Summertime Speech Therapy Activities for Kids
Summer is just around the corner, and there’s no better time to take speech therapy outside! With plenty of time for outdoor adventures, it’s a great season for families to have fun while supporting speech and language development. Whether you’re at the park, in the backyard, or on vacation, these playful summer speech therapy activities turn everyday moments into meaningful learning opportunities for kids. Here’s a list of fun, summer-themed games and exercises that help boost communication skills. Time to have some summertime fun!
1. Bubbles: The Ultimate Tool for Summer Speech Therapy Activities
One of our favorite summer speech therapy activities is playing with bubbles, a simple yet powerful tool to support language development and fine motor skills in a fun and engaging way.
Below, we share easy and effective ways to incorporate bubble play into your daily routine. Spoiler alert: your child will be having so much fun, they won’t even realize they’re working on speech goals!
- Hold the Bubble Bottle Just Out of Reach
- Create motivation to communicate! By placing the bubble container slightly out of reach, you encourage your child to point, reach, or verbalize to request it. You might hear “bubbles,” “please,” or even “I want bubbles.”
- Give the Bottle Without Opening It
- This simple trick helps prompt your child to ask for help. Wait a few seconds before assisting, and encourage them to say phrases like “open,” “help,” or “help me.” This sets the stage for natural communication.
- Take Turns and Model Language
- Use phrases like “my turn” and “your turn” while taking turns blowing bubbles. This helps develop your child’s understanding of social rules and builds predictable verbal routines.
- Use Predictable Verbal Cues
- Before blowing bubbles, say “Ready… Set… Go!” or count “1, 2, 3… blow!” Repeating these verbal cues every time helps your child anticipate and participate, even if just with one word.
- Say “Pop!” When Catching Bubbles
- Catch a bubble on your wand and say “Pop!” as you pop it. Encourage your child to do the same. Simple, fun, and repetitive language like this is great for early speech development.
- Describe What You See
- Use words to talk about the bubbles’ size, direction, and movement. Try “big bubble,” “tiny bubble,” “bubble up,” or “bubble down.” This encourages descriptive language and builds vocabulary.
2. I Spy
I Spy is an easy game that parents or caretakers can play with children anytime, anywhere! Playing I Spy can work on:
- Increasing a child’s ability to identify age-appropriate objects.
- Increase understanding of categories.
- Increase the ability to use and understand descriptive language.
3. Water Play
Whether it be a pool, a hose, sprinklers, water balloons, the ocean, or water guns, water play is a super fun and cool activity that children and parents/caregivers can enjoy. During water play, kids and parents/caregivers can:
- Work on turn-taking skills.
- Use and understand verbal routines (ready, set… [pause] GO!).
- Work on following directions (e.g., jump in, throw it, come out, run here, etc.).
- Increase use/understanding of age-appropriate nouns (e.g., water toys, body parts, people, etc.).
- Increase use/understanding of verbs (e.g., jump, throw, swim, float, run, walk, etc.).
Find our favorite Water Play Activities in this related blog post: Water Play: 7 Fun Water Activities to Try This Summer
4. Music & Dancing
Music and dancing are easy activities that children and parents/caregivers can enjoy anywhere. Whether it’s nursery rhymes or some of today’s top (kid-friendly) hits, enjoying some music is a fun way to work on kids’ speech and language. Parents/caregivers can target:
- Imitation skills (e.g., copying dance moves, sounds, song lyrics).
- Increasing yes and no skills (e.g., depending on whether or not the child likes a song/dance move/music, caregivers/parents can model ‘yes’ or ‘no’).
- Increasing use/understanding of verbs, following directions, and joint attention.
Bonus: Family Tips for Summertime Speech Activities
Always remember that summer means fun for everyone. So, here are some tips to help the family feel like these speech activities for kids are more like play and less like work:
- Always provide children with an opportunity to explore the activity without any demands. For example, let them chase the bubbles first and enjoy doing what they want to do with them before giving them directions.
- Use short and simple language during the activities so children are not bombarded by too many words, and to set them up for communication success. For example, instead of asking, “Do you want me to blow the bubbles?” simplify the question to, “Blow bubbles?” Shortening the question makes it easier for kids to process what was said and answer accurately. Using fewer words also provides a simple word or phrase model that kids can easily imitate. Parents/caregivers can always expand their sentence once the child answers to continue modeling sentences/words without putting too much demand on the child.
- Try to make sure that the activity ends on a happy note. More specifically, make sure the activity ends on a happy note by not pushing the speech and language targets too much or too hard. For example, if you notice that your child is doing well using 1-2 words and you decide to encourage them to use 2-3 words, make sure to scale back down to 1-2 words if they are not as consistent with 3 words and meet them at a level they are comfortable in during the activity.
- Always remember to go with the flow. For example, if the activity you have in mind is bubbles, but the child doesn’t seem to be interested in it and/or moves on to a different toy, follow their lead. Save the bubbles for a different time and try to target what you can with whatever toy/activity they are interested in.
Find More Therapist-Approved Summer Speech Activities in the NAPA Blog:
Looking for more ideas to incorporate speech therapy into your summer routine? Try these NAPA-approved favorites:
Additional Speech Therapy Resources:
About NAPA Center
At NAPA Center, we specialize in individualized therapy programs tailored to your child’s unique strengths and challenges. Whether you’re looking for speech therapy, occupational therapy, or an intensive therapy program, our expert therapists will work with you to create a custom plan that meets your goals. Contact us today to schedule a complimentary screening and learn how we can support your child’s development.
About the Author
Amanda is a bilingual Speech-Language Pathology Assistant with over five years of experience supporting children with communication challenges. She’s passionate about helping individuals find their voice, however that may sound. Outside of work, Amanda enjoys spicy foods, mochi donuts, and cozy nights binge-watching Netflix with her husband, cat (Hendrix), and dog (Lebowski).
