Speech Therapy Fun: Wheels on the Bus

Last week, I did a back to school theme even though many of my speech therapy clients do not attend school.  My older clients (that attend school) read “The Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books.”  But my littles (tots through early preschool) are just not appropriate for that book.  So we had a week with “Wheels on the Bus!”    Little ones love that song and most were VERY familiar with it!  Here’s what we did last week.

Bus Books for Speech Therapy

Since our theme was “Wheels on the Bus,” I couldn’t just use any bus book.  Pete the Cat: Wheels on the Bus was a hit!  It’s the classic song with a Pete twist of course!  I have this one on my IPad, which is code for ” I bought it the night before I needed it!”  I think I might invest in a stuffed Pete the Cat to go with our wooden bus (from Melissa and Doug).

Speech Therapy Activities

I bought a great activity set from Speech Sprouts for my language activities!  Lots of my kiddos are working on answering simple “what” or “who” questions.  She has an awesome activity in there to address these targets.  The set also comes with a cute “NO PRINT” book which I did use with some of my caseload.  Interactive and VERY engaging!

For articulation drill work, I made an activity that you can grab for FREE here!  It’s open ended which means you can print out ONE PAGE for all your articulation needs!  Just write the target words for each on their page.  Easiest prep EVER!

Bus Craft for Speech Therapy

This craft from Glued to My Crafts is so easy and adaptable to many goals for speech therapy.  I used it to drill articulation targets… You know say this word 5x, get 3 pieces of yellow paper.  The same craft was used for my early language kiddos-sign/say “more” or “more yellow”  to request paper to cover the bus.  It was easily paired with action (verb) cards or app to work on -ing verbs and subjective pronouns as well as longer MLU.  You can address concepts like bottom, top, front, back, first, middle and last.  HAVE FUN!

Technology and Toys

You need this app:  The Wheels On The Bus – Sing Along Full Version by Kids Games Club by TabTale

It has a variety of games that I like to use for matching, maintaining attention (to finish a task), picture identification, or a  general reward for working hard in our session.  You can click the link below to take to ITunes.

Wheels on the Bus Musical Learning App

Melissa and Doug has this cute wooden bus with people that is great for therapy!  I love to use it to address front, middle, back, in, out, stop, go, open and close.  My clients can’t wait to use it when I walk in the door with it!  Since it is wooden, it is super durable and easy to clean with a wipe.

Back to school time is perfect for a “Wheels on the Bus” theme!  I stretched it to cover toddlers through Kindergarten range.

What are some other back to school themes you use?