With summer quickly approaching (thank goodness!), the season lends itself to many different opportunities for language expansion! The ability to be outside, to hopefully be able to start traveling again (even if it is only short distances), is full of language growth opportunities!
The Beach: Probably number one on everyone’s summer to-do list! The beach and the ocean offer a plethora of opportunities to expand language: labeling different animals that live in the ocean, describing the textures of sand when it is wet versus when it is dry (ex. soft, gritty, smooth, etc.), the verbs that go along with your standard beach adventures (ex., build, dig, swim, run, jump, splash, dive, etc.). A beach day offers an unlimited amount of ways to target language and vocabulary!
Hiking/Camping: This might be second on the list! Again, nature comes to the rescue by providing ample opportunities to talk about your surroundings. Go on a scavenger hunt when you are on a hike (ex. can you find 3 different flowers, 3 different shaped leaves, 3 different kinds of bugs, 3 different kinds of stones?) What three words would you use to describe them? How are they the same? How are they different? Which one do you like the best? Why? Not only does this help with language but it keeps the train moving forward down the path looking for that next object!
Car and plane rides: You have to get to that beach or grandma’s house somehow and there is language to be had in the process! Games such as “Eye Spy” are great or providing a checklist of things to find (ex., a red car, farm fields, a plane, a body of water) works too, even from 30,000 feet!
Bike rides: (Can anyone tell that I am ready for summer and being outside 24/7?!?) Bike rides fall nicely in line with the activities that we have previously discussed. Checklists of things to find, describing those things, learning the names of the parts of a bike, all work nicely to turn a Sunday cruise into a speech pathologist approved language activity!
Happy Summer! Let the talking begin!
About the Author
Janene Besch
Director/Speech-Language Pathologist
Janene Besch, née Martin, holds a Master’s degree in Speech Language and Hearing Sciences from San Diego State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California at San Diego. Janene is a member of the American Academy of Private Practice in Speech Pathology
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