Now that warmer weather has finally arrived, it’s time to get outside and play! Here are a few ideas to foster speech and language skills while playing outside:

Hopscotch:

- All you need is some sidewalk chalk and a pebble or two! While drawing the hopscotch board you can practice vocabulary for colors (make each box a different color) and numbers. You can also switch it up and put letters in the boxes instead of numbers. If your child is working on speech production, you could even put words containing the sounds they’re practicing in each box instead. Then, when they hop on each word have them say it aloud to get ample practice in a fun way.

Nature walk:

- While walking outside, you can ask a variety of “wh-“ questions (e.g., What is the squirrel doing? Where is the airplane flying? Who is on the playground?, etc.). You can also practice describing things you find, such as flowers, rocks, leaves, animals, sticks, etc. Compare and contrast what you find. For example, if your child picks up a rough rock, find a smooth one so that they can feel the difference in the textures to build a better understanding of the differences.

Scavenger hunts:

- Set up a scavenger hunt in your backyard. For younger children, print out a list of things to find using pictures instead of words. They can practice labeling the pictures on the list and then finding them outside. Give them a carrier phrase to use, such as “I found…” if they’re working on expanding their utterance length or using complete sentences. For older children, or children who can read, print out a list of things for them to find or descriptions of what they need to find. This way they can practice identifying objects by features, as well as using specific vocabulary.