Overcoming Speech and Language Problems at Halloween
Jan 14, 2022 Whether it's Halloween-themed activities, Halloween costumes, Halloween treats, Halloween decorations, or Halloween parties, as I'm sure you can tell, we LOVE HALLOWEEN! Stay calm in the run-up to Halloween by doing speech therapy at home.
Halloween Activities for Kids:
Many parents are alarmed when they notice that other children have more developed speech than their kids. Fortunately, this is not as significant a problem as it may seem. You can start dealing with it at home without much knowledge or spending money on speech therapists. We know that Halloween is for kids, and it’s a great occasion to start speech therapy at home with theme games.
This holiday heralds a lot of fun, colorful costumes, pumpkin activities, and candy. Believe it or not, this is exactly what you need to start therapy. Below you will find effective tips for speech therapy at home to help you with fun ways to help your child and correct speech problems. Don’t forget to contact a licensed speech-language pathologist if you have concerns about your child’s speech progress.
Speech Therapy at Home on All Hallow’s Eve and after Trick or Treating
Children love Halloween from an early age, so this is a good opportunity to start doing exercises to get rid of speech problems and foster general development. Most children aren’t yet disciplined, but the atmosphere of this holiday perfectly disguises the exercises and will interest the child.
Even if you are using the services of a speech therapist, these tips and games will come in handy. Most speech therapists give homework, which requires continuous practice that you can provide at home. All subsequent exercises will be playful and related to Halloween.
Speech Exercises Hidden in the Game
Here are some educational games that don’t need expensive tools and lots of prep. You need only Halloween-related items, imagination, and creative thinking.
Pumpkin Activities
One of the most versatile items for educational games is a pumpkin. This vegetable is so versatile that its use in speech development has no boundaries.
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Here are some pumpkin-themed games that will not only interest your child but also bring good results.
Learning Target Pronouns
Take several pumpkins of different sizes. Next, stand in a circle, with at least three people in the game, but it can also work for two. The idea of the game starts with each pumpkin being passed from person to person in a circle, and then you need to talk about them. For instance:
- “My pumpkin is orange.”
- “Her pumpkin is big.”
- “Your pumpkin is light.”
Learn Superlative Adjectives
So, we all know that an adjective describes something or someone, and a superlative adjective refers to “the most,” “the best,” or “the highest.” For this game, you’ll need several pumpkins.
Prepare prizes, like candies to be awarded to each pumpkin based on its characteristics. Explain that there will be a pumpkin contest now and you will reward them. For instance:
The parent says: “Which pumpkin is the largest/smallest,” and so on.
The child must find such a pumpkin and reward it with candy.
Then you can continue this game and learn comparative adjectives (“bigger” than or “smaller” than). Invite your child to compare pumpkins. For instance:
- This pumpkin is bigger than this but smaller than this one.
- This pumpkin is brighter than this one.
Encourage your child to use more interesting adjectives than big/small. This is a good time to demonstrate new adjectives to your child, teach them how to compare objects, and grow their vocabulary.
Examining Body Parts
If you have a small child, pumpkins with faces are a good tool for examining body parts. Make some paper arms and legs, and get some thumbtacks. Attach these parts to the pumpkin and come up with a name for the pumpkin. By the way, here you can immediately develop the following dialogue:
- “Let’s come up with a suitable name for this pumpkin.”
- “Will this pumpkin be a boy or a girl?”
- “If this pumpkin is big/small, what name would be good?”
- “Why do you want to name this pumpkin (name)?”
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Next, start exploring body parts. Depending on the age of your child, you can make several pumpkins with arms and legs. You just need the length of these parts to be different. Then you can continue the game comparing body parts.
For instance:
- “Pumpkin Fred has longer legs than pumpkin Tim.”
As you can see, pumpkins are truly versatile for practicing with your child. You can see the idea behind such exercises, so give free rein to your imagination and come up with more games.
Sweets
The Halloween holiday involves a lot of candies that can be used for pleasure and more useful purposes. Here are several games that are good for different ages.
Exploring Colors
Put different candies on a flat surface, and start sorting them into different colors or kinds with your child. This game is good for all ages. If your baby is very young, demonstrate this step by repeating the name of the color/kind each time.
Study of Qualities
With an older child, you can sort sweets according to two criteria, like during the first game, you can sort candies by “like” and “dislike.” The next game can be based on more complex types, like chocolates, lollipops, or by small, medium, and large candies.
Next, show all the candies that you have chosen and place them in a non-see-through bag. Now your task will be to figure out by touch what kind of candy it is. Show descriptive characteristics as an example:
- “This candy feels like it is not the biggest and not the smallest. This candy is hard. I think it’s a lollipop.”
Children like these games very much and they develop not only speech, but also associations, imagination, and, of course, memory.
Candy Exchange
This kind of game helps develop not only speech but also communication skills. Get as many children as possible to participate in the game.
Give some sweets to each participant and explain the rules of the game. The bottom line is that everyone needs to ask for candy and explain why he wants it. For instance:
“I want this candy because it is pink, I love pink. It seems to me that this candy is very tasty.”
To make it easier for your child, ask leading questions:
- Why do you want this candy?
- Why do you like it more than others?
- What do you think is the tastiest candy?
Books
Pick up Halloween books on the eve of the holiday. Invite your kid to read together, and then ask questions about the story that are connected to their lives.
You can also ask the child what he/she thinks the new word means. This will help to enrich your child’s vocabulary. Here are some books that fit perfectly into the Halloween theme.
Halloween Offers Fun Way to Develop Speech
If you make this a fun Halloween, you can also use it as an opportunity to work on speech therapy at home. You won’t need much prep time, and all the details will be different for you. Spend this holiday having fun and help your child’s speech.
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