10 Ways to Use the Critter Clinic in Speech Therapy

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Today, I want share the Critter Clinic! This is one of my absolute favorite toys, because it’s designed to elicit so much language! I would not be surprised if the designer of this toy is a speech-language pathologist! haha

This toy comes with a variety of clinic accessories. There are six doors and a set of keys. What I love is that every lock is different and they keys are color coded! This requires students to match up the correct key to the correct door! Using the keys is also a great way to practice fine motor skills! It also comes with two little animals (cat and dog). You can easily add your own little trinkets to go inside too!

There are so many skills you can tackle with this toy! It is an excellent play-based speech therapy resource!

There are so many location words that you can practice! You can address over, under, next to, beside, between, in front, behind, top, bottom, and more! You can use the critters included, but you can also add in mini objects, Little People toys, and other small toys. The amount of language concepts you can address with this toy is unreal! It makes my SLP heart so excited!

This is one of my absolute favorite toys to use for following directions. You can say “Put the cat behind the red door” or “After you put the dog behind the blue door, put the cat in front of the red door.” The possibilities are endless!

This toy is perfect for engaging preschool and elementary aged students in pretend play! They can pretend to be a veterinarian and help the critter clinic animals and full-sized stuffed animals too! The great thing about these accessories is they can be used with other toys too! You can even grab these accessories when you want to play doctor or nurse with baby dolls.

This is also a great toy to work on body parts and verbs (open/close, help, etc). I love using this toy to help aid in language development, building vocabulary skills, and helping children develop background knowledge.

If you add a variety of animals to this toy, you can work on farm vs. zoo animals or pets vs. ocean animals. Feel free to add in other non-animal items to work on even more types of categories! You can forgo the veterinary themed completely and just use this toy for the compartments. This toy can truly be incorporated into any themed speech therapy activity.

Other small toys that could fit inside:

Location is a huge part of this toy! You can put animals behind various doors and ask, “Where is the dog?” or “Where is the cat?” I love this toy, because it helps students get more specific such as “behind the red door” or “in front of the orange door.”

Of course, this is a great toy to tackle all WH Questions! Other questions you can ask could be:

This is perfect for students who are working on color vocabulary or describing. I love that each door is a different color and there is a matching key! Here is a quick list of describing words that pair well with the Critter Clinic:

Students can compare/contrast the various animals that are staying at the clinic!

I also recommend using the Critter Clinic to target articulation! It can truly be used to target any speech sound. You can obtain objects/cards that feature the student’s sound and lock them behind each door. After the student unlocks an item they have to practice the word 10 times! Or after they practice an item, then can lock it up! You can also have students use carrier phrases! This game comes with a shot, which is perfect for students working on /sh/. It also comes with a a thermometer, which is great for students working on /th/.

If you have mixed group speech therapy sessions or students with mixed goals, you can also create riddles for the objects inside! For instance, if a student is working on the /k/ sound you could put a toy cow inside and present this riddle, “I am an animal who lives on a farm. I say moo and make milk. What am I?”

This toy is great for practicing easy onsets and light contacts! The words over, under, in front are great for practicing easy onsets (I usually stick with vowels or /h/) and the words behind, bottom, beside would be great for practicing light contacts! Students can also learn about the different types of stuttering while using this toy. You can assign each animal a type of stuttering (ex. Carly Cat uses repetitions and Dougie Dog uses blocks). The doors of the clinic can also be used as a gigantic pacing stick! Students can touch each door as they are talking to practice a slower or more relaxed rate.

Since this is a clinic, it’s a great opportunity to learn about different words that mean sick (ill and unhealthy). You can say let’s give the cat a shot, because she feels ill. Let’s give the dog a shot, because he feels sick.

Whether you have a mixed group speech therapy session or an individual speech therapy session, this toy will be a huge hit! Have you ever used the Critter Clinic in speech therapy? What language goals or articulation targets did you tackle?

Looking for more fun toys to use in speech therapy?! Check out:
Vet Clinic in Speech Therapy
Finger Puppets in Speech Therapy

Thank you for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!