In Texas, it’s a practically a national holiday when Texas Rangers baseball is back. Why not have fun with opening day in your speech therapy sessions?! I am not a big baseball fan, but this theme is a fun one!
Book:
I love this book! It’s a super cute story about how the smallest duckling on the field ends up making the biggest impact. It’s great for my little ones that think they can’t do something because of their size. “Quacky Baseball” is definitely one to add to your reading list! The book’s recommendation is ages 3-8. I would say it depends on the child. It has short text but the child needs to be able to understand a little bit of baseball to follow the story.
My younger kiddos worked with one of my interactive books. It’s is very similar to my other interactive books. It addresses increased MLU, using “I” at the beginning of a sentence, colors, matching, and answering “what” questions.
Baseball Craft for Speech Therapy
This craft is really simple and can be adapted to just about any goal. All you need is a large paper plate, red construction paper and a red marker/crayon.
- Draw red lines on either side of the plate to resemble a baseball.
- Cut short, thin strips of red construction paper. These will be the stitches on the ball.
- As the child performs a language/speech task, he can glue a “stitch” on the red line. Continue until both lines are covered in stitches!
Easy enough, right?!
Reinforcement Activities for Speech Therapy
Another easy idea for you! I found baseball Easter eggs at Walmart last year. I’m sure you can find them this year too. I bought a package of 12 for less than $2! I wrote numbers 1-5 on each egg. Since I work one on one with my clients, I used 8 eggs. If you work with groups, you will may need more eggs. I placed all of my “baseballs” in a glove. (Yes, I stole my son’s old baseball glove!) The child could choose a baseball from the glove and say his target word the number of times on the baseball. So if he choose a “2,” he said his word 2 times correctly.
If you buy more than 1 package of eggs, use the second set for language. Add a task inside each baseball egg and place all the baseballs in the glove.
My second easy reinforcement activity is to take a baseball and write numbers 1-5 all over it. I found a plush one in the preschool/toddler toy section. Throw the ball back and forth with the child. When he catches, have him look to see what number his thumb is on. Have him say his target word that many times.
Have fun with the baseball theme! Another fun idea might be to do therapy outside! Toss your SOFT baseball around with the kids using the reinforcement activity above.
PS-Needing some fun baseball activities? Check out this one!
Need another sports related theme? How about basketball? See my blog post for basketball!