10 Things To Do With a Page of Artic Pictures

There have been many days I forgot to throw my iPad in my car for therapy or just did not have the toy I planned on using for a given session. Those days I usually have at least a page of artic pictures on hand, like these ones from Mommy Speech Therapy.

Here are some go-to ideas when you just have to make it work:


1) Skittles Artic Therapy:

A summer favorite. Child produces a target word 3X each in accordance with their particular goal (word, phrase, sentence, etc.) and then receives a Skittle to place on the word.

You can both be a different color of Skittle and attempt to get the most "correct" productions while incorporating auditory awareness and self-monitoring or the child can attempt to fill in the entire page himself.

2) Tic-Tac-Toe:

You and the child take turns placing X's and O's on words produced correctly __ number of times. Whoever gets a row first or the most number of rows by the time the page is completed wins.

3) Wh- Questions:

Who makes the sound "meow"? (/c/at); "What do you put on when it's cold outside?" (/c/oat). Great way to incorporate drill into a language-based activity. Using the phrase, "I spy something that..." is often more well-received by kids as you're tricking them into thinking you're playing a game. Like always.

4) Hide-N-Seek:

Cut pictures apart (or tear them apart if you're really unprepared, like me sometimes ;)) and hide them in various places around the room or child's home. Having fun targeting prepositions, past tense verbs, artic drill at the same time! Works great for phrase or carrier phrase-level work ("I found a _______!", "I saw a _______!")

5) Accordion Drill:

Fold paper up like an accordion so there is only one row showing at a time. Let child pick a favorite color marker and mark through each picture with a shape of their choice (heart, circle, x) as they produce in X-number of times and then "unfold" the paper as each row is finished. Great for kids who are intimated by a huge sheet of pictures for drill and like fine-motor activities such as coloring).

6) Word Hunt:

Search for each object in the child's room or home (parent permitting). Talk about each object's function or if it is an abstract object or idea such as "hot" you might talk about it simply through conversation.

7) Sound Hunt (does not need pictures):

Great for auditory awareness. Move throughout the room and label objects with a single word, asking the child to identify the presence of their target sound with a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down".

8) Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: 

Produce each word picture both correctly and incorrectly (but not one following the other). Ask the child to be the teacher and identify your productions as correct or incorrect with "thumbs up" or "thumbs down".

9) Go-Fish/Matching:

Print off two pages of said artic pictures and cut them up to form a quick and easy matching or Go-Fish game.

10) Something Blue/Red/Green, etc.

Target colors while identifying target words and incorporating drill. May need to fold up the page of pictures to reduce the number of possibilities so the child is not overwhelmed.

What is one of your go-to activities for artic drill?