[Source: The SLT Scrapbook]

It’s that time of year again, and pumpkins are all around us! Pumpkins are a fantastic thing to use in your therapy sessions to support and develop early language skills with your little ones! Here are 5 easy and fun ways you can use pumpkins in your Speech and Language Therapy sessions to support early language skills, with minimal prep!

This is a really easy and fun activity for your little ones, and it requires minimal prep! All you need to do is gather a few pumpkins of different shapes, sizes, colours and textures. Then, in your therapy sessions, allow the children to explore the pumpkins at their own pace. You can use language strategies such as commenting (parallel and self-talk) (“You have a big pumpkin”, “that pumpkin is very bumpy”, “oh, you licked the pumpkin!”), choices (e.g. “do you want the big pumpkin or the little pumpkin?”, “do you want the bumpy pumpkin or the smooth pumpkin?”), and copy and add, amongst others. This activity is perfect for targeting a range of vocabulary too, with a huge range of nouns, verbs and especially adjectives to choose from.

Learn More on the SLT Scrapbook