Christmas Activities for Speech Therapy

December is a very busy month! Between Christmas shopping, decorating the house, and attending holiday parties, it can be hard to plan speech therapy sessions. 

To celebrate this jolly holiday, I’ve gathered up some of my favorite Christmas-themed speech therapy activities. I’m sharing them all with you in hopes that it gives you some inspiration for your upcoming sessions!

Many of these activities and worksheets are from my Christmas Vocabulary Activities Product, which is jam-packed with fun, Christmas-themed activities!

Christmas Books

Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry is a beloved Christmas classic that I only learned about a few years ago. However, it’s sweet, cheery characters, hand-drawn ink illustrations, and simple but charming story made it a Christmas favorite in our household. The sequential story, rhyme, and tier 2 vocabulary words make for a wonderful addition to any speech therapy room, classroom, or home. After reading the story, my clients complete a simple cut and paste sequencing activity (FYI this worksheet is free on teacherspayteachers).

Baby Loves Winter by Karen Katz is perfect for the holiday season! Yippee! Zoom! and Awww! are just some of the delightful, fun-to-say sounds you’ll find in the board book Baby Loves Winter. This book also features the use of several common first words and some simple and yet grammatically appropriate short phrases that you can model and try to elicit from a young child who is trying to talk. Check out my blog post on it here! I also made a book companion to go with it, and it’s filled with helpful handouts, puzzles, and coloring sheets that your child will adore! 

Shhh! By Julie Skyes is a super cute board book you can read with your toddler or preschooler just in time for the holidays. This book is great at eliciting simple, fun sounds (e.g. “Shhh”, “oops”, “bonk”, and “Ho, Ho, Ho”) from a young child who is learning to talk. Check out my blog post here to see how I use this book in my therapy sessions! 

Santa’s Cookie is Missing is a cute Christmastime mystery that is perfect for early readers! The book follows the trail of Santa’s missing cookie – Where did it go? Did someone take it? Children will LOVE reading this book and get excited in finding out who exactly has Santa’s cookie. It has adorable pictures and practices Christmas-themed vocabulary! 

The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth is a classic Christmas story about a mischievous cookie filled with fun rhymes and sing-song lyrics that your child will adore! It repeats the phrase, “You can’t catch me!” Repetition is important to help children learn speech and language skills, and this book is perfect for it. 

Say, Color, & Display Coloring Sheets

These coloring sheets contain pictures of the target words for your child, student, or client to color. They are unique because there is a visual cue for the first sound of the pictured word. For instance, the lips are together for the picture of the bells. This cues children to say the word by putting their lips together. Such visuals can help your child see how to make the first sound in the word. Coloring these pictures is a wonderful way to intentionally target this Christmas vocabulary.

What or Who’s Behind the Door?

The element of surprise and discovery engages minds and sparks curiosity. The Critter Clinic by Battat Toys is a must have for any speech language pathologist working with young children. Throughout the year I take seasonal or holiday themed items and place them in the rooms. Then, the child unlocks the doors, revealing something or someone inside. For Christmas, I place one Christmas windup toy in each room (e.g. Santa, Snowman, Elf, Reindeer) and the children delight in discovering who or what is behind the door! Great way to work on making predictions!

Puzzle Cards Activity 

Have your child pair up matching pictures and vocabulary words with these mix and match puzzle cards! Print out and scatter the puzzle pieces on the floor or counter and have your little one pair up the matching pieces. Encourage them to say or repeat each Christmas-themed vocabulary word as they pair the puzzles. 

Letter to Santa 

Oh the excitement of writing a letter to Santa and asking for all of your favorite things! Kids will LOVE this activity! Help them write a letter to Santa, jam-packed with their Christmas wishlist. Encourage them to use Christmas-themed vocabulary such as “gift,” “present,” “Christmas morning,” etc! The Christmasy Wish List featured in the picture above is in my Christmas Vocabulary Building Product.

Christmas Lights and Scavenger Hunt 

What are some of your holiday traditions? My family loves riding around town and admiring our neighbor’s Christmas lights! To make this tradition even more entertaining, I created a scavenger hunt worksheet for them to check off while driving around. I’ve made three versions of this scavenger hunt sheet available on my blog. One hunt is labeled “Christmas” and the other is “Holiday”. You can choose which one is more appropriate for your family or friends! The third hunt is a riddle scavenger hunt designed to get your child to think. Download them for FREE here on my TPT page! 

Candy Cane Dissolving Experiment 

What screams Christmas like candy canes?! This candy cane experiment activity is a super fun activity to do with your child, student, or client. In fact, I do this experiment with all clients  – preschool through 4th grade – and modify as needed to target their goals. Materials include: hot water and cold water, candy canes, and clear cups. Vinegar and oil are other options however, hot and cold water are easier to obtain and cost (next to) nothing. Encourage making predictions, problem solving, asking questions, describing, formulating sentences, using bound morphemes and past tenses, etc.  

Ornaments

Purchase these inexpensive wooden ornaments at your local craft or dollar store and break out the paint or markers! Painting is a nice way to free the spirit, develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and express creativity. It can also provide a comforting way to encourage following step-by-step directions, making requests, and much more. At the end of the session your child has an ornament that can be hung on a Christmas tree or gifted to a family member or friend. 

I hope this post has been helpful, and if you try out any of these activities please share a picture and tag me because I would love to see them! Merry Christmas! 

---

• Enhance Your Speech Therapy Sessions with ‘Picky Kitty’ – A Must-Have Game for Every Speech Therapist
• Same and Different: Why Speech Therapists and Educators Should Target this Basic Concept
• New Beginnings for Scanlon Speech Therapy
• Articulation Speech Therapy: Favorite Activities, Games, and Books to Target the TH Sounds
• Articulation Speech Therapy: Favorite Activities, Games and Books to Target the L Sound

Back to blog