Preschool is by far my favorite age group to work with!! Ever since undergraduate I have absolutely loved working with the little ones. I just feel that being able to get your hands on them while they are still young and their language is still developing can only help in the long run.
There are currently so many amazing preschool resources/activities out there. Since the majority of students I will be working with this school year are preschool, I asked some fellow SLP friends and bloggers to suggest activities and resources to use with this age group. I compiled a great little “resource” list with some explanations. I hope you find it useful or can even refer some fellow professionals/educators to this list.
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There are a few different programs but I am particularly fond of the Autism & PDD Picture Stories & Language Activities Social Skills 5-Program Set. This bestseller from Linguisystems is perfect for students between the ages of 3 and 8. Matt and Molly is story-based and teaches students social understanding and social language skills. It includes fun and interactive lessons that target sequencing, predicting, question-answering, and processing verbal information.
According to the website…
The 5 programs (each include 8 stories) include: Community, Family, Friends, Home, and School.
- four full-color, 8 1/2″ x 11″ pictures to tell each story (32 story sequence pictures for each program).
- four large-print sentence strips per story that students match to the correct illustrations (32 sentence strips for each program).
- question flash cards and wrong/right cards for students to learn ways to act in social situations.
- a teacher manual with complete lesson plans and teaching techniques designed to engage students in learning. The manual includes
– ready-to-use lists of yes/no, wh-, and how questions for each story
– teaching suggestions
– a pocket-size version of each story
– a list of easy-to-find props for role-playing each story sequence
– a progress chart
There are a bunch of sample pages on the website as well which you can see by clicking here.
I just got mine in the mail and can not wait to use them with my preschoolers! These are extremely adorable and easy to use. I ordered the Habitats, Play House, and Dress up Reusable Sticker Pads.
This is a literature-based phonological activities book by Linda Smith-Kiewel and Tracy Molenaar Claeys. It has 29 units that are perfect for developing oral language skills, phonological awareness, and early listening skills.
There are tons of different CDs with songs that are embedded with very specific speech and language goals. Head over to the website to read about the benefits of using music as a learning tool and all the specific features of the Talk It Rock It songs. I love that every song has been created by a SLP!!! According to the website, each song contains techniques that give children opportunities to imitate sounds, words, and phrases, learn new concepts and vocabulary, and build interaction and social skills. I also love that the website contains FREE resources!! Be sure to check out their seminars while you are there as well.
Check out some of the games that I use with my preschool (and K-2 or 3) groups no matter what goals they are working on! They are also perfect reinforcers!
Live Love Speech’s Favorite Preschool Games:
Perfect for following directions, action verbs (push, open, close, etc.), identifying colors, and turn-taking!
Such a classic game! Little ones go crazy over it and you can easily target counting, color identification, labeling nouns, following directions, patterns, and so much more!
Chutes & Ladders
Another classic game perfection for spatial concepts (up, down, etc.), following directions, counting, identifying actions, etc.
I LOVE THIS game! Here are just a few goals/objectives you can easily target while having fun: Labeling nouns (specifically animals), articulation, core words, following directions, colors, and more!
Another perfect game for your speech room that kids of many ages will love! Identify colors, target prepositions (open, closed, top, bottom, under, over, etc.), following directions, action verbs, etc.
Mr. Potato Head
Who doesn’t love Mr. Potato Head?! It should be the #1 toy in your speech room! You can target identfiying body parts, following directions, labeling nouns, and MUCH more while having FUN!
Who doesn’t love Mr. Potato Head?! It should be the #1 toy in your speech room! You can target identfiying body parts, following directions, labeling nouns, and MUCH more while having FUN!
This game is incredible not only for the Fall season but all year round! It’s great for turn taking, matching, color identification, prepositions, and more.
This is a perfect preschool game for your spring/bug unit! Work on counting, color identification, labeling shapes. and much more.
I hope you enjoyed this list of games! I am always on the lookout to add new ones to my speech room so let me know what your must haves are!
