5 Kid-Friendly Indoor Winter Activities for Speech Practice & Language Learning

This is the time of year when the days are short, school vacations are long and you are likely finding yourself indoors with your active kids for hours on end… unsure how to keep them entertained (and off screens).

Here are five fun Winter inspired indoor activities compiled by Sunny Spot Speech Language Pathologists, for kids of all ages. These offer great opportunities to practice speech and language skills at home and we highlight some of the ways you can incorporate language learning and speech sound practice during your indoor play:

1. Build a ‘Snowman’ Activity Tray - Using things you likely already have around your house, this easy build a ‘snowman’ activity tray via https://happyhooligans.ca/build-snowman-activity-tray/ is a blast for toddlers and preschool aged children! We love using this activity during our play-based speech therapy sessions when we are targeting s-blends (snowman, sticks, stack, string, scarf), early language concepts (e.g. shapes, sizes, colors) and matching/sequencing skills. We also pair this activity with snowman books such as the wordless picture book, ‘The Snowman’ written by Raymond Briggs, which allows children to tell the story of a boy who builds a snowman that comes to life in their own words. Wordless picture books are a terrific way to promote narrative and sequencing skills with children of all ages.

   
   
   

   

   

   

   

   
   
   

2. Build an indoor igloo or snow fort – Drape white sheets or blankets over your couches, bunk beds or pop-up play tents and pretend they are ‘igloos’ and ‘snow forts’ indoors. Since it gets dark so early, turn the lights off the in your living room and have the kids use flashlights for a fun game of ‘eye spy’ around your house. This is a terrific way to teach and reinforce household vocabulary and household items that may begin with your child’s targeted speech sounds. Instead of afternoon screen time, plan a cozy snow igloo reading time in your child’s fort - where you can have your children read their favorite books using the light of their flashlights. Here's a good 'indoor fort building' guide from the Children's Museum of Sonoma County.

   Speaking of flashlights, we love using the book “Flashlight” during our speech therapy sessions and Sweet Southern Speech has a great article on how she targets specific vocabulary, speech sound practice (sh, l) and making story. predictions using this picture book: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/books/using-flashlight-in-speech-therapy/.

   
   
   

   

   

   

   

   
   
   

   3. Snowball Toss Speech Sound Game  – Do you have a child with specific articulation needs that would benefit from daily speech sound practice? Ask your child’s Speech Language Pathologist for an articulation ‘word list’ (the sounds, words or phrases your child is currently practicing in speech) and write some of the targeted words on pieces of plain white paper (or use the back of junk mail that you plan to toss in the recycling bin). Have your child practice saying their speech words or phrases on the page, before crumpling it up to make a paper ‘snowball’. Once they have practiced their speech sounds or words out loud (and have made several snowballs), have a snowball fight or have your child play snowball toss – where they try to toss the paper ‘snowballs’ into a laundry basket, pots or recycling bin.

   
   

   4. Cook up some fun and tasty winter treats! We love baking and cooking with kids – both at home and during our speech therapy sessions. Some easy things to make with kids are homemade playdough, pizzas, cookies, and snack mix. If cooking sounds like too much work, consider making some fun and healthy ‘edible foot art’ using fruits, vegetables and healthy snack foods you have on hand. Here’s an easy snowman and reindeer healthy snack craft using string cheese, olives, tomatoes and deli meat by Macaroni Kid. For older children, cooking provides great opportunities to target sequencing and planning skills as well as descriptive language skills. For kids of all ages, we highly recommend these homemade playdough recipes compiled by Family Education that we’ve been using for years during speech therapy sessions that are easy, affordable and FUN.

   
   
   

   

   

   

   

   
   
   

   5. Winter Ice Sensory Bin – An ice sensory bin is incredibly easy to put together (and easy to clean up) and will keep toddlers entertained and engaged (well, at least until the ice melts)! Using objects you already have at home like tongs, cups, bowls, and squirt bottles …we like to throw these types of items into a large pot, a cookie tray or plastic bin (with towels underneath to catch the water spills) with a huge pile of ice cubes. You can also freeze small toys or coins in water, using muffin or bread loaf trays overnight, and let your kids ‘excavate’ and dig out the treasures the next day. We also love to make ‘fake snow’ to throw into our winter-themed sensory bins. Here’s a fun Arctic Ice Sensory Bin idea from FunLearningForKids.com. Ice play is great way to introduce and use a variety of winter verbs (freeze, thaw, crack, shatter, chip, melt, slide, skate) and winter adjectives (e.g. cold, icy, freezing, slippery, frosty, frigid, chilly) with your kids!

    

   

   

   

   

   

   
   
   

   Sunny Spot Speech provides private speech therapy for kids in home, online, at your child's preschool, daycare, private school, or at another community location throughout Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Locations include:  Northridge, Calabasas, Granada Hills, Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills, Topanga, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Universal City, San Fernando, Valley Village, Burbank, Glendale. 

   
   

   Contact us for a free phone consultation if you’re concerned about your child’s speech, language or communication abilities: Phone: 818-350-3107 or Email: info@sunnyspotspeech.com.