In honor of my son’s birthday, I thought I would take one of his favorite things and use it for speech therapy. He loves his Nerf guns as most boys his age do. But Nerf guns could also be a super motivating item to use during therapy…as long you establish rules and keep the chaos down!
Nerf Guns And Articulation
One easy way to use Nerf guns in speech therapy to shoot paper cups. Take a stack of cups (get the cheap ones!) and write target words on them. Place them on the table or shelf. Have the child produce the target word correctly 5x before “shooting” the cup. This idea can also be used in the home as a parent/child activity!
Another way to modify this activity for a group working a variety of sounds is write numbers on the cups instead of words. When the child shoots a cup, he has to produce a target word number of times on the cup. You can use this freebie in your sessions for a little drill practice too! (Sign up to get it in my free resource library!)
Nerf Guns and Language
You can use Nerf guns for a variety of language goals during your speech therapy sessions. If you are working in a group, you can address “my turn,” “his turn”, “your turn,” etc.to work on pronouns and turn taking skills. The child can stand somewhere in the room and shoot a dart. Then, using spatial concepts, tell where the dart is located. (HINT: Again, great ideas for parents!!) You can the language portion of the freebie to work on categories.
Take the cup idea above but tape pictures to the cups. Have the child describe the picture he is going to shoot. To address opposites or synonyms, write a word on each cup. The student has to give the antonym/synonym before shooting the cup.
You don’t need a big expensive toy for this activity. Go to your local Walmart or Target to pick a small dart pistol like this one!
How else would you use these popular dart guns?
