Are you a pediatric speech-language pathologist looking for some fun apple-themed activities to kick off your fall speech therapy sessions?! You’re in the right place! Nothing makes me think of autumn more than all things apple – apple picking, sipping on apple cider slushies at fall festivals, and apple pie! Let’s take a look at some of my favorite apple activities to help you target your students’ speech and language goals.
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Apple Themed Speech Therapy Crafts
Dice Drills Apple Craft
First up, let’s talk about another Dice Drills craft hack! I adore this packet, because it’s so versatile! You can find this resource in my membership – The Speech is Sweet Club or in my TPT shop! Check out these fun apples! These will be such a fun addition to your apple unit – they’ll cover all speech sounds and help your students reach 100 trials per session!
This craft is super simple! Here are the directions:
- Print the Dice Drills pages on Astrobrights paper or students can simply color in the squares red, yellow, or green!
- Students trace a circle on the paper or just cut out an approximation of an apple.
- Cut out a rectangle out of brown construction paper.
- Glue the rectangle on the top of the circle (to create the stem).
- Cut out an oval from green construction paper.
- Glue the oval next to the stem to make a leaf!
Voila! Students will love taking their apple home and practicing their words! This is such a simple and fun art activity!
Here is a “before” picture:
Apple Trouble Retelling Craft
Your students will also love this Apple Trouble cut and paste craft! It can be found in my Apple Trouble book companion that’s in my membership or TPT store:
This is one of my favorite book companions! It features so many language worksheets, interactive notebook activities, a flip book, comprehension cards, and so much more!
September No Prep Speech Therapy Crafts
Crafts can be intimidating, I mean who has time to hunt and gather art supplies?! haha! That’s why I created no prep crafts! The September packet has six different apple crafts to choose from!
These crafts are perfect for mixed groups, because they tackle articulation, apraxia, fluency/stuttering, and a wide variety of language skills. The articulation pages feature visual supports too! These crafts are a must-have for school-based speech-language pathologists! They’re the ultimate time-savers!
How cute is Johnny Appleseed?! These crafts also make great bulletin boards, hallway decorations, and door decor items! These can be found in The Speech is Sweet Club (along with 100+ craft packets), in a money-saving bundle, or in an individual packet! Crafts are also a great way to weave in fine motor skills into your speech therapy lesson plans!
Apple WH Question Short Stories Craft
Ever since creating my WH Questions Toolkit, I have fallen in love with wh-questions short stories! They’re such a great way to tackle a variety of goals including, comprehension, answering WH questions, asking WH questions, and more!
This apple craft packet is currently exclusive to my membership. It features 30 total short stories – 5 stories for each wh-question (what, who, when, where, and why) and 5 stories that feature all of the questions. I think your speech groups will love these cute apple-themed language activities! You can also create a flap-up activity with these by placing glue under the top portion of the apple and then pasting it in an interactive language notebook or on a piece of construction paper!
I have many more WH short stories crafts in the works, because I just adore themed therapy! Stay on the lookout!
Apple Themed Speech Therapy Games
There are also a few games I recommend for an apple theme!
- Apples to Apples Junior – This game is so much fun! It’s perfect for language therapy and or students who are working on making comparisons!
- Attribute Apples – This game is perfect for working on a variety of language targets such as sorting, classifying, and comparing/contrasting!
- Hi-Ho Cherry-O – This game is a classic and you can usually find it in stores for only $5! Students can compare the different fruits that they gather, work on quantitative concepts, or you can simply use this game as a reinforcer.
- Apple Apraxia Game Boards – I created these no prep closed game boards for children with apraxia of speech! They feature game boards that address eight different syllable patterns – CV, VC, CVC, CVCV, CVCVC, CVCVCV, CCVC, and CVCC! I’m currently finishing up the articulation version and will share soon!
Apple Themed Speech Therapy Resources
Apple Articulation
My Apple Articulation Worksheets are one of my best-selling fall items! They address all speech sounds in the initial and final positions! Each page features a visual cue + 10 target words!
Fall Interactive Articulation Notebook
This interactive notebook features a wide variety of fall-themed activities and one of the activities is a basket full of apple puzzles!
You can read more about these fall interactive notebooks here! These puzzles also keep little hands busy and provide tons of fine motor practice!
Phonology Apple Puzzles
August’s Phonology on the Fly packet also features some apple puzzles for minimal pairs!
These cover a wide variety of phonological processes including initial consonant deletion, final consonant deletion, backing, fronting, gliding, cluster reduction, and many more!
Apple Themed Speech Therapy Lesson Plans
Many years ago, I wrote a blog post feature Apple Themed Lesson Plans! This blog post features a free resource – visual lesson plans! This freebie can help you with curating activities for your apple themed activities!
Apple Picture Books for Speech Therapy
Lastly, there are so many apple-tastic books to use in speech-language therapy! You’ll definitely want to stop by the library to check out some of these great picture books!
Ten Red Apples
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
This is such a fun counting book and I love Pat Hutchins. An apple farmer is excited about all his apples! That is until his animals each stop by to grab one off of the the tree! Luckily, they save an apple for him and they later discover another apple tree! This book is a fun way work on:
1) Rhyming
2) Quantitative Concepts
3) Vocabulary – This is perfect for working on farm themed vocabulary! Students can also compare/contrast the different animals!
Apple Farmer Annie
Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington
This is a wonderful book to use during an apple theme in speech therapy! Annie picks and sorts her apples each fall! She also makes a variety of apple goodies and sells them at the market! Use this book to work on:
1) Sequencing
2) Vocabulary – discuss all of the things you can make out of apples! You can also sort them into categories (drinks, desserts, snacks, etc)
3) Following Directions – You can also make the applesauce recipe that is found at the end of the book!
These AAC Book Companions can be found in September’s AAC and Literacy 2nd Edition packet! They each contain a communication board for talking about the story and retelling board, plus many more activities!
Apples
Apples by Gail Gibbons
What is a theme without a Gail Gibbons non-fiction book?! haha.. Students will love learning about the history of apples and the science behind them. Use this book for your fall language activities to work on:
1) Labeling
2) WH Questions
3) Sequencing – Discuss how to plant an apple tree and the lifecycle of an apple!
Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship
Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship by Edward Hemingway
This is a brand new book to my collection and oh my! It is the sweetest story ever! Mac is a happy-go-lucky apple and one day a worm moves in! Mac and his worm, Will, become the best of friends! He’s so happy with his friendship, but one day the other apples realizes he has a worm and they begin to make fun of him! They tease him relentlessly until Will moves out, because he doesn’t want Mac to get bullied anymore! This leads Mac on a journey to find Will again.. seriously, so sweet! This book can be used to work on so many skills:
1) Social Skills – Discuss how to identify and handle bullies. This is also the perfect book for working on friendships.
2) Problem Solving
3) Emotions
The Apple Pie Tree
The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
This is such a cute book! It follows an apple tree’s journey throughout all four seasons! It’s barren in the winter and blossoms in the spring. When it’s autumn, two sisters use the apples from the tree to make a pie! You can use this book to work on:
1) Sequencing
2) Compare/Contrast – Compare the apple tree throughout each season!
3) Inferencing – Have students infer what’s going to happen to the tree each season!
*It looks like this book can only be purchased new from the Scholastic Teacher Club.
Apple Trouble Activities
Apple Trouble by Ragnhild Scamell
This is possibly my favorite apple themed book! It’s so hard to pin-point a favorite, but I think this is the one! A little hedgehog is ready to hibernate, but an apple falls onto her back and gets stuck! She can’t fit into her nest and seeks out a little help from her friends! It’s funny and endearing! This book isn’t in circulation anymore, except you can still buy it from the Scholastic Teacher Club! If you work in a school, you can order the book! If you don’t work in a school setting, you can buy it used on Amazon or Ebay! Use this book to work on:
1) Sequencing
There are a variety of sequencing activities found in my book companion!
2) Problem Solving
3) Cause and Effect!
Let’s take another peek inside the companion! It features interactive notebook activities, a flip book, clip cards, and more!
What books do you like to use during an apple theme?!
Related Activities and Resources
Want more apple and fall themed fun? Check out these related blog posts:
Fall Speech Therapy Activities: A Mega Guide for SLPs
Fall Interactive Articulation Notebook Activities
Candy Apple Speech Therapy Craft
Squirrel Themed Speech Therapy
Five Fall Crafts for Speech Therapy
Leaf Picture Books Round-Up
Pumpkin Picture Books Round-Up
When the Leaf Blew In Freebie
Bushel of Fun
Apple Articulation Worksheets Review
Apple Themed Lesson Plans
