5 Ways to Build Speech and Language Skills on Summer Trips

This summer more people are traveling, and trips can be a great time to get in some fun practice on speech and language skills! Practice doesn’t have to feel boring and it can be embedded into the events of your trip.

Here are some ways that you can help your child build speech and language skills on summer trips.

1. Play I Spy. For younger kids, this game can be fun. Whether you are in an airport or on the road traveling, see what kinds of things you can “spy” and talk about them. If your child is working on speech sounds, you can see if your child can find things that start with the sound they are working on. For example, if they are working on the “G” sound, maybe they can “spy” grass, the color green, a plane “going.” If your child is working on language skills, you can have your child talk about where they spied the object, such as “far away” or “next to the bathroom,” or “on the tall sign.” 

2. Bring books. Children’s and kids’ books are great for developing understanding of language, expression and to practice speech sounds. For younger children, take your child’s favorite books along, and notice if there are any words that start with your child’s sound that they are working on. Or if they are working on understanding language, see if they can identify some of the pictures in the book. They can work on expressive language by predicting what will happen next in the story, or answering questions about the story while you’re reading. Older children may want to bring a book or graphic novel they are reading. They can practice speech sounds by reading aloud, or language skills by telling what the story is about.

3. Use the pool. If you have access to a pool, while you are swimming you can talk about words such as “under, below, above, on the surface, deep, shallow, wet” and “dry.” Understanding and using spatial concepts and adjectives helps kids better express their thoughts and ideas to others by using more details. Verbs are also great to learn while swimming, such as “splash, dive, swim, kick” and “float.”

4. Talk about new experiences. You can work on grammar and narrative skills such as sequencing and verbs by talking or communicating about the events on your trip. For example, you can communicate to your child what you’ll do first, next and last with your child on each day of the trip if you have a scheduled plan. Or after the day is over,  you can talk about the events in the order that they happened using past tense verbs such as “ate, walked, played.” 

5. Use pictures. If you take any pictures on your trip, describe the pictures to your child using adjectives and specific vocabulary to provide detail. For example, “We saw a long bridge,” or “We saw our family and I felt excited and happy to see them.” Then see if your child can describe some of the pictures to you using descriptive words. Or, if your child is working on speech sounds, such as the “s” sound, you can have your child say a sentence such as “We saw a _____” for each picture to practice the “s” sound.

I hope some of these tips will help you incorporate some speech and language learning into your trip if you happen to travel this summer. You can do most of these without traveling, too, if you’re more into a staycation this summer. Happy July!

Is your child struggling with speech and language skills? Contact me for a free consultation!