Finding effective and engaging activities for speech therapy can feel like a challenge—especially when you’re working with younger students who need repetition, structure, and variety. The good news? SLP games offer a playful, low-pressure way to reinforce language skills while keeping students motivated and on-task.
Why SLP Games Work
Games bring in the fun factor that keeps kids coming back. When students are having fun, they’re more likely to participate and stay engaged—and in speech therapy, that’s half the battle. Whether you’re targeting articulation, vocabulary, grammar, or phonemic awareness, the right game turns practice into play.
Simple Ways to Level Up Speech Development
Play doesn’t have to mean chaos. Here are a few ways to keep SLP games meaningful and targeted:
- Pair games with specific goals. Whether it’s initial sounds, multisyllabic words, or categorizing vocabulary, tie the activity directly to what you’re working on.
- Keep visuals clear and predictable. Repetitive formats help students focus on language instead of figuring out how to play.
- Use manipulatives to make it tactile. Adding dice, counters, or tokens increases engagement and reinforces turn-taking and social skills.
- Adapt to group size. Many SLP board games can be played one-on-one or with small groups—just modify the instructions to fit your setting.
- Model first. Even if the rules are simple, demonstrating one round first sets expectations and helps your students feel confident joining in.
SLP Language Activities That Work (and Save You Prep Time)
Now that you’ve got some strategies in your toolkit, here are a few of my go-to game-based activities that work wonderfully in speech sessions:
Use Word Sorts to Build Awareness of Sound Patterns
Word sorts are one of my favorite SLP language activities because they support so many goals at once. Students physically sort words based on spelling patterns and sounds, which strengthens phonological awareness, vocabulary, and generalization.
If you’re working with students who struggle to hear the difference between blends, digraphs, or vowel patterns, differentiated word sorts give them a visual and tactile way to categorize and internalize those sounds. Try this free word sort sample by subscribing, or read more about using word sorts to simplify phonics instruction.
Reinforce Target Sounds with Roll and Cover Games
Roll and Cover is another versatile game for speech therapy that works well in both one-on-one and small group sessions. It combines dice rolling with targeted word practice in a playful, low-pressure format.
You can choose games that focus on target phonemes like r-controlled vowels, digraphs, or affricates—perfect for SLPs focusing on articulation. Students can say the word they roll, use it in a sentence, or identify the sound position (beginning, middle, or end). It’s simple, repeatable, and gives students multiple exposures to the same target—without the boredom.
Explore more in my post on why TH, V, and F sounds can be so tricky—and how Roll and Cover can help.
Try Phonics Board Games for Language + Literacy Practice
My phonics partner board games are another go-to for anyone looking for an SLP board game that doesn’t require prep or complicated instructions. These games cover everything from CVC words to advanced spelling patterns and are designed to be used independently, with a partner, or in small groups.
They’re ideal for reinforcing articulation and language goals through real word practice. Students roll, move, and say the words they land on—which means lots of repetition in a fun, meaningful context. These are especially effective with students working on decoding, vocabulary, and general speech intelligibility.
Need more phonics games? Check out this post on phonics partner board games that make learning fun.
Explore My TPT Store
Looking for more SLP board games and speech therapy-friendly activities? Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store, Primed for Primary, for no-prep phonics games, word sorts, and literacy centers that align with the Science of Reading and support speech-language development.
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Let’s make language learning effective, engaging, and fun!
