Are you a speech-language pathologist searching for fresh speech therapy themes for fall? September is the perfect time to sprinkle your lesson plans with seasonal fun, and nothing says autumn quite like leaves! I’ve gathered a mega list of engaging leaf-themed speech therapy activities to inspire your sessions. From crafts to literacy tie-ins, these ideas will add color and excitement to your fall lessons—no raking required!
All of my leaf-themed activities are waiting for you in The Speech is Sweet Club, a convenient library of time-saving resources designed just for busy SLPs.
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Leaf Themed Speech Therapy Crafts
Crafts are always a hit in the speech room because they keep little hands busy while you sneak in plenty of practice. Leaf-themed crafts are simple, engaging, and make wonderful keepsakes that students love taking home. I love incorporating fine motor skills whenever possible!
Dice Drills Leaf Craft
If you’re new around here, I’m obsessed with making crafts using my Dice Drills Articulation Games! You can easily cut out the target words into a fun shape or cut out the individual words to paste on a fun craft. The apraxia version of this sheet can be found in August’s Apraxia on the Go!
This fall speech therapy craft couldn’t be easier! Students color the page in vibrant reds, oranges, or yellows, trace or stencil a leaf shape, and then cut it out. The result? A colorful leaf filled with their target words! For extra fun, add them to a fall-themed bulletin board or scatter them around the room like real leaves. These cover all speech sounds!
Leaf Articulation Craft
I love super simple crafts—no glue required, just color and cut! They’re one of my favorite seasonal activities and such a fun way to keep students engaged. Inside The Speech is Sweet Club, you’ll find dozens of exclusive super simple crafts like this one. Each fall leaf includes 10 target words for articulation drills!
These crafts tackle the initial, medial, and final positions. Your students will have fun constructing these colorful leaves while they practice their target sound! I love a good craft!
September Speech Therapy Crafts
If you’re looking for speech therapy themes for September, this no-prep craft packet has you covered! It includes seasonal options like leaves and provides ready-to-use activities that make lesson plans stress-free and your speech therapy sessions more fun.
This resource is ideal for mixed groups, with word targets that support articulation, apraxia, language, and fluency. It also addresses a wide range of language skills—fall vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, verbs, plurals, pronouns, categories, and more! These crafts can also be found in a year long bundle!
Fall Word List Crafts
I love infusing seasonal vocabulary into my speech therapy sessions as much as possible, since it helps students connect their practice to real-world experiences and boosts carryover outside the speech room! This resource features a wide variety of word lists that target articulation (all sounds), fluency, and a variety of language skills like vocabulary, verbs, adjectives, plurals, and past tense. They’re perfect for small groups, large groups, and everything in between!
These fall speech therapy activities can be found in The Speech is Sweet Club or in my TPT Shop (also in a money-saving bundle)! This fall craft will also serve as a great reference for families! Word lists are super helpful and convenient.
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves Retelling Craft
I just adore the Old Lady and her odd diet—haha! Lucille Colandro’s books are always a big hit during speech therapy. I even blogged all about There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves and shared ideas for using it in your fall speech therapy sessions. You can check it out here: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves Activities!
This is such a great book to work on retelling and sequencing!
Leaf Themed Games and Activities
Incorporating thematic games and activities is a great way to boost interest and motivation! I’ve collected so many leaf-themed goodies over the years.
These activities are the perfect way to usher in the fall season!
Leaf Puzzle
Puzzles are an OG speech therapy toy—they’re truly timeless and always fun! This leaf-themed puzzle is a fun activity, and it even sneaks in a little science. It features 8 pieces, each representing a different type of leaf. The sleek design makes it appealing for younger students, while still engaging for older children. Here are a few ways you can use it to target articulation and language goals:
- Describing: Talk about each type of leaf and the tree it belongs to.
- Compare/Contrast: Discuss how the leaves are similar and different.
- Sensory Bin: Hide the pieces in a sensory bin and send students on a leaf hunt.
- L Sound: Practice /l/ words while labeling and describing the leaves.
Leaf Matching Game
I love memory games—they’re such powerful tools for targeting both language and cognitive skills like problem-solving, memory, and visual discrimination. They keep students engaged, sharpen attention, and add a dash of fun competition to your sessions—all while sneaking in plenty of practice. One of my favorites is the Match a Leaf Game! In this activity, students match each leaf to its correct tree, making it the perfect blend of science and speech. These can also be added into sensory bins!
Here are a few ways you can use it to boost articulation and language goals:
- Describing: Have students describe different types of trees and leaves. Multiple exposures build background knowledge and help them retain new information.
- Sentence Formulation: Scaffold as students expand their sentence length and weave in fall vocabulary.
- Adjectives: Encourage students to use rich descriptive words as they talk about the leaves.
- Categories: Sort leaves and trees into categories to strengthen vocabulary organization and critical thinking skills.
Fall Tree Toy
I’m such a huge fan of this Fall Tree Activity! It’s a sturdy wooden toy that can handle plenty of use in the speech room. The best part? The tree stands tall in a pumpkin patch, and students can take the colorful leaves on and off. It’s the perfect prop for creating hands-on speech therapy sessions. The pieces also make great additions to a fall sensory bin! Here are just a few ways to use it:
- Sorting: Have students sort the leaves into three piles—green, orange, and yellow.
- Comparatives & Superlatives: Practice size concepts with the five pumpkins of varying sizes.
- Prepositions: Move the leaves on the tree, next to the tree, at the top of the tree, and more! This is great for teaching spatial concepts!
I’ve even used a similar toy in my Coconut Tree themed therapy sessions—if you’d like to see how, check out this post! And yes, I already have my eye on the apple tree version too… #maximalistslp haha!
Sensory Leaves Activity Set
Here’s another leaf-themed goodie I absolutely love—the Hand2mind Sensory Leaves Activity Set! It comes with a collection of durable, colorful leaves, plus 10 double-sided mats, making it both sturdy and super versatile. There’s even a small guide included with 20 different activity ideas, covering everything from pattern recognition to sorting to learning the parts of a leaf. It’s a ready-made tool that blends science and play while supporting speech and language goals.
Here are just a few ways to use it in your speech therapy sessions:
- Qualitative Concepts: Explore color, size, shape, and texture of the leaves.
- Quantitative Concepts: Practice math vocabulary with “Who has more leaves?” or “Who has fewer?”
- Following Directions: Give students multi-step directions for placing their leaves on the mats.
This set is endlessly adaptable and adds a fun, sensory-rich twist to your fall lesson plans!
Picture Books About Leaves
I have piles of picture books about leaves—haha! Two of my absolute favorite fall-themed books are The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming and Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. Both are perfect for sparking conversations, building seasonal vocabulary, and targeting a variety of language goals. Picture books are such a cozy way to bring fall into the speech room, and I’ve rounded up even more fall books here: Books About Leaves for Speech Therapy.
Leaf Themed Speech Therapy Activities
Beyond picture books, I love bringing books to life with hands-on activities! These leaf-themed speech therapy activities are all literacy-based and come straight from my membership or TPT store. They’re comprehensive, engaging, and designed to make your fall lesson planning simple and fun.
AAC and Literacy Activities
Seasonal themes like leaves provide repeated opportunities to model core vocabulary, target language goals, and make reading interactive and engaging for all students. I have quite the collection of leaf-themed AAC book companions! Here is an overview:
September AAC and Literacy 1st Edition
The September packet features companions for There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro and When the Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger! Each companion comes with materials like story boards, retelling strips, comprehension questions, and picture communication cards—everything you need to make the story interactive and accessible.
Seasonal AAC and Literacy
There are three volumes of fall-themed companions (Fall Volume One, Volume Two, and Volume Three)! Titles include Leaves, Leaf Trouble, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, and more! If you’re a special education teacher or speech-language pathologist who loves book companion activities, you may also be interested in the bundle!
Fall Themed Literature Flip Books
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson is one of my favorite seasonal read alouds! There is a flip book companion for it in September’s Flipping for Literature 2nd Edition! This is also in a year long bundle with 52 flip book companions!
These interactive book companions are designed to hit multiple language targets, including sequencing, comprehension, and comparing/contrasting. They’re a favorite with younger learners and older students, and they slide perfectly into interactive notebooks to revisit time and time again!
Leaves by David Ezra Stein
Not to be dramatic, but this is the most precious story! The AAC companion can be found in Fall Volume Two! There is also a Digital Literature Flip Book! You can download it from the bundle or in my membership! I’ve made 36 different digital book companions for some of my favorite books!
These digital resources are perfect for teletherapy, distance learning, or even in-person sessions. Use them on a laptop or tablet, and your students will love the interactive activities! If you’re looking to add variety to your fall-themed lessons, these digital activities are a fun way to shake up your routine while still targeting essential speech and language goals.
September WH Questions Short Stories
The September edition of my WH question stories features a variety of fall themes such as apples, scarecrows, squirrels, and leaves!
This is currently only found in a bundle and in the membership!
Whether you’re working on comprehension, vocabulary, or retelling these leaf-themed literacy resources make it easy to target goals while celebrating the season.
Leaf Themed Speech Therapy Conclusion
Fall is the perfect time to freshen up your lesson plans with leaf-themed speech therapy activities. Whether you’re reading seasonal picture books, making crafts, playing games, or exploring literacy-based resources, leaves are a simple and engaging theme that students love. Don’t forget—you can find all of the activities I mentioned inside The Speech is Sweet Club or in my TPT store, so all the planning is done for you.
Looking for more fall themed speech therapy activities? Check out:
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
Apple Themed Speech Therapy
