Have you been combing the internet looking for spring speech therapy at home activities? You are in the right place! I am so excited to share this speech therapy activity you can do at home! I have been eagerly waiting for the day my son was old enough to truly understand and appreciate it. Let me break it down for you.
Theme: Caterpillars and Butterflies
Activity: Watching Caterpillars Turn Into Butterflies
Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
Best Time to Do It: During the Spring or Early Summer
Best Ages: 2+
Speech and Language Skills You Can Target: Sequencing, Caterpillar/Butterfly Vocabulary
You Will Need:
- Caterpillars (I ordered mine online from here)
How to Do It: Purchase the caterpillars. When they arrive, tell your child what is going to happen to the caterpillars. For example:
- First, the caterpillars are going to eat the food.
- Then, they will get big.
- After that, they will make a chrysalis.
- When they come out of the chrysalis, they will be a butterfly!
SLP-Mom Tips For Doing These Spring Speech Therapy Activities
Listing out each step like this is GREAT for teaching sequencing. Sequencing is a super important skill because it is the foundation of narratives. A narrative is just a fancy word for stories. So, when we want our children to “tell us about their day”- we really are wanting them to tell us a narrative about their day!
Check on your caterpillars every day. Talk about the changes you see. Are they growing? Do they look hairy? What are they doing? Each time you check on them, remember to review the sequence of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. This review step is important for a couple of reasons. First, it exposes your child to the vocabulary words each time. (You really can’t repeat too much). Second, it reviews the sequence again. If your child has enough language, encourage him/her to tell you the steps in order.
Continue being mindful of your speech. A good rule of thumb is to try and use only 1-2 more words than your child is currently using.
Now, to tie this spring speech therapy at home activity together, I love strategically incorporating books and YouTube videos. It’s just one more way to expose your child to similar vocabulary words in a slightly different way. For this activity, I love reading “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. After you read the story, you help your child retell the caterpillar sequence one more time!
For the YouTube video, this “Butterfly Dance Song” is a perfect way to review the activity. I am a parent and I know most of use TV to entertain our kids (no judgement). I feel like if we are doing it anyways, we might as well do it strategically.
If you are looking for more fun speech therapy at home ideas from an SLP-Mom, I’ve got you covered! I have these handouts that go over easy to use, at-home strategies and I also have this playlist of YouTube videos. These are both great resources for parents looking to incorporate speech therapy strategies at home!
**Quick Disclaimer: The ideas shared in this post are meant to educate and help caregivers feel more confident implementing speech therapy-type activities at home. They are not intended to be a substitute for speech therapy with a licensed SLP, as each child has unique needs.**