Summer Speech and Language Activities You Can Do Anywhere

Summer is full of opportunities to build your child’s speech and language skills—no flashcards or worksheets needed! As a pediatric speech-language pathologist and mom of two, I love helping families turn everyday summer experiences into playful, powerful language moments. Whether you’re on a road trip or hanging out in the backyard, here are ten activities you can try today.

Playing in the sand with your little ones is a great way to expand their vocabulary and engage their imagination. You can build a castle for a prince/princess or an ocean paradise for a majestic mermaid.

1. Narrate Your Day: Talk about what you see and do—“We’re putting on sunscreen. Rub, rub, rub!” This helps build vocabulary, routines, and sequencing of events. You can also provide choices of what they want to do next within the narration, giving them some control—"Where should be put sunscreen next, your on your nose or on your arms?"

2. Pool Talk: During water play, practice simple directions and action words: “Jump in!”, "Dive under the water.", “Kick, kick!”, “Pour it out!”. Include descriptive words like “wet,” “cold,” or “big splash.”

3. Sound Hunt: Pick a target sound (like /s/ or /b/) and go on a scavenger hunt. “I spy something that starts with B… ball!”. This is an excellent way to reinforce the sounds you are already working on in therapy in a playful way.

4. Ice Cream Conversations: Use a real or pretend ice cream shop to practice turn-taking, asking questions, and polite requests: “I want chocolate, please.” “What flavor do you like?” "Can I have a turn?"

5. Picnic Talk: Describe what you see, smell, and taste. Use position words like “on,” “under,” and “next to.” This is another great opportunity for vocabulary expansion using a variety of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, while talking about the food, drinks, and the environment.

6. Bedtime Story Stretch: Ask WH-questions during stories: “What happened?” “Where are they going?” “Why is he sad?”. You can also use this opportunity encourage your child tell you a story to practice target sounds and expand vocabulary. As a mom, story time is one of my favorite times, whether creating stories together or modifying a familiar story. The possibilities are endless.

7. Beach Bag Sorting: Use your beach bag to practice categorizing and describing: “This is for sun. This is for water.”. You can also use this as an opportunity to create a guessing game using inferencing. For example: Find something you use to dry you off.

8. Ride & Rhyme: In the car? Make up silly rhymes and songs about what you see: “I see a truck, it’s big and stuck!” or pick one of your favorite nursery rhyme tunes and sing about where your destination

9. Nature Talk: Use a nature walk to compare and contrast: “The leaf is green. The flower is red. What’s bigger?”This is great for vocabulary expansion. You can also use this activity to find things in nature that begin with target therapy sounds.

10. Play Pretend Anywhere: Use your imagination to create stories—at the park, in the kitchen, even in line at the store! When you give your kids the mic to direct the activity you never know where their imagination might take you. This has become a new favorite for me, as watching my little's imagination grow is truly fascinating.

Looking for more summer speech and language activities? Download our free printable Summer Speech Checklist, or reach out to request one of our Summer Social Story Kits!