing his knee! Can you show me your knee?’

6. Shopping Game

This shopping game will build your child’s vocabulary and also help them to understand categories.

Get lots of pictures of shopping items. The best way to do this is to get a shopping leaflet from a supermarket and cut out lots of the pictures.

Tell your child you’re going to ‘put away the shopping.’

You could draw out a fridge, a cupboard, a freezer and a fruit bowl- whatever is appropriate for your house. Then sort out the shopping together. Describe the items as you go. For example, ‘ oh look- ice cream! That’s really cold! Where should we put it?’

Be careful not to turn this game into a test for your child, but to model as much language as you can. Feed in, don’t squeeze out!

7. Photo Diary

Making a photo book works especially well to teach location words such as: under, beside, in, on, behind.

You can also use it to teach action words such as: jump, skip, run, hop, stand, stretch, roll.

Have fun with your child when you’re making the photobook- get them to go ‘under’ the chair- show them what this means. Then, take a picture to demonstrate each word.

You can print the pictures off with the words underneath.

For example:

• Molly is under the chair
• Molly is behind the chair
• Molly is stretching

Staple or ring-bind them together so they are in one book. Then read through the book with your child, reading out the words and emphasizing the new words.

The book will be very motivating for your child. After all, it contains pictures of them! They are likely to go back to the book again and again. Remember that as you look at the pictures together, keep feeding the words in.

You can use this idea to teach lots of other new words, too. This is a great way to teach colors.

EXERCISES TO BUILD UNDERSTANDING

With a strong foundation of attention and play, your child will be developing their understanding of language. Children need to be able to understand words well before they will start to use them for themselves.

It’s like learning a foreign language as an adult- you can’t open your mouth and communicate until you understand the words you can use.

Generally, children also understand more language than they can say, and the more they understand, the more they will soon say!

The next toddler speech delay exercises are focused on their understanding of language which is a foundation for their talking.

8. Barrier Game

A Barrier Game is a fun way to give your child practice in both giving and receiving instructions. The basic idea is to have matching pictures or objects in front of each of you with a barrier in between so you can’t see each other’s things.

It might be that you each have an uncolored picture of a house in front of you, or you could each have a few toys: a teddy, a spoon and a bed. The barrier might be a hardback book standing up, or even a piece of cardboard.

Take turns to give each other instructions. For example, you might say, ‘color the door of the house red.’ Or, if you have toys you could say, ‘put teddy under the bed.’

Then, when you are ready, take away the barrier and see if your pictures or toys match.

Depending on your child’s age and stage of development, you might need to make your instructions very simple, and check after each one. You might even need to give cues (such as showing ‘under’ with your hand). As you practice, you can start to reduce these.

If your child is older, try giving a series of instructions before checking to see if it matches. Also give them a chance to give you the instructions to follow.

9. Object Hunt

An indoor hunt for kids doesn’t have to be a full-scale Scavenger Hunt which takes a big amount of preparation. A simpler idea is to make a list for your kids of things to find and then let them head off to hunt the objects.

These could be texture related (something smooth/rough), color (something that’s dark blue/ something that has two colors on it), sound related (something that’s begins with the ‘sss’ sound) and even function related (something that you use to stick things). It can be anything that you choose.

You could reward your child for finding everything on the list.

EXERCISES WITH FLASHCARDS

Flashcards are a fantastic tool to use in toddler speech delay exercises. They allow you to choose the words you want to teach, and to play lots of different and fun games. They are great for teaching games with turn-taking and simple ‘rules’, such as ‘Go Fish’ or ‘Snap.’

When you are choosing words for your flashcards, choose a variety of words. Try to choose words that are interesting and meaningful for your child.

However, flashcards are just one piece of the puzzle in learning new words. Children learn best through real life experiences. It might be helpful to jot down the words used in your flashcards, and then use them in a variety of contexts throughout the week. This will broaden their understanding of a word. When children understand a word really well, then they will start to use it!

10. Bottle Cap Game

The Bottle Cap Game is another variation on the flashcard games. To play this game, have about three flashcards picked out with words that you want to teach. Remember that it doesn’t have to be just naming words but it can be any words- action words, or description words work well.

Have three bottle caps and stick the cards to the tops (smaller works better). Alternatively, you could stick the cards to jam jar lids. Find something to hide under the bottle caps or lids- this might be a coin or even paperclip (be careful with small objects if you have a younger child as they are a choking risk!)

Ask your child to close their eyes, put the object under one of the caps, and then let them guess where it is. Teach them to say the word on the flashcard before lifting up to check.

For example, if you are teaching action words and have flashcards of sitting, eating and running, they might say ‘eating’ and then look under to see if they’re right, or they might say, ‘is it under eating?’ if their language is at a higher level.

Your child will need help to do this as they will just be excited to guess and won’t name the card unless you teach them the ‘rules.’ They can then have a turn at hiding the object and you can model, ‘hmm is it under eating?’

11. Fishing Game

To play the fishing game, simply attach a paper clip to each flashcard you are using. If you want to be fancy, you can make fish pictures to stick to the backs of the cards. Then make your ‘fishing rod’- use any length of material and tie a string to it that has a magnet on the end.

Strew the cards around on the floor and then go fishing to catch the cards with your rod. Remember that when they ‘catch a fish’ they need to name the picture on the card.

This is a motivating game that kids absolutely love. You can also turn it into a turn-taking game and teach your child these early social skills. Model the words: ‘my turn’ and ‘your turn.’

EXERCISES TO BUILD GRAMMAR

These speech delay exercises will help your toddler use the correct grammar when they talk.

Grammar is the way in which we use words to say exactly what we mean. If we don’t use the correct word ending, tenses, and pronouns, we will change the meaning of what we say. For example, ‘I walked’ vs ‘ I am walking ’.

Grammar is crucial for kids to develop and use correctly. However, it is a little like icing on the cake.

There are so many skills that need to be in place before grammar can develop. These include: attention and listening, play skills, understanding and use of language. The stronger these foundational skills are for your child, the more opportunities they will have to fine tune their grammar.

However, if these foundational skills are already strong and you want to give your child’s grammar development an extra boost, you can do some focused practice with exercises like these. These exercises are for the earliest stages of grammar- pronouns, plurals, and basic past tense.

12. He is/She is

Pronouns can be quite tricky for kids to develop. Initially, they might say, ‘boy walk’ instead of ‘the boy is walking.’ While a top tip is to model back the correct version naturally without correcting your child, this pronoun game is also a good way to give your child some extra practice.

Look through a sport, gardening or children’s magazine and cut out lots of pictures of males and females. Then sort them into two piles, the ‘he is…’ pile and the ‘she is’ pile. Teach your child to say, ‘he is swimming’, or ‘she is walking.’ Take a turn in the game yourself and model this grammar- let your child hear it lots of times.

Remember to also use it in real life whenever you get the chance- point out and comment about ‘he’ and ‘she’, emphasizing the words a little.

This also helps your child to practice the –ing verb endings.

This exercise alongside practice in everyday life will help your child to develop these grammatical structures in no time!

13. Before and After Cards

Use the internet to find before and after pictures or take your own photos! Make sure the photos demonstrate both the before and after with the grammar for each. You can make these into a photo-book with the target grammar in the words underneath.

Start with regular grammar rules before moving to irregular.

The before and after cards could include:

• Past Tense- (Teach the –ed ending first). Example: I am jumping- I jumped/ I am walking- I walked.
• Plurals – (Teach the –s ending first). Example:  one cow- two cows/ one horse- two horses.

Some irregular grammatical structures could include:

• I am eating- I ate
• I am drawing- I drew
• I am driving- I drove
• One mouse- two mice
• One tooth- two teeth
• One person- two people

EXERCISES FOR EARLY READING SKILLS

As parents, we want to know how to teach our toddler to read. We want them to start off school on a strong foundation to have every advantage for academic success.

Literacy is more and more important in the modern world. Even in a job that doesn’t revolve around it, we still need to be able to fill in forms, read instructions, and generally have enough literacy to get online or to deal with banks and other organizations.

These exercises will help you to develop early reading skills for your child.

Related : 5 Surprising Skills to Build Before You Teach Your Toddler the Alphabet

14. Sound Hunt

Go on a ‘Sound Hunt’ in the house or garden- how many things beginning with ‘mm’ can you find.

Remember that the sound of a letter and the name of the letter are very different things. You can raise your child’s awareness of this by finding opportunities to highlight it.

“oh, a spider- that starts with a sssss- sssspider. That sound is called S.”

Or “t hat starts with a letter M- that letter makes the sound- mmmm. ”

However, be aware that finding something beginning with a sound is more difficult that listening to a word and determining if it begins with the sound.

15. Create a Collage

Create a collage of pictures with just one sound. Cut things out from magazines and papers that have the sound you want.

Have fun using the target sound during a craft. If your target sound is “S Blends”, you could build a crafty snowman. Target sounds could include: snow, snowball, scarf, scary, smile, sparkles, stick, stones, stars, slippery, and stomach.

50 Easy Exercises to Get Your Toddler Talking

If you enjoyed these speech delay exercises for toddlers, check out my big book of 50 easy exercises to get your toddler talking!

Available as a paperback or an eBook, you will have an huge choice of exercises to help your toddler talk in the way that’s best suited to them and your family.

Grab your copy and get your toddler talking!

You might also enjoy:

• 8 Essential Strategies to Boost Speech and Language for Busy Parents [+printable]
• 5 Easy Tips from a Speech Pathologist- How to Encourage Toddlers to Talk
• 5 Surprising Skills to Build Before You Teach Your Toddler the Alphabet
• The Ultimate Guide to Help Your Child Speak Clearly
• Words to Describe Someone: The Ultimate Guide

Free Speech Therapy Activities for Toddlers

• allisonfors
• November 1, 2023
• One Comment
• Early Intervention , Preschool , Speech Resources

Download free speech therapy activities, printables, and handouts for preschoolers!  Work on critical communication skills and language development whether you are an SLP, educator, or parent working with your child at home.

Click on the title to view and download these free activities!

FREE SPEECH THERAPY ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS

Free farm interactive book.

The interactive book contains 3 scenes (the farm, inside the barn, and the farm at night) with 10 farm-themed pieces. The book allows you to flip through the scenes and move the pieces onto the pages. Use to work on vocabulary, prepositions, increasing MLU, wh- questions, inferences, categories, and more.

Behavior Social Story

A social narrative mini-book on how to handle frustration with calming strategies. A great way to discuss feelings and appropriate ways to express them!

Category Match Up

Practice categories and associations with this NO PREP resource! You may also open on your device for a NO PRINT option. Directions included on how to draw on PDFs on your tablet or computer.

Articulation and Phonology Minimal Pairs Smash Mats

Includes 5 sets- Gliding, Fronting, Stopping, Cluster Reduction, and Final Consonant Deletion.

Speech Sound Cue Cards

This packet contains speech sound cue and prompt cards for 21 consonant sounds and 14 vowel sounds (including 4 diphthongs). On each card is a picture of a mouth showing how to produce the sound, as well as a picture to help remind your students what sound they are working on! 

Sound Loaded Book Lists for Articulation

A list of my favorite sound-loaded books to target articulation of specific phonemes.

Birthday Party Language Scene

Use the scene and activities to target -wh questions, following directions, answering open-ended questions, formulating sentences, and conversation skills. Send home for homework, and use as no prep or no print activity. And perfect for celebrating birthdays in speech or the classroom!

Caveman and Dinos Barrier Game

Barrier games for speaking and listening skills in speech therapy, ESL, and more! Target many skills: expressive skills (giving directions), receptive skills (following directions), social skills, basic concepts, vocabulary, categorization, sentence formation, and storytelling. Premade directions page included!

What Doesn’t Belong? Scenes

Practice negation, association, and categories with this 5 page, no-prep activity!

WH Question Pizza Party

90 question cards included while you build a pizza

Speech Therapy Handouts

Developmental norms and milestones handouts for toddlers.

Language Strategies List

Download a 3-page download including 18 strategies with definitions and examples on how to elicit language development in children! This is a summary reference list of effective language stimulation and modeling techniques. Perfect handout for parents of late talkers or language delayed children.

Read this post to find ideas for speech therapy activities for toddlers, including toys, games, and books!

PRESCHOOL MUST-HAVES FOR SPEECH THERAPY

Thanks for reading! Do you have any other free speech therapy activities for toddlers to add to this list?

Get more speech resources and access to the freebie library too!

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10 Speech Therapy Activities You Can Do at Home With Your Toddler

Believe it or not, your child’s speech development isn’t confined in a speech therapist’s office. In fact, speech therapy activities are best done at home, where your child is comfortable. After all, where else would your child want to be than at home with you?

Even if you don’t have a speech therapist yet, nothing’s stopping you from encouraging your child to talk. Here are some recommended speech activities and routines that you can do together at home.

Speech and Language Activities While Bonding with Your Toddler

1) read books or magazines.

One of the best toddler speech activities goes back to the basics: reading. Reading aloud to your child will help them listen to how you form words and develop their vocabulary. Learning through reading may even lead your child to be an avid lover of books. They might even request their favorite book from time to time.

When they are already able to form words, encourage them to repeat the words from the book after you. This will help strengthen their articulation and literacy over time. Eventually, you can leave out some words and pause so that your toddler has a chance to speak up and fill in those words.

For the reading materials, you don’t even have to limit yourself to books. Some educational and children’s magazines can also be a good source of reading time. Magazines that are full of pictures are great for looking at together. You can also point at the pictures and ask them “What’s that?” to get them to engage.

2) Play With Your Child

Extra perks come with learning through a fun activity. Some of them include motor skill development, enhanced imagination, and better social skills with less pressure to speak up.

Toys are an amazing way to facilitate play. But, steer clear of battery-operated ones when choosing toys. You want your child to make sounds, and having toys that do it for them will not help with their development. This is especially true for those experiencing speech delays. Stick to toys that encourage:

• social interaction and communication
• usage of motor functions
• imagination and creativity

One classic way to play is using flashcards and blocks. Images and colors printed on these materials encourage word association.

You can also have your child group the cards or blocks together by various categories (animal, fruits, etc.). This will introduce the idea of related words. Plus, moving cards and blocks around will improve your child’s motor skills too.

Don’t forget to let your child lead during playtime. You will help them be confident with making choices on what to play with. It will also be easier to start conversations with them when they are having fun with it.

3) Use Hand Gestures and Sign Language

At around 8 to 9 months of age, children should start using gestures. Teaching them gestures or signs won’t cause a language delay, especially when you link them to spoken words. In fact, it is an effective tool for late talkers to start communicating .

You can start with waving and saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ for simple gestures. You can also create gestures for actions that your child loves doing. For example, you can say “hug” and wrap your arms around you to connect that word with the gesture.

One of the things you can also do to take this further is to teach your child sign language. Focus on words that are easy and functional, like more, help, please, thank you, and even Mom or Dad. Think about which signs would help your child the most.

Signs that are functional to them will encourage your toddler to use them daily. They can start using it to request items they want or need like milk, blanket, or even their favorite toys.

4) Singing and Rhyming

Nursery rhymes and songs can help improve your toddler’s language skills. Singing stimulates a different part of the brain, and the rhythm of songs helps your child remember words better. Some classic nursery rhyme songs you can use include:

• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• Old MacDonald Had a Farm
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Mary Had a Little Lamb

Songs accompanied by gestures are also excellent for motor skills. Don’t even worry if you’re not a good singer, what’s important is facilitating this interaction with your toddler.

If they can already sing along with you, leave out some of the words, pause and wait for your child to sing the missing words. It gets even better when they can already sing the entire song on their own.

Day-to-Day Speech-Language Practices

Speech learning needs a parent’s support during learning and playtime. But what about other times around the house with your toddler?

You can incorporate many things in your daily lives that can help your child develop their language skills. Here are a few of them:

5) Speak Slowly and Clearly

You can help improve your child’s speech skills when you practice speaking to them slowly and clearly. With the proper articulation, they will pick up on the right sounds to make from the get-go .

Eye contact also helps with communication. Making a proper facial expression helps too, as children also pick up on this and they will imitate it.

6) Introduce New Sounds and Words

As your toddler grows, so does their ability to learn new words. By gradually introducing them, your child won’t feel overwhelmed in remembering them.

You can do this by pointing or picking up items and saying what they are, like lifting a toy ball and saying “ball”. Pointing to yourself and saying “Mommy”/”Daddy” works too, so they can associate the words with the person.

You can also help them learn new words by adding them to learned ones . For example, adding the new word “big” to the learned word “ball” will help them link the words together. Use two to three variations with the same word (“soft ball”, “green ball”) to build further vocabulary.

7) Tell Them What You’re Doing

Whether it’s cleaning the home or even getting dressed, tell your toddler what you are doing . The most ordinary things to you are absolutely new to a learning child. You can also talk about how something looks, tastes, and feels. This will improve their listening skills as well.

When you describe what you are doing, keep it short . You want to speak in phrases that are as long as they can manage to say. Speak and repeat when necessary. It will take patience, but children learn best with repetition.

8) Turn Off the TV

Prevent slow learning by turning off your TV especially when your toddler is in the room. Much like battery-operated toys, it will not help when your child is not repeating what they hear.

TV doesn’t only affect your child: it can also draw your attention away from them. That means less time for you to communicate and bond with each other.

In a study published on JAMA Pediatrics, each hour of TV exposure with sound resulted in fewer vocalizations in children. The study discouraged Tv viewing for children under 2 years in the conclusion. They instead suggest that parents focus on creating an interactive play environment.

Remember: Children are in their best learning state when they are talking to real people at home.

9) Teach Them to Ask For Things

Your toddler most likely wants a lot of things. Whether it’s food or toys, start teaching them to ask for it by letting you know what they want.

One of the ways to get your child to start communicating is to put things out of reach. Place their toys on a shelf or food on an unreachable counter. This will prompt them to call for your help.

Remember to reinforce and enhance the interaction when they do ask for something. If they ask for a banana by pointing, you can confirm “Do you want the yellow banana?” and introduce “want”, “yellow” and “banana” into his vocabulary.

There will be times that your toddler is unsure of what they want, or is having a hard time using words to describe what they want. In cases like this, you can help them with the process by giving them a choice (“Do you want a red apple or a yellow banana?). That way, you make it easier for them to think of words especially when they can imitate what you just said.

10) Repeat and Expand

Earlier we discussed how to introduce new words by linking them with already learned ones. You can also use a similar method to help with new words, which is repeating and expanding.

Repetition is crucial to language learning. Repeat what your child says, and expand on the topic. For example, if your child says, “Dog run!” you can reply with “Yes, the dog is running. He is running very fast.”

Try to keep the expansion sentences as correctly as possible. Like we said earlier, it’s important to speak clearly for your child to learn the words right from the get-go.

What if your child is using baby words? There’s no harm in starting with baby words but you should expand on what they are saying and say the correct word. If your toddler says “ba-ba” while pointing at their bottle, you can repeat (“Do you want ba-ba? Yes, here’s your bottle.)

Nowadays, speech-language pathologists can also be accessible online at home. If you’d like to learn more about how online speech therapy can help your family at home, get a consultation from us. No commitments, no contracts!

Related Post:

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Games For 3-Year-Olds Develop Speech & Language Skills

This page has many great ideas and languages games for 3-year-olds develop their speech and language skills. Some games are appropriate for children as young as 2 years old.

If you don't think your child needs help to develop his or her speaking and listening skills, stick with me anyway. EVERY CHILD should practice these skills. 

There will be an immense growth in speech and language skills as a child turns 3 years old. This language growth sets the foundation for all communication, learning, reading, writing, speaking, listening, telling stories, making friends... the list goes on!

It is important but yet fun to help your little one learn!

Below is a quick overview of all the speech and language skills a child learns between 3-4 years of age. STAY WITH ME HERE! It is important to have an understanding of WHY you are playing certain games. 

What Your Toddler Will Learn This Year By 3 years of age

Language Games: Talking  (Top 4)

1. treasure hunt.

This is a fun one that will encourage language use out of sheer excitement!

Ideas To Try:

• Get out a bucket or a toy box and throw a bunch of toys in it. Close your eyes and go on a "treasure hunt."
• If you have a sandbox, bury toys in the sand and then go on a treasure hunt!
• As you and your child pull toys out of the box, name them and say something about them. For example, if you pull out a doll...say "doll, I found the little doll!"

What You Are Working On:

• Vocabulary development
• Grammar Development
• Taking Turns
• Creating sentences

By playing this game with your child, you are modeling functional vocabulary words such as "dig" and "found." You are teaching irregular past tense verbs and personal pronouns with the phrase "I found."

Blocks are a wonderful way to develop motor and cognitive skills, but it can help to develop language too! Old school blocks are the best and the cheapest.

• Name the pictures on the blocks
• Talk about concepts - big, little, up, down
• Build castles, houses, farms. Once your masterpiece is built, create stories out of your play animals and people.  Click here for  oral narrative tips for young children .
• Introduction to early developing concepts
• Early narrative structures (possibly the MOST important skill to have)

By playing this game with your child, you are teaching the concepts little, big, tall, etc... When your child learns this through block play and then plays again later in the day, learning is reinforced! Way better than learning in an app 🙂

By creating stories, your child is learning about characters, setting, problems, and resolutions. It is an important schematic to know.

There is so much you can learn while eating!! This may be the best time to work on speech and language skills. We have a FREE handout that you can open today.

Click the images below for some free handouts on how to do this activity!

Reading is one of the best ways to develop expressive language due to the illustrations and predictable text.

• Read a page in a book and then have your child read to you
• Have your child name pictures and expand on anything your child says. For example, if your child says "cow," expand with "black and white cow." 
• Ask your child to predict what might happen next.
• Have your child "read" to you!
• Everything!
• Early narrative structure

By reading the same book every night...and yes, repeating books is a GOOD thing... your child has lots of repetitive exposure to story structure, vocabulary, prediction skills, grammar and more!

Grab my FREE eBook for more in-depth tips. You don't want to miss out on this one!

How we read to children is so critical that I wrote a free eBook to share my tips and ideas with my readers. It gives in-depth strategies and much more! If you are interested, please sign up and get your FREE copy!

How To Best Read To Your Child

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Language Games: Listening (Top 6)

1. red light, green light.

This game is great for listening skills and to get your child moving!

How To Play:

Play a game outside where you take turns starting to run by saying "go" and then say "stop" to freeze. If your child's listening skills are more advanced give directions such as "jump up and down until I say stop."

• Following directions
• Turn-taking
• Playing in a group

By playing this game with your child, your child has to learn how to follow rules and work with other children. He/she has to listen to a direction or sometimes a 2-step direction. There are lots of teachable moments in this game and your child will be motivated to learn. 

2. Read, Read, Read!

Can I say this enough :)? Your child can sit longer for a book. Use that time wisely!

Ideas To Try

• Ask your child to point to pictures as you read
• Work on 2 step-directions - ask your child to point to a picture and then a second picture. For example, "Point to the dog and the house" or "Where is the boy and the car?"
• Ask some comprehension questions such as "who" and "what" after reading a page.

Don't forget your  free eBook!  There are lots of great tips in it to make the most out of your reading time.

• Answering WH questions
• Practice asking questions

By reading a familiar book and asking "following direction" questions, your child can really practice understanding those "directional" words such as "point to," "find," "then," etc...without having to learn new vocabulary too. 

Many children have trouble learning how to answer WH questions. Practicing this skill while reading is GREAT since you have a visual right in front of you to refer to! Also, you are introducing the idea of predicting what will happen next and discussing WHY (context clues.) 

If your child is struggling with answering WH questions and you are a member, please log in and check out our:

• NEW WH worksheets
• WH questions on the language page (just scroll down a bit)

If you are not a member, don't worry. 

• Sign up here!

4. Organize

Yes, organizing can be a game 3-year-olds. This can be a popular one too! You can clean the house and work on 2-step directions at the same time. 

Ask your child to pick up two different objects and give them to you. Or, tell your child, "get your shoes and put them by the door." 

• Following 2-step directions

By following directions in a familiar environment, your child can practice understanding concepts such as colors and size. Your child can also practice direction words like the ones listed above in other games. 

This is another favorite language game for 3 year old. Do laundry and work on language skills!

Ideas To Try (give directions)

• Sort socks or shirts by size. All little socks go in one pile and all big socks go in another pile. 
• Sort clothes by gender (girls vs boys)
• Sort clothes by colors

This game isn't any different than the ones above but you can focus on teaching concepts such as colors and the meaning of matching, folding, and sorting all while finally getting your laundry done!

6. Cleanup, Cleanup

The cleanup game can be fun with a little creativity!

How to Play:

The parent and the child take turns "being in charge." Whoever is in charge asks the other to complete 1-, 2-, or 3-step directions. For example, "pick up the blue book and the green block and put it away." By taking turns being in charge, your child gets to practice listening skills as well as expressive language skills. 

**For more advanced children, start introducing some prepositions such as on, in, or under with your directions. 

• Ability to follow multi-step directions with spatial modifiers

By playing this game with your child, your child is learning direction words and listening skills naturally.

Hooked? Want more EASY ideas?

Aren't you glad you stayed a while and read this page? Hope so 🙂

Children learn best while playing with other children and with adults who create lots of natural language learning. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend that you read  how to talk to 2-3 year old.   A few simple adjustments such as body height, how you ask questions and when NOT to talk can make all the difference.

You may have been expecting a list of toys you could buy. I do have some recommendations for toys that are fun and functional. Please read our  recommended toys. ..you won't be disappointed! Also, there are some great language ideas there. 

Want more language games for all areas of development?

The language development eBook series might be just what you need! There are 4 books in the series:

They all include:

• Introduction and review of developmental milestones
• Functional ways to develop language skills at home
• Fun games to play with your child so that he/she won't even know they are learning

ENTIRE YEAR of FREE Language Materials

Fill out the form below, and I will deliver my favorite materials right to your inbox EVERY MONTH for ONE YEAR! 

This is an excellent opportunity to sample the materials available at Speech Therapy Talk Membership and add a touch of joy to your inbox.

One YEAR of FREE speech and language materials!

For 12 months, a new material will be delivered right to your inbox.

• General Speech Language Games: Learn Multiple Skills at the Same time
• Language Games for 3 Year Olds

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The Best Speech Delay Exercises and Activities for Toddlers

By Lori Ennis, M.S. Ed

You want to know how to help your toddler with speech delay. It’s what parents do best—helping their children in areas where they need help. And, you’ve of course consulted a speech-language pathologist to ask how to deal with speech delay in toddlers so your little one can continue to grow and develop in speech and language. Your next step? Finding the best speech delay exercises for your toddler .

Are there speech delay exercises for toddlers that you can do at home? Absolutely, and we’ve asked clinicians for how to help your toddler with speech delay. Check out these speech delay exercises for toddlers and feel empowered in helping your little one’s speech and language blossom.

How to Help Your Toddler with Speech Delay

Take it from the experts, best tips to help speech delay in toddlers, real life brings about real speech.

You recognize that there is a speech delay with your toddler . Whether it’s an articulation issue, an enunciation or pronunciation issue or something in their motor planning that may be preventing typical speech development (or something completely different), you find yourself googling “Tips for speech delayed toddler” or “How to help your toddler with speech delay.” We know because we’ve been there. If you’re the parent of a toddler with speech delays, how to help them communicate effectively is one of your main concerns. Effective communication helps eliminate frustration on your end and theirs while preparing them for preschool, school and life. 

So really, are there speech delay exercises for toddlers that you can do at home? Do they really make a difference in how to help your toddler with a speech delay ?

The answer is a resounding, “YES!” and we’ll share them.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is a wealth of resource when it comes to ways you can encourage development when you have a toddler with speech delays. When it comes to how to help your toddler with speech delay, they recommend some of the following activities to encourage word development, proper articulation and enunciation and auditory processing/comprehension:

• Model good speech. Be clear and precise in your speech to and around them. 
• Make sure you use the appropriate word for a baby-talk word as well. You don’t have to stop saying the baby-talk word; just be sure to give them the correct word. (“You’d like your yogi? Sure, here is your yogurt.”)
• Help your child create catalogs of categories for words. “Look, there’s a dog. It’s an animal. What else is an animal? Yes, a cat is an animal. So is a lion. So is a cow.” 
• Have them develop speech with the ‘Yes/No’ game. “Do cows eat at the dinner table?” “Am I your mother?” “Do you have four ears?” “Are you wearing a red shirt?” This can be a fun game for your toddler to try and trick you.
• When asking questions of your toddler with a speech delay, give choices. “Do you want to eat spaghetti or grilled cheese?” The more words they hear in context, the better their vocabulary base is.
• Sing songs and tell nursery rhymes and read, read, read to your toddler. The more words they’re exposed to, the better. A recent study suggested that children who were read to each night were exposed to more than a million words more than their peers who were not read to. 

Will Oral-Motor Exercises Make a Difference? Dr. Gregory Lof is an Assistant Professor and the Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Communication Studies and Disorders at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. He has suggested that oral-motor exercises may not be as beneficial to speech and language development in toddlers as some might believe.

Dr. Lof believes and offers additional research that suggests oral-motor exercises like blowing bubbles or whistling or chewing on a talking tool may be exercises in futility as they don’t strengthen necessary muscles, and goes one step further in suggesting that strength is not necessarily crucial for speaking anyway. 

So what do Dr. Lof and so many other clinicians he cites suggest as tips for speech delayed toddler help? He advises working on speech tasks that will actually relate to speech production. In this, you can over pronounce early sounds and be sure to pronounce them very clearly. 

Typically sounds that toddlers with speech delays struggle with are /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /h/ and /w/. You can help your toddler by being sure (particularly when beginning and ending consonants) to really enunciate the letters. ‘B’ in ‘bubble’ has a lot of opportunity for over pronunciation and enunciation, but any time you use words with those consonants, be sure to give them definition clearly. 

Additionally, making eye contact with your child when you are speaking to him or her is important. Not only does eye contact culturally build bonds and relationship, but it also allows your toddler to look at the way you’re forming your letters as you make sounds and words. This is something she can copy as she’s working on developing her own speech.

Most importantly, use everyday situations to help your toddler with speech delays. By this we mean spend a lot of time talking to your child, and through your day. When he gets up in the morning and you’re helping him get dressed, name his clothes—“This is your shirt! Those are your pants! Now it’s time for socks.” When you’re at breakfast, discuss how you’re preparing it, what it will do for your brain and your body—“This is orange juice, and it will help build your bones and keep you healthy!” “I had to crack this egg open before I could cook it. This what cracking your egg open looks like.”

Especially if your child’s responses are challenging to understand, allow them to respond to you and converse with you so they have the practice with not just speech, but speech that is contextually appropriate and meaningful to them. There’s often little fun in ‘speaking’ words only to speak or to learn, but when speech and language acquisition occurs naturally, it makes a more permanent impact. 

If you’re looking for more tips on how to help your toddler with speech delay, thankfully there are lots of additional resources to which you can turn as well. If you’re unsure as to whether your toddler’s speech is typical for her peers, or you’re interested in any more tips and information, you can check out the Toddler Speech Boost site and download their free milestone assessment guide. 

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Speech-Language Pathology SLP

| 1 December 2020

15 Speech Therapy Activities and Games for All Ages

Do you have a child, family member, or student who faces challenges with speaking or communicating? Speech therapists use fun activities, from vocabulary games to board games and beyond, to help their clients practice language production. As a layperson, you can try out the same activities with your loved one or student.

The speech therapy ideas in this post are geared toward parents, family members, and teachers who are looking for language games to play at home or in the classroom. Speech therapists, also known as speech-language pathologists , and speech-language pathology assistants may find these suggestions useful for planning therapy sessions. Whether the person in your life needs practice with pronunciation, sentence fluency, or speaking in turn, these activities may help them improve. You can tailor the games to be more or less challenging depending on the person’s age and abilities. Check out the link to printables for some free therapy materials!

Speech Therapy Games for Preschoolers

These fun preschool games are perfect language activities for younger kids.

1. Hopscotch Word Fun

Draw a hopscotch on the sidewalk or driveway and write target words in each box. Then have the player say the words out loud to practice speech sounds as they skip through the game.

Helps with: Pronunciation

One player chooses an item in the room that all players can see, then offers clues so that the other players can guess the item they are thinking of. The player who guesses correctly has to use the word in a sentence.

Helps with: Speaking in turn, sentence fluency

3. The Alphabet Game

While driving in the car or walking around your neighborhood, have the player try to find all the letters of the alphabet on signs. Older players can record each letter they find on a piece of paper. See how long it takes to get all 26! For an added challenge, have them say a word that starts with each letter they find.

4. Bury Objects or Picture Cards

Hide objects or speech cards in a sandbox at the playground or under a pile of leaves, and have the player find them. When they do, have them pronounce the object’s name or the word on the card. To add another element to this game, have them use the word in a sentence.

Helps with: Pronunciation, sentence fluency

5. Word Search

Find a word search that is appropriate for the player’s age, as there are many difficulty levels. When they find a word, have them say it aloud. Download our easy printable word search activity below. It’s perfect for ages 5 to 7.

6. Hide-and-Seek with Words

Have the player find word cards you place around the house. When they find a card, have them pronounce the word on the card. For those who can’t read, use cards with pictures.

7. Articulation Station App

The Articulation Station app by Little Bee Speech is designed for kids ages 4 and up. The app offers practice at the word, sentence, and story levels. It features six activities, including flashcards, matching, rotating sentences, unique sentences, and two levels of stories.

Helps with: Word finding, sentence fluency, pronunciation

Speech Therapy Games for Adults

8. Heads Up! Smartphone Game

Heads Up! is a smartphone app game that combines trivia and charades. (You can download it from the Apple App Store or from Google Play.) The player who will be guessing the word or phrase holds the smartphone on their forehead, revealing the word or phrase to others, who act out clues.

Helps with: Learning to speak in turn

9. Yoga Speech Therapy

Combining speech therapy with yoga can double the fun. Have the yogi practice different sounds and sentences while holding yoga poses.

Helps with: Wor d finding, sentence fluency, pronunciation

10. Opposites Attract

In this game, one player makes a list of words that have a clear opposite, such as “yes,” “down,” “happy,” etc. The player reads each word aloud and the other player states the opposite.

Helps with: Word finding, speaking in turn

11. Group Chat

Set a topic, such as a movie or current event, and create a safe space for players to discuss. This is a great way to practice more natural communication.

12. Name Game

This activity involves naming items within a certain category. The best way to play is with cards that have written directions on them, such as “Name five fruits.” In turn, each player picks a card and responds to the directions. Download our name game activity below.

Helps with: Word finding

13. Journaling

Because reading and language development are interconnected, writing in a journal can help people improve language production and comprehension. Provide a list of writing prompts that the player can choose from. Have them write without stopping for 5 or 10 minutes.

Helps with: Word finding, sentence fluency

14. Name Ten

Similar to the name game, the player is given a category and is asked to name ten things that fit within that category. For example, you can ask the player to name ten colors, fruits, animals, or sports.

15. Sound-Focused Game

Players choose a sound they want to target, such as an “S” or “T” sound. Then they take turns saying sentences aloud using as many words as possible that include that sound. For example, if players are targeting an “S” sound, one player might say, “My sister Sally sat sideways in the seat.”

Helps with: Pronunciation, word finding

Speech therapy activities are a fun way for people of all ages to develop the skills they need to communicate better and gain confidence. Check out our other resources for speech therapists as well.

For those who need more guidance, it may be helpful to work with a speech-language pathologist (SLP), who will create a custom treatment plan based on their client’s unique needs. SLPs earn their Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology (MS-SLP) degree, in which they are trained in assessing and treating disorders of speech, language, and swallowing. At the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, our MS-SLP program features online coursework and hands-on clinical practice, preparing graduates to positively impact the lives of others.

The University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS) offers a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology (MS-SLP). Designed for working students, the MS-SLP is an online program with four required on-campus residencies on either the USAHS Austin or Dallas campus. The program offers two intakes per year, in January and September. Prepare to make a difference in the lives of clients across the lifespan with a meaningful career in speech therapy!

Accreditation Status*

The Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology education program at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences is a Candidate for Accreditation by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2200 Research Boulevard, #310, Rockville, MD 20850, 800-498-2071 or 301-296-5700. Candidacy is a “preaccreditation” status with the CAA, awarded to developing or emerging programs for a maximum period of 5 years.

*The candidacy status includes the MS-SLP program offered at Austin, TX and Dallas, TX locations.

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Upcoming speech-language pathology slp events.

San Marcos, CA Commencement - Wednesday, August 21 4:00pm-6:00pm PT | USAHS

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Toddler Speech Delay Exercises to Use At Home

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In order to improve your toddler’s speech delay, or help them catch up to their peers, you will need to FIRST figure out if there is a delay and what that delay includes. Speech therapist, Sharon Baum, shares 17 tips and tricks you should try at home to support you with toddler speech delay exercises.

First, speak to your doctor and get a referral to a speech therapist if warranted. If a delay is revealed after an assessment, it is crucial that you practice with them daily. That may sound overwhelming, but incorporating daily practices into routines they’re already engaging in, keeps things simple and time effective! Remember that you can be their communication partner at any part of the day that you are with them.

What activities help develop speech in toddlers?

There are many simple activities that can help your toddler develop their speech. Reading books cannot be overstated, even wordless picture books where toddlers are forced to look at pictures and let you know what they are thinking. From labeling objects to describing them using colors and other descriptors. This is a way before bedtime that your child can develop their speech and language skills.

How can I improve my toddler's speech delay?

If your child has a speech delay, you can encourage them to communicate. Also, remember to give them time to communicate; wait and see if they will initiate communication. Especially for their specific wants and needs with you, while also trying to bombard them with speech!

Focusing on activities that are of interest to your child already is a good starting point. Joining them in your child’s activities of interest by acting as a facilitator of communication. This will help the child develop the speech and language skills that they are delayed in. This means that optimizing play, reading, bedtime routines, morning routines, and outdoor activities (i.e. being in the car together and at the park) will be your opportunities for engagement and facilitation.

Let’s get more specific about how we can turn these everyday activities into speech and language moments that will help our toddlers with their speech and/or language delay!

What activities help with speech delay?

Catching up to peers. Here are 5 toddler speech delay exercises.

• Play : This cannot be reiterated enough. During play, you can model expanded phrases to build up their language skills. For example, if you are in the play kitchen, and you are playing with the “fruits” and “vegetables”. You can model: “apple, pass the apple to me”, or “carrots, let’s eat carrots”. You can also watch your child play and let them guide you. If your child says “more oranges”, you can add on to this while playing and say “you want more oranges”.
• Reading : Read to your child and let them “read” to you. This can mean that they are telling you a story based on the pictures they are seeing. Encourage them to tell you what they are seeing in both a wordless picture book and books with words in them. Add on to the ideas that they are conveying through words. Nursery rhyme books can help them remember words, which will build up their vocabulary.
• Listening activities : you want to make sure that your child is building up understanding so that they can develop their speech and language skills. Checking for listening/attention can be done at any moment of the day. In the younger years, you can use a toy that makes noise and put it out of sight. Check if your child acknowledges this through body language or by saying something that indicates that they have heard it.
• Attention/Listening: Another way to check for listening and attention is to incorporate music and dance. Tell them to freeze when the music stops. Are they still dancing or have they stopped? This is a fun way to get your child to build up attention and listening. Since singing is a great tool, you can also start singing and then stop. They should indicate to you that you have stopped or they want more singing!
• Barrier games/understanding language and following directions: Yes, just as it sounds - there is a barrier in place. A barrier such as a box where you can’t see each other’s objects is an opportunity for your child to follow directives as well as administer directions that they want you to carry out!

7 speech therapy exercises for toddlers at home

• Select your child’s favorite hands-on arts and crafts activity or objects. For example, let your toddler tell you what to do with the car on your sheet of paper. For example, “color the car brown”. You then reciprocate by telling your toddler what they should do with the car on their paper. “Cut out the car and put it next to the teddy bear” (this incorporates multi-step directives and spatial concepts).
• Incorporate any target sounds into any activities you are doing. Reinforcing the correct production of sounds while you show your child how you’re producing difficult sounds will help the child learn how to say the sound(s) in error correctly and become easier to understand.
• If your toddler is missing and dropping sounds at the end of the word, then teaching them about rhyming really helps. Model to your child pairs and groups of words that rhyme. For example, a dog and a frog. You can ask your child to show you a ‘thumbs up’ if the sequence of words rhymes and a ‘thumbs down’ if the sequence does not rhyme. For example ‘chair and bottle’. That’s right, ‘thumbs down’. Tell your child that we're going to focus on the final sound of the word. What sound did they hear at the end ‘Matt, cat, bat’. "Well done, it's a "t". For more ** Top Tips For At-Home Speech Sound Practice read here .
• Online platforms can be motivating, but remember that screen time should not be an entire session. Online games can always be a motivating support. Especially on those tough therapy days when your child is being resistant to engagement despite your enthusiasm.
• Get back to the basics. Bubbles and balloons are great companions as they can be used to strengthen articulators (mouth, lips, tongue) when oral motor weaknesses are present. These items can also be rewards to complement efforts and successes after activities. You may find our ** Speech and Language Activities for Parents to Try At Home blog useful .
• Set up an environment that encourages your child to speak (comments or requests). For example, at mealtimes don’t provide a spoon to eat – so they have to ask. If they don’t ask, model the response you need “uh oh, you need a spoon, “here is your spoon”.
• When sorting out washing or getting dressed you can comment and talk about what you have found, “is it a sock or a hat?” or “mummy is wearing a top and you are wearing your… vest”. These can encourage short sentences and Wh questions. For example, “where is my sock” or “what is a hat”.

3 Speech Therapy Techniques for Toddlers

• Praise all your child's attempts at verbal communication. Do not correct your child or make them repeat their errors. Just model back the correct form.
• Use forced alternatives to encourage your toddler to talk e.g. ‘Do you want water or milk?’ or ‘Are you playing with the sand or the water?’
• Once your toddler is using lots of single words, model how to build utterances by repeating back and adding to their single word. Just add one extra word at a time. For example, if the child says ‘car’ you could say ‘big car’ or ‘red car’.

Can a toddler recover from speech delay?

Each child is different. Sometimes a speech delay exists in isolation and at other times it co-exists or is comorbid with other developmental delays. The rate at which a speech delay ceases to exist, or is even able to be removed is dependent on the child. While a question mark still remains as to who will catch up without intervention and who won’t, three predictors that have received attention include; severity of initial impairment in expressive language, degree of impairment in receptive ability as well as expressive, and degree of impairment in gestural communication (Dale, et al. 2003).

Research has indicated that when an expressive language delay is present, 70-80% of toddlers will recover. Indicating that a percentage won’t catch up without early intervention. This is why collaborating with your doctor when you first notice a “delay” is very important.

The good news is that you and your toddler can work together with a speech therapist to help them develop communication skills that they are lagging behind. You may see results quickly or very gradually, but keep going. Each time you practice, you are giving your child a better chance at getting caught up as they enter their foundational pre-school years, mitigating pre-reading and writing difficulties.

Toddler speech delay exercises references:

A Closer Look at the Late Talker Study: Why Parents Should Beware of a ‘Wait and See’ Approach

(PDF) Early Identification of Language Delay

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A toddler's speech development is one of the most exciting and worrying things about parenting.

In the time of social media, it's easy to fall into the trap of comparing your toddler's speech development with others.

You may be wondering if there are any toddler activities to encourage speech.

Research shows that young children need to hear about 21,000 words per day for optimal language development.

While that number may have taken your breath away momentarily, I assure you it's not difficult to achieve.

Luckily, there are many things you can do with your toddler to encourage speech, and they can all be pretty fun!

Speech development in toddlers

You can worry yourself sick reading through websites about how many words your child should be saying at certain ages.

I've read that an 18-month-old should be saying at least 20 words, but then I read the next article down and I'm told a child should be saying at least 6 words at 18 months.

And then , to top the confusion off, women in parenting Facebook groups are telling me they've been told an 18-month-old should be saying more than 50 words!

Here's the most reasonable official word on what a toddler's speech should entail, by age:

By 18 Months- Says several single words. (They don't need to be clearly spoken.)

By 2 Years: Says sentences containing 2-4 words.

By 3 Years: Can carry on short conversations using 2-3 sentences and can be understood by most adults.

Along with these speech development guidelines, it's important to note that receptive language (a child's ability to understand) is of equal, if not primary, importance in younger toddlers!

So, don't gauge your child's language development only on what they are able to say.

Now, let's get to the fun part! The activities! I'll be providing examples of what you can say during the activity to encourage your child's speech!

Toddler activities to encourage speech

1. Herb Grinding- I am a big hot tea drinker and my kids enjoy the scents and flavors of the herbs brewing, along with trying new teas. (Decaffeinated, of course.)

This is one of my personal favorite activities to encourage toddler speech. If there is something you just love , involve your child.

So, grinding herbs with a mortar and pe stle is a super fun activity for us. And there is so much vocabulary that goes along with the activity!

“Feel the chamomile buds. They are dry and break easily. They should be easy to crush!”

“This is a mortar and pestle. People use it for all sorts of things! Painters use it to prepare paints, people crush medicine with it, and people use it for cooking. Let me show you how to use it. After we are finished crushing the chamomile, we can make some hot tea and put some honey and milk in it!”

2. Reading-  This is crucial – and fun! Short, rhyming, and easy-to-follow stories are the best for a toddler's developing speech.

There is no need to purchase any of the “First 100” series books and drill your child on those words.

Simply read and let the story flow. If it's a rhyme, don't stop to talk about the story or the pictures for the first several reads through the book.

Let your child experience the rhythm of the syllables and the song of the rhyme.

This will enhance the experience for them, as well as encourage their love of reading in the future!

Even audiobooks have the benefit of enriching a child's vocabulary!

Sensory bins to help speech development

3. Sensory bins – While sensory bins are not Montessori, they are useful for a child's development.

On top of tactile stimulation and as an adjunct tool for learning, they provide a fun opportunity for speech development.

Take this colored rice sensory bin, for example. We've made the brown rice the land and the blue rice the water.

My 2-year-old enjoyed coloring the rice, helping to plan the activity, and placing the animals in their respective habitats.

“Is water brown or blue? Hmm…I think it's blue. Let's put the brown land over to the left side of the bin and the blue water to the right of the land. Let's get your animals and try to figure out which ones live in the water and which ones live on land!”

So much language goes along with working with sensory bins. And you are only limited by your own imagination, as far as what materials to use!

4. Nature Walks- Take a walk around the yard, neighborhood, or local park. Stop often to observe the things around you.

Encourage your child to pick things up and offer a description of the item.

“Oh, look at that rock you found. Feel it. It's rough and has a jagged edge on one side. It looks different than the rock that I found. Mine is smooth. Do you want to feel it?”.

There is a lot of language to be shared when out and about in nature.

Encourage toddler speech through play

5. Blocks-  This activity is so simple, yet so vital for just about every aspect of a child's development. Blocks. That's right, just plain old wooden blocks .

All you need to do is sit on the floor, facing your child, and build. Talk about what you're building and observe and admire what your toddler is building.

“I'm building a house. You see, the garage is right here and over here is the front door. I've turned a triangle-shaped block upside down to make a pointy roof. Show me what you are building!”

“Let's see how high we can stack these blocks! We can make a tower! Oh, wow, every time we add a block, our tower gets taller. If we keep building, we will have the tallest tower we have ever built!”

6- Miniature objects- Miniature objects are used for different things in Montessori. To start with, they can be used to help encourage speech development in Toddlers.

Language is best learned in conjunction with concrete, tangible examples. So, miniature objects provide this level of learning for toddlers.

Simply name the object and talk a bit about its use. Ask open-ended questions, even if your child can't answer.

Miniature objects are also great for sound games.

7- Silly Sounds- Show your child that it is fun to experiment and be silly with language by making silly sounds with them. Change the words to some common nursery songs and sing about what you are doing.

Instead of singing the correct words to “ Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star “, sing something like, “ Beep beep, bop bop, bip bip, boat! ” Just be silly!

Your child needs to see you feel free to experiment and be silly. This will help them feel free to do the same.

They will have fun, while getting practice and becoming more comfortable with trying new sounds. Activities to encourage speech can be silly and fun!

It should never feel like a lesson,

Speech development and music

8- Finger Plays- Finger Plays are songs involving the movement of the hands and fingers. This is a really fun way to encourage toddler speech!

One Finger Play all my children have enjoyed is this:

Open shut them ( Open and close your hands in rhythm ) Open shut them Give a little clap, clap, clap (Clap in rhythm) Open shut them (Open and close your hands in rhythm) Open shut them Lay them on your lap, lap, lap (Pat your hands on your lap in rhythm) Creep them creep them (Move your hands in a spider motion up your abdomen, Creep them creep them toward your chin) Right up to your chin, chin, chin Open wide your little mouth (Tap your index fingers on the sides of your mouth, But do not let them in close your mouth, and shake your head and wag your finger “no”) Shake them shake them (Shake your hands vigorously) Shake them shake them Shake them Just like this, this, this Roll them roll them (Ball your fists and roll your arms) Roll them roll them Roll And blow a little kiss (Blow a kiss to your child) Muah!

Speech development and food

9- Grocery Shopping- Turn an adult chore into a fun activity by spending some extra time in the fresh section of the store.

The descriptive language that fresh food provides is amazing! There is so much to talk about at the grocery store!

Every fruit and vegetable has a different size, color, texture, scent, and flavor. Grocery shopping is probably one of the best activities to encourage healthy eating and toddler speech!

“We need some apples to snack on. Let's pick out 3 juicy red apples. 1, 2, an 3. Can you help put them in our bag? You did it! Now we've got 3 delicious red apples to snack on when we get home! Now, let's go see what else we can find!”

10- Cooking-  There's no way around it. We have to cook.

So, instead of diverting your toddler's attention elsewhere so you can prepare dinner, invite them to help!

This is one of the most helpful ways to encourage toddler speech.

It may take longer ( and more cleaning is sure to result ), but the opportunity to help a toddler along with their speech development is missed when we exclude our children from daily activities, such as cooking.

“Smell this basil. I like the way it smells, don't you? Now, try a bite of this tomato. Mmm! It's so juicy, isn't it? Would you like to help me stir? Tomatoes and basil are going to be part of our dinner tonight! Thank you so much for helping!”

Speech development and picture books

11- Picture Books- Picture books are great activities to encourage toddler speech. They allow for more conversation, imagination, and they help develop critical thinking skills.

But for the purpose of this article, let's focus on the speech development these books promote.

One of the great benefits of wordless books is the absence of words prompts conversation about the possible actions, emotions , and intentions of the characters on the page.

There is no story to read, so you and your child make up the story yourselves!

“That boy is walking a dog on a leash. I wonder where he is going. Let's see…there's a post office a few buildings away. Maybe he is going to pick up a package. I wonder who sent the package. Do you have any ideas? Maybe his grandmother sent it.”

These fun activities are sure to help get your toddler talking!

Turn off the TV to encourage toddler speech

Doing simple things like speaking clearly and limiting screen time are also important. A link between excessive screen-time and verbal delays has been shown.

Time spent in front of the TV or iPad is time lost gaining meaningful speech; speech that relates to your child's life.

Join Limited Screen-time Families on Facebook for more tips on screen-free activities. It's one of the best resources out there.

My personal experience with my children's speech development

As a mother of three completely different kids, I can promise you that personality plays a huge role in a child's speech development.

The tears I shed worrying about my first child's language development…It turns out, she is a quiet child and a bit of a perfectionist.

I couldn't help but worry when I would watch videos of all my friends' toddlers talking and singing when my daughter had a handful of barely discernable words and a whole lot of da-da-da. She was a “late” babbler, too.

Then, like a light switch went off, she started speaking full sentences.

Now, at 5, she has a vocabulary as large as any other kid her age. My 3-year-old had 100+ words at 18 months.

He is more outgoing and willing to try to say words, even when he's unsure he's got the pronunciation just right.

He appreciates being corrected and will attempt a word as many times as necessary until he's got it just right.

Every child's speech development is different.

Basically, every child is different. So, try not to stress yourself ( or your child) out about their speech development. Child development is not a competitive sport .

I can safely assume that you're reading this article because you have concerns about your child's speech development.

Take a deep breath, dry your tears, and have fun with these activities!

The MOST important thing, however, is that you listen. Your child may be saying more than you think!

And there is NO NEED to talk incessantly to your child, as many social media moms will claim!

Letting them develop confidence and concentration through independent play is absolutely vital.

So, let them play,  then join them.

Let them explore, then join them.

There are so many activities to encourage toddler speech and their all fun!

Cheers and don't forget to subscribe!

Sharing is caring!

Wednesday 25th of August 2021

I NEEDED to read this. Thank you so much. Trust me... you are so right. I worry about my toddler's speech every single day. i am tired of reading articles. I am going to take your advice. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

Bit of crackling

Wednesday 30th of December 2020

If transitions are a problem for your child, it is important to figure out what about the transition is difficult. Often kids don’t like stopping an activity that they are enjoying (like playing on the computer) in order to do something less fun, like getting ready to leave the house. While no one enjoys stopping fun things, some kids struggle with it more than others. That can be a sign that they are still developing emotional self-regulation skills, but it is just one possible cause. Other children struggle to cope with unanticipated changes in schedule, or moving on from something that they feel like they haven’t finished.

Thursday 21st of May 2020

thanks for this article! our little guy has pretty much no words at 15mo but understands what we are asking him to do and follows directions well. he has no screen time and we read a ton of books. the ped is already talking about early intervention speech therapy--ugh! this was such a reassuring article. thanks :)

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100+ fun activities for kids that will keep them entertained for hours! Target speech development through play and games. They won’t even know they are learning!

Learn about your baby and toddler developmental milestones! Check if you are on track, when to worry, and how to work on skills like language, potty training, and feeding!

Every child is different! Here are speech and language tips and tools for kids with learning differences, alongside information for parents provided by speech therapists.

Parenting starts with your well-being! Here is some advice on how to teach life skills, work from home, distance learning, along with tips for developing parenting coping skills.

We help kids speak no matter their speech challenges! Speech therapists advise parents about late talkers, speech delay, stuttering, apraxia, articulation, and other speech impediments.

From your first worry to your first appointment, and your last speech therapy session – find the information you need to help your child thrive and gain necessary speech skills.

Parent's Academy › Speech Disorders › Speech Sound Disorders › 5 Kids Games for Articulation Therapy

5 Kids Games for Articulation Therapy

Stacie bennett.

Speech-Language Pathologist , Trenton , New Jersey

Feb 12, 2022 Parents often struggle to think of creative and fun ways to keep their children engaged in articulation practice. Here are some great games that you can utilize even if your child has trouble sitting still!

If your child is getting articulation therapy in the school setting, this means they are working on specific sounds that are not coming out clear when they communicate.

If your child has difficulties with certain sounds in words, here are the articles that can help you with speech therapy and articulation activities ideas:

• Articulation Therapy: An All-in-One Guide for Parents
• B Sound Articulation Therapy
• H Sound Articulation Therapy
• JJ and CH Sounds Articulation Therapy
• L Sound Articulation Therapy
• Lisp Articulation Therapy
• M Sound Articulation Therapy
• N Sound Articulation Therapy
• NG Sound Articulation Therapy
• R Sound Articulation Therapy
• S Sound Articulation Therapy
• SH Sound Articulation Therapy
• T and D Sounds Articulation Therapy
• W Sound Articulation Therapy

As a private speech therapist, I always give my families handouts and worksheets that they can do at home, but those can get boring and redundant after a while. You can keep them entertained with articulation practice while they learn. Check our list of articulation games below!

1. Fortune-Tellers

These little games are also called ‘Cootie Catchers.’ If you grew up in the last several decades, then you are probably familiar with the folded up version that helps you find out who your next boyfriend or girlfriend will be.

Pick a number and count, then pick a color and spell it out. Open up the flap to reveal who your next crush will be. Remember them? 

Fortune tellers can now be made into a simple and fun articulation game to be used with speech language clients and students. They are simple to make, and can be engaging and fun for both the Speech-Language Pathologist and the student. Plus, you already have the materials at home, so they are inexpensive and readily available.

You can create fortune-tellers for practicing R, L, S, Z, SH, CH, TH, R-blends, L-blends, S-blends in each position: beginning, middle, and end. 

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2. Flip Books

These will require a little more time, but are still a relatively simple activity to do with your kids. Flip books are easy to make and ready at a moment’s notice when a Speech-Language Pathologist or parent needs an activity in a pinch. Whether you make your own or purchase one of the many options available, flip books provide a simple way for those working on providing articulation learning activities.

If you want to make your own, but don’t know where to start, Amazon actually sells flip book kits that you can do with your child.

If you are artistically inclined, which I am not, feel free to draw them yourself. Make sure to put pictures with the sounds that you are targeting and that the sound is in all positions of the words. As your child progresses, you can use the same books to work on phrases, sentences, and conversation so you can keep and reuse them for a while!

3. Articulation Battleship

Older students will love this articulation version of the Milton Bradley game Battle Ship. Using a template provided by Sublimespeech.com , the coordinates of the board are made up of articulation words .

Students take turns saying two words which provide coordinates for their guess. As the parent, you can create different boards for different sounds and provide those boards specific to the student’s needs.

4. Articulation Bowling

Some children struggle with sitting still through an entire articulation therapy session. For these students, having a more physical game can be beneficial for learning – that’s where Articulation Bowling comes in.

To play, you will use a set of articulation cards for the sounds being worked on that day. Set up the cards in the formation of bowling pins.

You can google articulation cards for whatever sound that your child is working on and a ton will pop right up!

A plastic bowling pin will then be placed on top of each card. Once the student throws the plastic bowling ball at the pins and knocks them over, the student will then read the words on the cards for each pin that was knocked over. Check out Amazon for cheap bowling pins and use whatever ball you have at home!

This game is great because it keeps students moving and learning at the same time. In addition, because the student gets a higher score for knocking over more pins, they will then get more word practice as well.

5. Pizza Delivery

This is another great articulation game for students who need to be more physical. Pizza Delivery combines several other types of learning along with articulation. While setup for this game may take a bit more work on the front end, the tools can be laminated and incorporated over and over. If you don’t have a laminator, they sell sheets online that are basically the same thing, but you won’t need the machine. 

Using masking tape or painters tape, develop a series of “roads” on the floor. Then create houses and street signs. Each street can be named using words with sounds the student is currently working to master. If you don’t want to do that, then use different objects in your house to represent the houses and street signs.

Using a toy car, the child must “deliver” a pizza to the correct house using the directions given and pronouncing the street names as he drives on them. For complete instructions visit Notimeforflashcards.com .

In any event, if you think your child is having a difficult time with certain speech sounds, or that (s)he might have an articulation disorder, contact your local speech-language pathologist as soon as possible.

Have a question for our Speech Therapists?

The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not necessarily reflect the views of Blub Blub Inc. All content provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for independent professional medical judgement, advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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7 Exercises for Speech Delay in Toddlers

Signs of speech delay are not always obvious in children under 18 months of age. When you approach doctors, they may tell you not to worry and wait until your toddler is of school age. And in most cases, the doctors are right.

But, the questions and doubts about your child’s speech development are not easy to ignore. So, this is what you should know.

By the time your child is around 2-years (24 months) old, they should be able to communicate with you using a combination of small words, gestures, and one or two-word questions.

Here’s what a child of 2-years should be able to do –

• Use simple phrases to communicate their needs or demands. Most of these phrases come as requests like "more milk," "mommy cookie," "banana," etc.
• They may be able to use one or two words to ask questions like "Go out?", "Mommy?", "Daddy go?” etc.
• They should be able to use about 50 or more words daily.
• They can follow simple instructions, commands and understand questions.
• Parents and caregivers should be able to understand what they say.

By the time children are 3-years old, they can –

• Say two and three-word phrases. Some even speak short and complete sentences.
• They can use over 200 words and as many as 1000 words daily.
• Toddlers can typically say their name by this age.
• They can use simple pronouns like I, My, and Me to refer to themselves.
• Parents and caregivers should be able to understand them clearly.

Are you currently asking questions like "Is my child not talking enough?", "Should my child be using more words?" or "Does my toddler need an SLP ?".

If your toddler isn’t meeting the speech development benchmark for their age, you may need to consider speech therapy.

Sometimes, helping children at home with speech therapy can aid their speech development. Exercises for speech delay in toddlers can motivate them to learn and use more words in their daily interactions.

So, how can you help your child develop their speech and vocabulary? Here are seven exercises for speech delay in toddlers that can help improve their speech and expand their vocabulary –

Exercise #1 for Speech Delay: Read To Your Child

Several parents believe that leaving the TV on or giving an iPad to their toddlers will encourage them to speak. However, research shows that it may not be the case.

Children require interaction with a human to develop their speech. The best way to do this is to read to them every chance you get.

When a parent reads to a child, they listen to how you are saying these words. They are learning new words, and the use of words they hear every day.

Find picture books with short stories that will intrigue your child. Read to them before naptime and bedtime. Look at our list of books for preschoolers that your child will enjoy no matter how many times you read these out to them.

Exercise #2 for Speech Delay: Use Self-Talk

Your grandparents and parents probably used this strategy cum exercise to boost your vocabulary when you were young. And now, it's your turn.

Talk about what you are doing around your child. If you are playing with blocks, point to the blocks, and say "blocks" throughout the playtime. Point to the ball and say, "ball. Throw ball" as you throw the ball.

Don’t be afraid of being repetitive. Children learn through repetition. The more you repeat the simple words or two-word phrases, the more are your child’s chances of learning those words and phrases.

Exercise #3 for Speech Delay: Use Parallel Talk

This exercise is similar to self-talk, but instead of describing your own actions, you will be labeling your child's actions.

One way to assist this process is to label the things your child is using. For example, you can use hand-made, color-coded labels for their toys. Or, you can say the name of the things they are using like a chair, table, spoon, bowl, etc.

Always be sure to use phrases or sentences that are slightly longer than the sentences your child is using. For example, if your child says, "juice." Be sure to say "juice. You want more juice?" back to them.

Exercise #4 for Speech Delay: Build On Your Child’s Speech

As a part of this exercise, you will build on what your child says or gestures. Try repeating whatever they say and add one or two meaningful words to it.

For example, if your child says "ball." You can say "want ball" or "throw ball" or "my ball" back to your child. You can also name the object your child is pointing at or reaching for.

You can use more than one word to refer to the same object to boost your child’s vocabulary. Make sure you don’t use words that are too big or complex for your child.

Exercise #5 for Speech Delay: Sing to Your Child

You don't have to be a great singer, and the songs don't need to be ballads. You can sing simple nursery rhymes to your child.

Years of research shows that singing to your child can enhance their ability to speak. Interestingly, the centers for singing and speaking are different in the brain.

There have been instances where a child was able to sing a nursery rhyme long before they could form complete sentences.

Exercise #6 for Speech Delay: Boost Receptive Vocabulary

Receptive vocabulary may include all the words that your child understands, even though they may not use these words.

Just like us, children must first understand the meaning and then use the words. To help them understand the meanings of new words, you can try using them in conjunction with words they already know.

For example, when they point at your spouse or partner, you can say, "where's daddy?" or "where's mommy?”. When they point at food, you can specify the name of the food like chips, cookie, candy, apple, etc.

You can then move to the next step by asking your child to point to specific objects like “where’s the book?”, “where’s the fruit” or “show me the dog”.

Exercise #7 for Speech Delay: Praise Their Efforts

No matter how small the improvement, you need to make sure that it doesn't go unrecognized. If they have learned or used a new word, be sure to praise them.

Verbal positive reinforcement can go a long way in shaping their personality as an adult. So, even if they fumble a little while using a new word or forming a whole sentence, be sure to praise them for their efforts.

Wrapping Things Up

It is imperative to spend time with your toddler. Quality time is of utmost importance if you want to help your child overcome speech delays. Apart from the usual playing, try to incorporate these 7 simple exercises into your child’s daily routine.

Speech delay may not always be a sign of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, and auditory disorders.

However, you should always consult a pediatrician, as well as a speech-language pathologist, if your child is showing delays in speech development. Besides helping your child practice the above-mentioned exercises at home, you can also opt for online speech therapy for speech delay for the best results.

At the same time, it is important to avoid falling for common myths about speech delay in children .

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Author: shadase

15 Most Effective Speech Therapy Activities For Toddlers

Speech therapy activities for toddlers can help them learn the basic skills needed to develop strong communication. While these activities should be fun and engaging, they can also be quite challenging.

Speech therapy can be an important part of your toddler’s development, particularly if they are having difficulty communicating effectively and expressing themselves clearly.

In this blog post, we’ll provide you with some great ideas on speech therapy activities you can do at home that are both fun and effective when it comes to helping your toddler build their communication abilities.

Here are some of the most effective speech therapy activities that you can use with your toddler and also recommend it to others in your family or close friends!

#1. Narrative Activities

Narrative activities like storytelling allow your child to practice speaking as well as comprehending language. You can read a story together or create a narrative using pictures and objects. Asking questions throughout the activity encourages conversation while providing an opportunity to correct errors in grammar and pronunciation.

#2. Flashcard Games

Using flashcards is another great way to teach new words and concepts to your toddler. You could play simple memory games, have them match pictures to words, or even create your own flashcards for more specific topics.

#3. Articulation Exercises 

Articulation exercises help young children learn the correct way to pronounce sounds and syllables. To make it more fun, you could play a game where you blindfold your child and ask them to correctly identify objects by their sound.

#4. Oral Motor Activities

Oral motor activities work on strengthening the muscles in the mouth that are used for speaking. You can do this with games such as tongue twisters or by blowing bubbles together.

#5. Play-Based Activities

Last but not least, play-based activities are important too! Playing with toys or interactive games encourages natural speech, giving your toddler the chance to practice their skills in a more relaxed environment. Additionally, playing with toys helps develop fine and gross motor skills which will also be beneficial for their speech development.

#6. Art activities

Use art projects like drawing, cutting and pasting to work on fine motor skills as well as language development. For example, ask your toddler to draw a picture of something they learned or simply tell them what color they should use to draw an object. This activity is also a great way to introduce new words to your toddler while helping them learn how to express themselves artistically.

#7. Music and Movement

Get up and dance! Music can be used in many ways during speech therapy sessions with toddlers, such as singing songs that help reinforce specific speech goals or having the child move along with the beat of a song. Music has been proven to activate both sides of the brain at once while providing a fun, interactive way for children to learn and practice language skills.

#8. Picture books

Picture books are great for toddlers because they provide visual cues that help the child understand what is being said. Read a book together, discussing each page and pointing out the pictures as you go along. This activity can also help your toddler learn new words while allowing them to have fun with stories they already know.

#9. Playdough activities

Playing with playdough helps develop fine motor skills, which are important for speech development. Have your toddler roll, squeeze or shape the playdough into different things while you name objects or colors in order to reinforce these words. You can also use it to introduce new vocabulary by guiding your child to make the objects you name.

#10. Pretend Play

Pretend play is a great way for toddlers to use their imaginations and practice using language in different contexts. Whether it’s playing with dolls, kitchen sets or cars, pretend play can help your toddler learn how to express themselves more clearly and articulate their needs and wants. Use this time as an opportunity to ask questions, give directions or introduce new words and ideas.

#11. Puzzles

Puzzles are excellent tools for speech therapy sessions because they require problem-solving skills which can be used when learning new language concepts. Have your toddler work on simple puzzles while you discuss each piece of the puzzle together or even have them put the pieces together while narrating what they are doing. This activity is great for working on language comprehension and vocabulary development.

#12. Speech Sound Games

There are plenty of fun speech sound games you can do with your toddler to help them practice their talking skills, such as “I Spy” or animal sound guessing games. These activities provide an opportunity for your child to practice saying certain sounds and words in a pressure-free environment while having fun at the same time.

#13. Storytelling

Stories are a great way to engage your toddler during speech therapy, whether it’s a story you make up together or one they already know. As you tell the story, have them chime in by providing snippets of dialogue or making suggestions about what might happen next. This activity is great for introducing new words, practicing language concepts and engaging your toddler’s imagination.

#14. Toy Cars

Playing with toy cars can be a great way to work on following directions as well as working on expressive language skills. Have the child drive their car around while giving them commands such as “go left, turn right or speed up” and encourage them to narrate what they are doing with the car.

#15. Word Games

There are plenty of word games you can play with toddlers that will help develop their communication skills in a fun way. Try playing rhyming games, categorization games or even just have your toddler describe what an object is without saying its name. Word games are a great way to introduce new vocabulary and help your toddler understand the connection between words and their meanings.

These 15 activities for speech therapy with toddlers provide an excellent foundation for helping children develop their language skills. Remember that it’s important to make these activities fun, engaging and interactive in order to keep your toddler motivated and interested in learning.

With consistent practice and dedication, you can help your child reach their goals and guys if you liked it then please share it with others on social media!!

About the Author: shadase

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Top Speech Therapy Toys for Toddlers

Best speech therapy toys for 1 year old kid.

Speech therapy for toddlers

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41 Free Online Speech Therapy Activities

There are many online speech therapy activities that you can do with your student or child to help them develop their language skills.

These online games and exercises are perfect for the online slps doing teletherapy and will not only be fun for both of you, but they will also provide great benefits for your child’s speech pathology goals and help improve their speech delay!

Fun Games for Online Speech Therapy Activities

In this article, we’ll highlight 41 online resources – including PBS Kids interactive games, Boom Cards, and Pink Cat Games. We hope that these online tools will encourage children to learn about social skills, vocabulary words, communication skills, and more.

The following section is a list of educational games that are great for any speech language pathologist to use during their therapy services.

Collection of Interactive Online Games

Enjoy this list below of online speech therapy games to work on your student’s or child’s speech goals and make your speech therapy session even more fun this school year.

Online Speech Therapy Activities

1. pbs kids.

One of our favorite online resources for speech therapy is the PBS Kids website. This online destination has a variety of fun, interactive games that help children work on their language skills.

Some SLP favorites include: “ Curiou s George Pop the Bubble “, “ Meatball Launcher “, and “ Daniel Tiger Bath Time Helper “.

Do you have students who love to build things? Be sure to check out this list of games: “ Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Sandcastle “, “ Hero Elementary Treehouse Trouble “, “ Hamster Run “, “ Ready Jet Go, Builder “, “ Animal Home Builder “.

All of these games are perfect for children who are in the early intervention stage or those who have autism spectrum disorder. They are also great for helping to build vocabulary skills , story telling , feelings and life skills, such as empathy, respect for others, labeling feelings, as well as others!

2. Boom Learning

Another online resource that we love are Boom Cards.

This online program makes it easy to access educational games that can help your child work on auditory processing skills, receptive and expressive language development, articulation practice, and more!

This online resource is perfect for practicing speech sounds with articulation games, vocabulary words, social skills, and following directions – all of which are important for speech development.

If you’re on the hunt for barrier games be sure to check out Boom Learning then!

SLP favorite free downloads can be found in my list of 917+ free boom cards for speech therapy !

3. pink cat games.

If you’re looking for online resources that are specifically designed for younger children, we highly recommend checking out Pink Cat Games.

This online website has a variety of great games and activities that focus on different language skills, including vocabulary development, following directions and more.

Some of our favorites include: “ Build a Monster “, “ Smarty Pants Animal Race “, and “ Quiz Wheel Game “.

All of these online resources are perfect for children in early intervention or with autism spectrum disorder, as they help to build vocabulary skills, language comprehension abilities, following directions, social communication, and more!

4. Fun Brain

This website has many online activities and games that work on vocabulary, reading comprehension, memory skill development, etc.

These online games are perfect for children who have already developed some language skills, but still need to improve their vocabulary or reading comprehension abilities.

Some of our favorite things on this site are “ Reading “, “ Games “, Grammar Gorillas , Plural Girls to work on plurals , and Simon Sees .

5. Educational Games

If you’re looking for online resources that focus on educational games, we highly recommend checking out Educational Games.

This website has a variety of online activities and games that work on different academic skills, including math, science, grammar, etc.

This online website is perfect for younger children who are just starting to learn their letters and sounds. It has a variety of online games and activities that focus on teaching the alphabet, phonics skills, vocabulary words, etc.

Some of our favorite online speech therapy activities on ABCya! include: “ Make a Cupcake “, “ Make an Ice Cream “, “ Make a Cookie “, “ Make a Pizza “, “ Make a Gingerbread House “, “ Make a Robot “, and “ Let me Grow “.

These online resources are perfect for children who are just starting to learn their letters and sounds, as well as those who need extra practice with their phonics skills. They also work great with younger children in the early intervention stage!

More reinforcement games, such as Happy Clicks, the Game of Battleship, and an Interactive Mr. Potato Head can be found in my list of 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy !

7. Sesame Street Games

This website offers a variety of educational games for children ages two to five. The games are designed to help with skills such as letter recognition, counting, vocabulary, and more.

Here is a list of fan favorites: “ Cooking with Cookie “, “ Ready Set Grow “, “ Brush Those Teeth “, “ Dress up Time! “, and “ Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck “.

There are several possibilities for targeting requesting, commenting and extending utterances.

8. Match the Memory Game

If you’re on the hunt for memory games then this online memory game is a great way to help your child work on their short-term memory abilities.

9. Baamboozle

This online website is fantastic since it offers pre-made games and activities created by other SLPs that you may utilize or develop your own free games.

Simply search the games using the search bar.

Some of our favorite online speech therapy activities on Baamboozle include games with target words: “ Speech Articulation S Sounds ” by lindseycav, “ Articulation of Two or More Syllables Words in GIF ” by Susan Tourdot, and the “ /ch/ Initial Articulation ” by MG.

These online resources are perfect for children who need extra practice with their vocabulary skills or articulation. They also work great with younger children in the early intervention stage!

10. Meddybemps

If you’re looking for online speech therapy activities, look no further than Meddybemps.

They have a great selection of interactive games and activities that are perfect for helping kids with language skills.

Their games are ideal for children with autism spectrum disorder, communication delays, or other speech-language needs.

11. Jeopardy Labs

Jeopardy Labs is a great online resource for speech therapy activities. The website includes interactive games and vocabulary games that are perfect for teletherapy sessions and helping children develop their language skills.

The interactive games on Jeopardy Labs are a great way to help younger children learn new concepts in a fun and engaging way. The games are also a great way to help improve communication skills.

12. Language Play Room

The language playroom is an online learning center for children to help them learn about language.

They have activities that cover a wide variety of concepts, including reading comprehension and phonemic awareness.

13. iSL Collective Video Lessons

If I had a top pick this website would be it! I personally love using videos to make therapy more fun and interactive.

The iSL Collective is a great online resource for speech-language pathologists.

The website includes a variety of video lessons that cover topics such as grammar skills, vocabulary development, body language, and more!

If you also love using more videos in your therapy to make learning more fun then be sure to check out my list of 31 Best Wordless Videos to Teach Problem Solving .

14. Owlie Boo

This website is really easy for parents and therapists to use.

It offers several excellent games for toddlers and reinforcement games, which are also great for practice.

Poki is a great website with activities that are fun and interactive, and the games can be used as reinforcement while your students work on their specific skills or areas of development.

Poki is a great resource for parents, family members, and therapists looking for fun and digital games to use during therapy sessions.

Some favorite board games include: “ Tic Tac Toe “, “ Connect Four “, and “ Snakes and Ladders “.

16. Toy Theater

It has several free interactive games that you can use with your students. They can play along with you if you share your screen and let the student control (Zoom).

If you’re looking for multiplayer be sure to check out the Goose game and Snakes and Ladders game at Toy Theater.

Some of our favorite online speech therapy activities on Toy Theater include “ Stack ” and the “ Classroom Timer “.

17. Room Recess

Room Recess is an educational website that offers educational games and activities for children.

The site is free, easy to use, and provides educational online resources for kids of all ages.

Room Recess has a large library of educational games for early learners from preschool through middle school including a math tab, reading tab, word tab, lab tab, extras tab, and themes tab.

18. Mystery Animal

The Google Mystery Animal is a 20-question quiz. It’s free and very entertaining for all ages and fun for a variety of goals.

Kahoot is a perfect website for high school students or older students and a great way to review material with a class or as a family.

It is an interactive quiz game that can be used for educational purposes. Kahoot offers many different types of games, including vocabulary and grammar exercises.

SEE ALSO: 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy / Teletherapy

20. quizlet.

Quizlet is a website that has a variety of resources for all grade levels, including interactive flashcards and vocabulary games.

Quizlet also offers a great way to study for exams with its “learn” mode. This mode helps you memorize information from a provided list of terms, definitions, and examples.

21. Cookie  

This site has 13+ great language activities that help students build vocabulary in an engaging way.

22. Global Allied Health

This site is divided by goal area.

These online resources are perfect for teachers who have older children in the school-aged stage!

23. Highlights Kids

This website is jam-packed with secret pictures, making it ideal for vocabulary practice or as a fun reinforcement game.

The website is also a great resource for parents and family members who want to help their children with language development or those that are working on improving communication skills.

The types of activities available on Highlights Kids will keep children entertained while they learn at the same time!

There is something for everyone on this website. It is a great resource for parents and speech-language pathologists alike! Check it out today!

The website Quia.com is an educational website that allows you to create online lessons and quizzes for free. This can be a great resource for finding educational games and activities to supplement speech therapy sessions.

Quia offers a variety of different types of educational games and activities, including vocabulary games and interactive activities for younger children.

The website is easy to use and can be accessed from any computer or mobile device.

Here is a fun game for working on multiple meaning words !

25. Wheel of Names

The Wheel of Names is a fun game that is perfect for using it as a spinner.

For example, you can use it to choose who goes next. Or put vocabulary words in the boxes and then spin and have your student define their vocabulary words.

Another idea is to work on synonyms or antonyms. Place different words, such as big or tall in the spinner and then hit spin. The child then says the best synonym or antonym for that word. 

SEE ALSO: 279+ Free Speech Therapy Digital Materials

26. kids national geographics.

The Kids National Geographic website is a great educational resource for children of all ages.

It features interactive games and activities, educational articles, and videos from the popular magazine.

Children can learn about everything from dinosaurs to space exploration on this website. There are also puzzles and quizzes to help reinforce what kids have learned.

This is a great way to keep children engaged and entertained while learning educational topics.

27. Bou n cy Balls

This is a fun way to manage classroom noise or visualize music.

You can choose from a variety of themes that will help your students visualize the noise in the room!

28. Sheppard Software

This website has a great variety of educational games and activities for younger children.

Their website has hundreds of free, online, learning games for kids.

But anyone interested in online learning can use this site with access to activities in many subjects – (geography, math, animals, science, language arts, creative activities, health).

29. Mr. Nussbaum  

Here is an educational website that features many free resources to help kids.

It offers dozens of interactive games designed to reinforce essential concepts taught in elementary years, and themes that make learning enjoyable.

30. Arcademics

Arcademics is a website that offers educational games for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

There are over 50 games to choose from, and students can practice math, reading, science, social studies, and more.

The educational games are separated by grade level and subject, so students can easily find what they need.

31. Junior Brain Pop

One educational website that is great for speech therapy activities and games is Junior Brain Pop.

This website includes a variety of interactive games and videos that target a range of skills, including language. The games are all engaging and provide a fun way to work on important skills.

32. Splash Learn

Splash Learn has a variety of educational games to choose from that provide practice in vocabulary, phonology and grammar skills.

It also offers educational lesson plans and ideas, tips on how to use the site, FAQs and more!

33. Turtle Diary  

This site offers a large, free collection of educational games and activities to help children learn. These tools can be helpful for speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, parents and teachers who are looking for ways to support language skills in young children.

The site includes many different types of educational games that will engage your child: vocabulary building games where kids match terms to definitions, interactive short stories that teach grammar and syntax, educational quizzes, math challenges and more.

One of the best features of Turtle Diary is that many of the games are designed for specific age groups. You can easily find activities tailored for preschool students, elementary students or older students. This is a great way to target your child’s specific educational needs.

SEE ALSO: 917+ Best free Boom Cards for Speech Therapy

34. learning games for kids.

This site includes educational games for kids to make learning fun with math facts, language arts, and more.

Want educational games that make learning fun for your students? You’ve come to the right place!

35. Time for Kids

The website ‘Time for Kids’ is a great educational resource that provides articles and videos geared towards children of all ages.

Time for Kids is a great resource for educational activities, making it the perfect place to find digital resources for speech therapy.

It’s also a great way to keep younger children entertained and engaged while practicing their language skills.

Scroll down to the latest articles and stories for the free resources.

36. The Kidz Page   

Here is another educational website that provides free educational games and activities for children.

There are hundreds of free kids games, puzzles, activities, fun coloring pages, clip art & more.

You are sure to find something on this site that will help reinforce what you’re teaching your students in the classroom.

37. Disney Now Games

Disney Now has a great selection of educational games for children.

The games are designed to help kids learn math, reading, and science skills.

There are also games devoted to social skills development.

38. Word Wall

A great way to help young children learn new words and their definitions is by using a word wall.

A word wall is a collection of words, usually posted in a designated area, with each word printed or written on a separate piece of paper or card. The definition of the word can also be included.

This is a great visual aid for children and can help them learn new words in a fun way. It is also a great resource for parents and family members who want to help their child with their language development.

39. Birthday Song

Does your child or student have a birthday coming up?

Then be sure to check out this website where you type your child or student’s name and you can sing the child happy birthday with their name!

40. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Their website also has a few articles of ideas for using online speech therapy ideas that might be worth checking out.

41. Book Trust

If you want your child or student to listen to a free book then be sure to check out this website where your child or student can watch and listen to the interactive children’s books and then play a game, such as the Jigsaw Puzzles , Coloring Pages , or Faces and Feelings .

Conclusion : Online Speech Therapy Activities

Here is a list of 41 online speech-language therapy activities and games to help your child work on their language skills!

These resources are a great way to use online technology and are perfect for children with autism spectrum disorder, communication delays, or other speech-language needs.

They are a great way to improve vocabulary skills, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, and more. Try out these online resources today!

Want Even More?

• 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy
• 261+ Free Ideas for Digital Therapy
• 917+ Best Free Boom Cards for Speech Therapy
• 11 Free Articulation Games for Speech Therapy
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Want the Best of the Bests?

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Saturday 18th of June 2022

Thank you for this freebies! God bless your good heart!

Melissa Berg

Hi Ela! Aw, thank you so much. I'm happy to know you like this resource! Wishing you all the best, Melissa