When the Leaf Blew In Activities and Freebie

Do you want hands-on, meaningful activities for When the Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger that support speech, language, and literacy skills—with a free printable your students can use? You’re in the right place!

This hilarious fall favorite is perfect for targeting a wide range of goals. With its predictable chain of events, it’s a natural fit for teaching cause and effect. The silly farmyard chaos makes it easy to practice action verbs in past tense, while the sequence of events is ideal for retelling and narrative skills. Plus, the rich vocabulary—from animal names to farm-themed words—offers endless opportunities for word learning and categorization.

In this post, I’ll share engaging fall speech therapy activities and highlight how you can use this story to support your entire caseload. And at the end, don’t miss the free story retelling booklet (print & assemble) that’s perfect for therapy, classrooms, or at-home practice. Let’s dive in!

*This post contains Amazon Affiliate links*

Five Ways to Use When the Leaf Blew In in Speech Therapy

This is such a fun story! A leaf blows into barn and it sets off a huge series of events! It causes the cow to sneeze, which causes a spider to fall on an owl, which causes the owl to swoop out of the barn, and so on. There are a million ways to utilize this little book. Here are just a few ideas:

Teach Cause and Effect

Each page follows a chain reaction—one event leads directly to another. Use this predictable pattern to help students understand cause and effect. You can even pause while reading and ask, “What happened because the leaf blew in?”

Practice Verbs and Past Tense

From “the cow sneezed” to “the pig fell,” this story is full of action verbs. Re-read the sentences and have students act out the verbs, then retell them using the past tense. It’s a natural way to practice grammar in context. You can target irregular (blew, spun, etc) and regular past tense too!

Build Sequencing Skills

With so many funny events happening one after another, sequencing activities are a must! Have students retell the order of events orally, use sequencing cards, or draw pictures to show what happened first, next, and last.

Expand Vocabulary

I love incorporating farm themes into therapy sessions! When the Leaf Blew In is filled with engaging animal characters—like a cow, pig, goat, duck, and even a dragonfly. It’s the perfect way to expose children to new animal vocabulary while also reinforcing farm words and action verbs. As you read, pause to highlight the animals and the actions they perform. For extra practice, have students sort words into categories (animals vs. actions) or build a mini “farm vocabulary wall” with picture support.

Encourage Story Retelling

The chain of events in this story makes it an ideal book for teaching sequencing! I created a free story retelling booklet that students can assemble and use to retell the story. On each page they will complete the sentence by drawing the event. For instance, “When the leaf blew in the cow…” then the student is to draw a picture of a cow sneezing. Here’s a peek at the free pdf:

If you’re interested in this little freebie you can scoop it up by clicking HERE.

Want to take story retelling even further? Don’t miss my Story Grammar Toolkit blog post for more ideas and visuals!

When the Leaf Blew In AAC Book Companion Activities

If you’re supporting students who use AAC, I created a special AAC and Literacy Companion for When the Leaf Blew In. It’s packed with visual supports and interactive materials to help every child participate in the story—whether you’re focusing on vocabulary, sequencing, or story retelling.

Here’s what’s included:

• Story and Retelling Boards with core + fringe vocabulary
• Story retelling strips for sequencing practice
• Yes/no and comprehension question cards to check understanding
• Communication pictures for commenting, requesting, and extending utterances
• File folder game to match the animals with their actions

You can find this companion (along with all of my AAC & Literacy materials) inside The Speech is Sweet Club. It’s also available in a money-saving bundle and in the September AAC & Literacy packet.

This book can currently be found in the Scholastic Teacher Store. It’s not widely in print, but here is the Amazon link: When the Leaf Blew In By Steven Metzger!

More Fall Speech Therapy Activities

If you’re looking for more fall speech therapy activities? Check out these blog posts:
Fall Speech Therapy Activities: A Mega Guide for SLPs
Fall Interactive Articulation Notebook Activities
Apple Themed Speech Therapy
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

If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love my Leaf-Themed Speech Therapy Activities post—it’s packed with crafts, games, and literacy-based ideas that pair perfectly with When the Leaf Blew In.