Super Simple Speech Therapy Card Deck Activities

Do you have Pinterest or Instagram envy? It can seem like every speech blogger has an amazingly decorated therapy space and that every session includes mind-blowing activities and ends with hugs and rainbows. I loooooooooove looking at speech room makeovers-and am constantly amazed an inspired by my colleagues.

I enjoy using themes and coming up with snack activities or other functional activities to use in therapy. I enjoy a good craft. But here’s my truth-there are many weeks where I don’t have time to use elaborate therapy activities or even want to pick out a game to play during therapy. If I am able to motivate my client or student and provide the skilled therapy and cues that they need to progress-that’s enough. That and my sparkling personality.

I rely on super simple but pretty silly card deck activities during many of my sessions. We love to laugh in my speech room and I love thinking of activities that don’t involve a lot of prep-but allow me to get maximum results/repetition within my therapy sessions. I’ve scoured my blog and my brain to put them all in one place for you to enjoy:

Quick and Easy Speech Therapy Card Deck Activities

Pick it up.

I placed the cards on the table and had the client practice each card 2-3 times. Then they flipped them on the floor. Then they told me to “Pick it up.” I gave a few excuses for why I thought they should pick it up (I’m too old, my back hurts, I can’t see it without my glasses, I don’t know which one to pick up…) This game was a favorite-my kids LOVE to tell me what to do. And they apparently really like telling me to do things when I don’t seem to want to do it.

Buckaroo Variation:

Buckaroo and Mousetrap are two of my least favorite speech therapy games. Mousetrap because it takes the entire session to set up the game. Buckaroo meets my criteria for being a short game and kids can practice speech cards to earn items to place on buckaroo. But it just seems like he is always kicking the stuff off. This game actually happened by accident. We were playing the game and I had my speech cards behind the feet.

The client had touched the saddle and the donkey kicked up-scattering all of my speech cards on the floor. Hilarious. We practiced our sounds as we picked them up off the floor and then had to do it again and again.

Throw it on the Floor:

Sure you have to pick them up at the end. Try squatting when you do it to get a workout in. This game is played exactly as it sounds. Have them say their words and then throw the cards on the floor when once they have repeated them 5 times. I’m pretty terrible to my cards, I’ll slide them down on slide, whip them frisbee style against the wall, and try to shove them under the door to get rid of them. Increase the difficulty by practicing them in phrases like:

“I’m tired of saying ______,”
“______-get out of here.”
“How many times do I have to say, ______.”

Who has a Taller Pile

This is a new low for me. The student gets to keep cards that they said correctly. Cards they missed I got. In a group, you could have other students say the correct answer to win the card and add it to their pile. At the end, they can see who has the higher pile. I probably didn’t need to write the directions-I know you could have figured this out easily.

High Fives or Dab It:

So easy-just say the word and then give a high five. Sometimes I change up my high fives to make them more “complex.” Or just dab after you say each word. My son does celebratory dabs throughout his day. It cracks me up. Sometimes I think about how I could do that in my daily life. Finished a progress report DAB! Balanced my Checkbook DAB! Saved money on cartwheel-DAB! Yes-that’s how my brain works.

Step on it:

I love to play this with my little ones. I had one child who was working on CVCV shapes. I pulled out a few cards to practice within between some toys. I had the child step on it and I made a raspberry noise. Then we both giggled. My professional term is raspberry noise-they knew it was a fart noise. And it was hysterical. So much so that we had to do cards for the next three weeks.

Clean it up:

I had a friend who really liked cleaning products. So we would put two cards on the mat after we practiced them and they would use a swiffer mop to push them off of the mat.

Food or Not Food:

Perfect for carrier phrases.

Have the client or student say, “Eat _________” or “Don’t eat ________.” while turning over card deck pictures. Make sound effects based on what they chose.

For example, if they say “Eat cake”, I make eating noise and say, “Mmmmm.” If they say, “Eat Coat,” I start to make wrenching noises. For some kids I have them say say, I eat ____ with all of the cards. I act very concerned when I hear they eat non-edibles. Be prepared for fits of giggles.

You Said It:

During sentence level articulation practice, I will make up a silly sentence like: “I love to eat dollars” or “Thor is my best friend.” Once the student repeats it, I attempt to engage them in a conversation, “Really? I didn’t know that,” or “I don’t think it is a good idea to eat dollars.”

My Cards/Your Cards

Target even more carrier phrase

Use any card deck. Explain the rules to your student: “You can tell me who gets which card by saying ‘My ______ ‘ or ‘Your _______.’Whoever has the most cards at the end of the deck wins. Act increasingly outraged as the child continues to say “My ________.”

Switcheroo:

Perfect activity for when your card decks are messy and out of order

In this activity, you change places every time a card is facing upside down or backwards. I start by explaining the rules: “I’m going to turn over a card and you have to say it. If the card is facing the wrong way, say ‘________ is turned around. Time to switcheroo.’ ” Switch chairs with the client. This game is more fun if you have a different chair then the child. I like to complain about how small their chair is and how it is giving me back pain. Sometimes I beg them to give me my comfortable chair back.

Messed up Card Deck

Speech therapy card deck

Another great activity for messy card decks.

For this activity, you don’t have to worry about how organized your deck is.

Here’s how to play. You are going to be flipping over cards. Your students have to say the word/phrase sentence while doing an action. They pick the action based on the card’s orientation.

What do you Want/Tell my your Favorite:

Use this when moving from imitation to expressive productions.

The popularity of this game probably shows how often we give a child a choice. Present two cards. Ask them which one they want or which one is their favorite. They get the card they pick you get the other one. Make it more fun by trying to get them to pick the other card or try to negotiate to get their card. (C’mon parrots are my favorite, please, please, please can I have it? I’ll give you my pothole.”). I like this one because I’m providing a model but they need to respond with a delay.

Lazy Memory:

Another good one for when your card decks are out of order.

Memory is still one of the most popular games out there. With lazy memory, you put cards out on the table while the student labels them. Do they see a match? Have them say the word in sentence when they find the match. Whoever finds the most matches wins. Hint-I almost never find the match.

Grab It:

I have them try to grab the card from my hand. I might move my hands up and down, in a circle, hold on tight to the card or try to hide it behind my back. If I’m on a rolling chair, I’ll roll my chair across the room.

I definitely think that my clients have a little pent up anger towards my card decks. I’ve never had anyone question whether stepping on throwing or throwing away those cards was a good idea.

Watch my video to learn more.

Robot Hand and Pointers:

My son’s school has a book fair at conferences where they usually sell some type of pointer or robot hand. I always pick up one. It’s easy to put out the cards and have the child point to them using a “scary skull” hand or try to pick it up with their robot hand.

Question: Do you have a simple activity that engages your students right away? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.