There has been an undeniable crisp in the air lately! I’m honestly so excited to pull out my cozy sweaters, plant mums along my walkway, and usher in the fall season. This time of year is truly magical! As SLPs, we know that bringing seasonal themes into speech therapy sessions keeps our students engaged and excited to learn. I love weaving fall fun into therapy with books, crafts, games, and hands-on activities. In this post, I’ve rounded up tons of fall speech therapy activities that will save you time and bring joy to your sessions. From apples to pumpkins, leaves to squirrels, you’ll find ideas that are easy to prep and fun for your preschool and elementary students!
Tips for Planning Fall Speech Therapy Sessions
There’s nothing I love more than seasonal themes! They’re oh-so-relevant to our students’ lives—when they leave the speech room, they’re surrounded by the sights, smells, and sounds of the season. By weaving seasonal themes into therapy, you’re giving students background knowledge and vocabulary that helps them connect what they see in the real world with what they’re learning in the classroom. When you sit down to plan, I recommend choosing a handful of fall themes which will keep therapy meaningful and fun!
More Tips For Fall Planning:
- Use no prep materials—save time, so you can enjoy cozy evenings with a pumpkin spice latte or spend the evening at the pumpkin patch!
- Choose a few books to revisit all season long! Repeated readings build vocabulary, comprehension, and confidence!
- Optional, but fun! Start with a broad fall theme and then niche it down each week. For example, begin with a general “fall” theme, then move into apples, pumpkins, leaves, and finally Thanksgiving. This keeps activities fresh while reusing resources and books across multiple weeks.
- Join The Speech is Sweet Club – it’s home to ALL of my fall materials! From apples to turkeys, you’ll have everything you need at your fingertips without extra prep!
Fall Speech Therapy Themes
There are so many fun fall themes to choose from! I recommend picking just a few—maybe a new theme each week, or keep the same one for two weeks to make your planning easier. Do what works best for you and keeps therapy fun! If you’re having fun, your students will be too. I absolutely love seasonal themes, so this section is a compilation of all the fall speech therapy themes I’ve curated over the years—apples, squirrels, leaves, and pumpkins. Please don’t feel overwhelmed; think of this as inspiration! Choose a couple to use this year, then save the rest for future fall seasons. These themes also work beautifully in late September, October, or November, so you can revisit them year after year.
Apple Themed Speech Therapy
This is hands-down the most classic fall theme! Personally, I can’t wait to slurp down an apple cider slushie at the Sauerkraut Festival (my favorite fall festival in Ohio) and take my toddler apple picking for the first time!
Check out my Apple Themed Speech Therapy blog post for a mega list of apple themed activities! It features a terrific book round-up, crafts, and a wide variety of speech and language activities!
I’m kinda obsessed with apple themed activities, so I’ve made even more goodies since publishing that post!
Apple Articulation Games
These fun game boards are exclusive to The Speech is Sweet Club! They address all sounds in the initial, medial, and final positions! Just add your own game pieces to this fun activity! There is also an apraxia version.
Apple Tree Builder Articulation Crafts
Your articulation students will love assembling these fun crafts – they’re some of my favorite fall speech therapy activities! They’ll keep little hands busy and are a great way to incorporate fine motor skills into speech therapy! These are another club exclusive!
Squirrel Themed Speech Therapy
Squirrels are always a student favorite! I mean who can resist their fluffy tails?! They’re great for building background knowledge about animals in fall. Check out my blog post, Squirrel Theme in Speech Therapy, for loads of ideas, games, and resources!
The Speech is Sweet Club also has an exclusive acorn craft! It’s super cute and completely no prep!
Leaf Themed Speech Therapy
I think that leaves are perhaps what makes fall such a magical season. The leaves changing colors and falling is such an incredible phenomenon. Nothing beats an autumn breeze with leaves swirling through the air! Leaves make an amazing theme for speech therapy, they lend themselves so well to describing, sequencing, and so much more!
I’ve compiled a list of my favorite Leaf Themed Picture Books! Definitely check out that article for loads of literacy-based therapy ideas!
You can also snag a fun freebie for one of my favorite fall books – When The Leaf Blew In! This article shares five fun ways to use that book in therapy and includes a free story map to work on retelling!
We can’t let a season go by without inviting the Old Lady into the speech room! This book companion for There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves is perfect for the speech room!
It also includes a fun retelling craft!
Leaf Articulation Craft
This craft is the ultimate no-prep craft! No glue required! This can only be found in The Speech is Sweet Club!
I love using leaves in speech therapy so much that I even wrote an entire post dedicated to them! Check out my Leaf-Themed Speech Therapy Activities blog post for even more ideas.
Pumpkin Themed Speech Therapy
A pumpkin theme is truly perfect for fall, because it can be revisited time and time again throughout the season! It’s definitely not a one-and-done type of theme. I highly recommend touching on pumpkins in September, October, and November! In September, you can talk about pumpkins in general and even tackle sequencing by teaching about the lifecycle of a pumpkin. In October, you can use pumpkins to talk about object functions. For instance, pumpkins can be transformed into jack-o’-lanterns to decorate for Halloween. In November, you can talk about the steps for making pumpkin pie and describe the pie! There are truly endless ways to use pumpkins in therapy!
Of course, I have a round-up of my favorite Pumpkin Picture Books! Check out this article for ways to use these books to tackle a variety of speech and language skills!
Another one of my favorite reads is Pumpkin Town!
Pumpkin Articulation
I love simple articulation printables! They’re so versatile! You can put these in dry erase sleeves to make play dough smash mats, cover the words with mini erasers, use bingo daubers, or just simply color them!
Pumpkin Articulation Craft
These super simple crafts can also be added into interactive notebooks! To create a lift-a-flap, just glue the top down on a piece of paper or in a notebook and then students can write underneath! They can be found in my membership!
Together, these themes bring the magic of fall right into your speech room—whether you’re reading stories, making crafts, or playing games, your students will love exploring apples, squirrels, leaves, and pumpkins all season long!
Fall Speech and Language Activities
I absolutely love creating fall resources! Autumn themes are some of my favorites because they’re so relevant to our students’ everyday lives. They can leave the speech room and immediately see, hear, and experience the same things we talked about—whether it’s apples, pumpkins, or falling leaves. From AAC to stuttering, I’ve got your fall planning covered!
AAC Fall Speech Therapy Activities
I have created AAC book companions for 22 fall-themed books! They’re all included in my membership, The Speech is Sweet Club! The membership is designed for speech-language pathologists who want to save time and maximize fun! It provides ALL ACCESS to all of my materials. Consider your therapy plans complete when you join! haha
- Fall Volume One (also in a seasonal bundle)
- Bear Feels Sick
- Leaf Trouble
- The Golden Acorn
- Apple Trouble
- Fall Volume Two
- Leaves
- Apple Pie Tree
- Stellaluna
- Big Pumpkin
- Fall Volume Three
- Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
- Bear Says Thanks
- The Biggest Pumpkin
- Mouse’s First Fall
- September 1st Edition (also in a year long bundle)
- There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves
- When the Leaf Blew In
- We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt
- Pout Pout Fish Goes to School
- September 2nd Edition (also in a year long bundle)
- Ten Red Apples
- Apple Farmer Annie
- Turkey Goes to School
- Sheila Rae, The Brave
- October 2nd Edition – mainly has Halloween themed books, but does have a fall book!
- Pumpkin Soup
- November 2nd Edition – mainly Thanksgiving themed, but there is also a general fall book in this packet!
- Roll Away Pumpkin
Each packet contains four fall-themed book companions! Each book companion includes:
- story board
- retelling board
- retelling strips
- y/n question cards
- comprehension question cards
- communication pictures (can be used for sensory bins, feeding activities, picture exchange book, etc)
- file folder games
Apraxia Fall Speech Therapy Activities
Over the years, I’ve created a wide variety of apraxia activities including: Apraxia on the Go, Apraxia Snip and Stick, Apraxia Printables, and Apraxia Interactive Notebooks! Let’s take a peek inside the fall-themed packets and see how they can make your sessions both fun and effective!
Fall Apraxia Printables
These simple apraxia worksheets are also perfect for homework!
Fall Snip and Stick Apraxia
Color, cut, and glue activities never get old!
Fall Articulation Worksheets and Activities
Here is a quick list of some of the fall themed articulation activities I’ve created over the years:
- Fall Color, Cut, and Glue Worksheets
- Pumpkin Articulation
- Squirrel Articulation
- Apple Articulation
- Scarecrow Articulation
- Fall Interactive Articulation Notebook – blog post
- Fall Articulation Vocabulary Books
- Fall Articulation Counting Books
- Fall Spin-Go Games
- September Game Boards
Fall Language Activities
Grammar, describing, WH Questions, Oh My! Whether you have mixed groups or groups that are focused solely on language development, I’ve got you covered! Here’s a fun round-up for you:
- Fall Describing
- Fall Snip and Stick Grammar
- Fall Barrier Games (perfect for working on spatial concepts, following directions, fall vocabulary, and more)
- Fall WH Questions (these short stories are currently only in a growing bundle, but later the September packet will be available individually)
Fall Literacy-Based Therapy Activities
Books are hands-down my favorite therapy tools! They spark so much language and make literacy-based therapy both engaging and effective. Over the years, I’ve created a whole library of fall-themed book companions to make your planning easier and your sessions more meaningful. And yes—every single one is included in The Speech is Sweet Club! Here’s a quick list of fall book companions your students will love:
- Apple Trouble – one of my favorite books!
- Pumpkin Town
- There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves – blog post
- September Literature Flip Books 1st Edition – blog post
- September Literature Flip Books 2nd Edition – flip books are some of my favorite interactive resources!
- Pumpkin Soup Lap Book
- Leaves Digital Flip Book Companion (in a bundle or in the membership)
Fall Themed Phonology Activities
My Phonology on the Fly Bundle features tons of games, worksheets, interactive notebook activities, and more for minimal pairs! These are great activities to tackle phonological processes. Let’s peek inside the fall edition:
September Phonology on the Fly – This features a combination of worksheets, games, and interactive notebook activities!
Fall Themed Stuttering Activities
My Fluency in a Snap series features an entire year’s worth of no prep stuttering activities and games! The September version features a fall theme!
These activities are designed around the fluency shaping strategies of easy onsets and light contacts. There are also no prep pacing sticks included to practice flexible rates! I’ve also included stuttering education pages in every packet as well so that students can learn how to spot stuttering myths and learn about strategies!
Easy Crafts for Fall Speech Therapy
As speech therapists, we juggle so much once the school year kicks off! Fall can be filled with IEP meetings, screenings, new caseloads, and let’s not forget—our own families and busy schedules. That’s why I love crafts that require zero prep! Just print n’ go and you’re ready for a meaningful session without the extra stress. Here are some of my favorite fall-themed crafts:
September Speech Therapy Crafts – This packet features a variety of fall themes! They address articulation, apraxia, language, and fluency! Perfect for mixed groups!
Fall Word List Crafts – Perfect for mixed groups! These fall-themed word lists address articulation, fluency, and language goals. These easy-peasy crafts are a great way to introduce your students to new vocabulary in your speech sessions. I love a good craft!
Mushroom Articulation Crafts – These super simple fall crafts (no glue required), put the “fun” in fungi! These are exclusive to the club! This is a fun way to tackle articulation drills in large or small groups!
Fall Speech Therapy Activities Conclusion
I hope this massive round-up of fall themed speech therapy activities has been helpful! Feel free to visit it time and time again, it’s your own little hub for inspiration or if you need help with your lesson plans! I’ll continually update this post as I come up with more autumn ideas and curate more relevant themes!
Don’t forget all of the resources found in this blog post can be found in my membership, designed for SLPs just like you, The Speech is Sweet Club!
If you would like ideas delivered straight to your inbox, then please subscribe to my email community!
Here’s to a fall filled with colorful leaves, pumpkin fun, and joyful speech sessions! Have a wonderful day!
