I adore the Hedgehugs series by Steven Wilson and Lucy Tapper! They’re like warm hugs – super cute and endearing! These books are great for speech-language therapy!
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A couple years ago a member of The Speech is Sweet Club reached out to me and requested a book companion for Hedgehugs and the Hattiepillar and I just had to make it! I love Horace and Hattie! In this story, they stumbled upon a tiny hatching egg! Out popped a new friend – a cute little caterpillar! They help the caterpillar gather food and later observe it making a cocoon. When a beautiful butterfly emerges, they’re in awe and decide they want to be transformed as well! They munch on food, create their own lovely bed to lay in, and when they wake up they’re covered in flowers! It’s such a cute journey and a great book to use to talk about change!
Let’s peek inside the companion:
Printables
These worksheets tackle a wide variety of skills – synonyms, homonyms, where questions, cause & effect, and rhyming!
There are a wide variety of sheets, so you can revisit this book multiple times throughout the year and use different activities.
Story Retelling Activities
Story telling is such a critical skill, so I always like to provide multiples ways for students to practice. There is a regular story map that students can color as they go along and a cut & pate story map!
There is also a hands-on “feeding” activity that can be used for story retelling! This activity can also be used to tackle vocabulary, comparing/contrasting, describing etc! There are endless ways to use the cards! Students can pick up a card, work on their skill, and then feed the leaf.
Interactive Activities
Literally, no book companion is complete without some interactive activities! These can be glued inside interactive notebooks or pasted onto loose-leaf paper for a standalone activity. These activities cover story elements, describing, comparing/contrasting, and more!
I think this is such a great book to use to address comparing and contrasting. Students can compare hedgehogs to caterpillars, cocoons to nests, swinging to flying, and so much more!
This book features some great vocabulary words too – nestled, wonderful, cocoon, meadow, and more! If students are learning about lifecycles in their classrooms (a common theme in the spring) then this is a great book to reinforce their learning!
You know I love flip books! There are over 152 literature flip books inside The Speech is Sweet Club + 36 digital ones (at the time of this blog post)! They’re just a fun way to dive into books! This flip book gives further practice with comparing, sequencing/retelling, and answering questions! There is also a fun writing prompt to sequence the lifecycle of a butterfly!
Clip Cards
Clip cards are a fun and unique way to practice answering comprehension questions! At the top of each card is a WH question and at the bottom are answer choices (field of 2 and 3 are included). Students answer the question by clipping the correct answer!
I know your students will love this storybook! It’s perfect for spring themed therapy or even for year around usage!
Want some more ideas for this book! Here are five more ways to use this book in speech therapy:
- Social Skills – Talk about qualities of a good friend! Also, how to make new friends. They treated the caterpillar with kindness and became friends!
- Time concepts – The book talks about what they do during the day and night. It takes place in spring. There are many different examples of time in this story!
- Cause/Effect – What happened when they laid down in a nest full of petals? The petals got stuck on their needles! There are other examples of cause/effect throughout the story.
- When questions – So many opportunities for when questions! For instance, when do they try to catch the moon? When does Horace climb his favorite tree?
- Sequencing – In addition to the butterfly’s lifecycle, you can sequence how Horace and Hattie tried to recreate their own transformations.
Where can you find this speech therapy book companion? There are three options:
Want more book companions? Check out these blog posts!
Looking for spring themed speech therapy activities? Check out these blog posts:
Spring Speech Therapy Activities: A Mega Guide for SLPs
Ladybug Themed Speech Therapy Activities
Bug Themed Speech Therapy Activities
In the Tall, Tall Grass Freebie
Garden Themed Speech Therapy Activities
March Read Alouds and Activities
April Read Alouds and Activities
May Read Alouds and Activities
Tops and Bottoms Book Activities Freebie
Rainbow Craft for Speech Therapy
Spring Apraxia Worksheets
Spring Flowers Craft
Spring Receptive Language Activities
Spring Expressive Language Activities
Spring Articulation Worksheets
Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day!
