As a speech language pathologist in the schools, almost all of my caseload is seen in groups! This isn’t ideal, but it’s the nature of a 50 student caseload plus testing, paperwork, conferences, and lunch/recess duties. 😞 So I’m always needing ideas for therapy groups that are simple but make therapy a blast! Keeping kids engaged is the only way they actually learn, and kids learn best through play! So I made a list of ideas for group therapy sessions!
I’m not going to include obvious therapy tasks like worksheets or various Super Duper products. You know about those already. This list is all about FUN and easy. Plus affordable!
So let’s jump right into my 11+ ideas for group therapy sessions:
1. Kickball with Bases
You’ll need: kickball, something to represent bases
Each base should represent a therapy task! Students will love how active the game is, and they can have a task before every hit or throw as well!
2. Ping Pong Balls into Cups
You’ll need: ping pong balls (3+), cups or buckets (can be different sizes for different difficulty levels)
Throw the balls into the cups and each cup can have an associated therapy task or students can complete tasks before each of their turns.
3. Play doh
You’ll need: play doh (bonus if you have molding toys too!)
Students work on their creations while you work with each one individually!
4. Markers / Crayons
You’ll need: Markers, crayons, paper or coloring sheet
5. Bowling
You’ll need: Bowling ball, pins, task cards
Place task cards for a student, they roll the ball, and then they complete whatever task cards are under the pins they knock down! Each student takes a turn with this!
6. Magna Tiles or Brain Flakes
You’ll need: either of these truly awesome products
Students can build things then describe them, create a narrative about them, talk about them using their fluency strategies or target words – the possibilities are endless!
7. Board Games
You’ll need: Any game!
Perfect for articulation or speech sound disorder goals! I also like using the turn taking and conversational speech involved for my kids working on social skills! I recommend choosing games with *quick* turns to maximize therapy time over game time! Example: Pop the Pig
8. Jeopardy
You’ll need: Computer
My older elementary students love playing jeopardy! Jeopardy labs has free games that are already created and super user friendly! There’s a multiple meaning words one that is my go-to for my kids! You can also create your own!
9. Flipgrid
You’ll need: computers with internet access
If you’ve never used this before it’s like a safe Snapchat where students can create videos of themselves talking (yay for working on speech therapy goals) them watch each others! The kids all love it!
10. Crafts
You’ll need: depends on the craft
I know you already know about crafts, but I think sometimes we forget all the targets we can work on (like following directions, sequencing, etc.) when using crafts!
11. Legos / Doll House
You’ll need: plenty of legos/doll furniture for open ended play
Your younger kids might enjoy this the most, but you can work on all kinds of speech therapy goals during open ended play! Legos and dolls/houses are perfect for basic concepts, object function and other attributes, expanding utterances, vocabulary building and so much more!
To learn how I use Legos in therapy, check out this post!
Bonus group idea: BOOKS!
Saved the best for last because how can you not LOVE literacy based therapy? If you’re in the schools, I’m sure your administrators and general education teachers will be thrilled to know you are incorporating books and literacy elements! It’s perfect for group therapy because there are so many goals you can target within a single book!
I hope this list was helpful! Ideas for speech group therapy sessions can be difficult to come up with on the spot, so save this post to a Pinterest board or bookmark it to come back later! You never know when you may need ideas for group therapy sessions!
As always, message me on social media or comment below to chat! I love connecting with people so please don’t hesitate! Talk soon!
– Chloe B | School SLP
