26 Easy Halloween Themed Activities for Speech and Language Therapy

Halloween is such a fun theme to use in your speech and language therapy sessions. There are tons of great vocabulary and activities, but THE BEST reason is it’s often super motivating for your students!

There are several different themes that are perfect for October speech therapy that have a Halloween theme. Some of them include costumes, trick-or-treating, ghosts, bats, pumpkins, skeletons, monsters, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin treats and candy, and so many more!

Here are 26 easy Halloween-themed ideas to use in your speech therapy activities this month.

General Halloween Activities:

1. Read a Halloween-themed book. The Spooky Wheels on the Bus and The Halloween Tree (by Susan Montanari) are 2 of my favorites! (Check out my next post for a list of the best Halloween books for speech therapy!)
2. Practice following directions with a Halloween theme. Use props/pictures and create your own directions for students to follow.
3. Print and cut out Halloween-themed shapes. They can all be the same, or they can be different. Write target vocabulary on them and hide them around the room. As you practice the vocabulary targets, say “where” you found the picture. For example, “I found the skeleton under the table!”
4. Cut out some paper skeletons or bones, and write target words/vocabulary on each one and fling it off of a parachute. Practice the words as you find the skeleton/bone. While using the parachute, you can also target up/down, high/low, fast/slow, etc.
5. Sing a Halloween song. One great skeleton song that includes movement is “Skeleton Dance - Dem Bones.” 
6. Practice and role play trick-or-treating. Talk about what is considered polite in your culture [e.g., taking only one piece unless told otherwise, saying “thank you” (if possible), etc.]. You could even dress up in costumes and carry a sack or bucket. Place snacks/treats/toys inside the bucket as you knock on the doors.
7. If you’re in a school, walk around the school/classroom and look for Halloween decorations. Describe what you see. Or, find some pictures online (make sure to find them in advance to make sure they are appropriate) of store ads and describe what you see.
8. Using cotton swabs and craft glue, make a skeleton on a black piece of construction paper. Draw the face using a piece of chalk. Label the different parts of the body.
9. Using lots of cotton swabs (“bones”), spell out letters and names. You could also line them up and talk about which line is long/longer/longest, short/shorter/shortest, etc.
10. Create a monster using modeling dough and additional items such as googly eyes, toothpicks, twist ties, pipe cleaner pieces, and disposable straw pieces. Describe your monster. Talk about what it looks like, but also tell a story about it. What does your monster like to do? What does your monster like to eat? Is your monster similar or different than your friend’s?
11. Create your own monster using different colored pieces of construction paper. Cut out different shapes and sizes and glue them together. Describe your monster.
12. Create a picture of a ghost using mini marshmallows and craft glue. It works best if you use black (or another dark-colored) construction paper.
13. Use large or mini marshmallows and dip them in white craft paint to create a “stamp.” Stamp a ghost outline on a black (or another dark-colored) piece of construction paper. You could also print off a ghost outline and have students fill it in using the “stamp.”
14. Create a simple Halloween themed sensory bin. Use a filler such as black beans or orange and black crinkle paper. Add a scoop, spoons, or measuring cups. Add objects to find such as mini Halloween erasers or flash cards. That’s it! You can also add a small container to scoop the items into such as a mini cauldron or treat bag.
15. Check out a NO PREP Halloween themed activity by clicking HERE, or find it at the end of this post.

Pumpkins & Jack-O-Lanterns

You can’t talk about Halloween without including pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns! They can be so fun and are relatively inexpensive.

1. Bring in several different types of pumpkins/squash. Describe what they look like and feel like. If you’re feeling really brave, cut a few open and talk about how different the inside feels. You could also cut a jack-o-lantern face and discuss different emotions.Have a couple of large pumpkins, a small rubber mallet, and some golf tees. Use the rubber mallet to pound golf tees into the pumpkin rind. Pound holes in different ways to create shapes, letters, or numbers. Use core vocabulary words like “more,” “again,” and “oops/ouch.” Talk about different quantities of golf tees including more/less, some/few/couple, several/lots, etc.
2. Make a pumpkin out of modeling dough. Target fringe vocabulary words such as squish/squeeze, mold, roll, and pound/smash.
3. Try a recipe using canned pumpkin (make sure to check for allergies first!). You could try making a pumpkin pie parfait, pumpkin spice playdough, etc.
4. Buy a few of the really little pumpkins (Jack-Be-Little pumpkins) and put them in a water table. Add some toothbrushes or scrub brushes and water. Watch the pumpkins float and have fun scrubbing and cleaning them!
5. Make a simple pumpkin patch sensory bin. Grab some green crinkle paper and some mini plastic pumpkins. You could also grab some pumpkin-shaped table scatter, craft foam stickers, mini objects, etc. Or, just print some different pumpkin pictures, laminate, and place them in the bin. Write target vocabulary on them. See who can find the named pumpkin.
6. Make a pumpkin patch (dirt and vines) on a piece of poster board or butcher paper. Put pumpkin cut-outs on it with your target vocabulary written on them (or pictures). Have students take turns choosing a pumpkin from the patch and practicing their speech and language targets.
7. Have an outline of a pumpkin. Draw different facial expressions on it. Or, use modeling dough. 
8. Using a real pumpkin or a pumpkin outline, have different parts of a jack-o-lantern face and an adhesive. Take turns putting different facial features on the jack-o-lantern. 
9. Grab an apple and cut it in half. Use the apple as a stamp. If you use orange paint, the result makes a pumpkin. Add green stems and googly eyes.
10. Sing a song about pumpkins, like “Five Little Pumpkins.”

Candy Theme

Grab a variety of candy (or wrappers or pictures) and target SO many speech and language skills!

1. Sort the candy into different categories such as chewy, sweet, chocolaty, sour, long, crunchy, size, shape, etc.
2. Count the number of syllables for the candy name.
3. Describe the candy/wrapper - shape, size, bumpy/smooth, heavy/light, etc.
4. Identify the beginning and ending sounds of the candy name.
5. Practice core vocabulary such as more, in/out (of the bag/wrapper), open, eat.
6. Practice requesting for a piece of candy.
7. Target articulation and phonological processes using the sounds found in the candy names.
8. Practice counting, addition, subtraction, and quantity concepts by placing the candy in different piles. Which one was more/less, etc.?
9. Try to persuade someone what the best candy is by explaining why.
10. Compare/contrast the different candies.
11. Target singular and plurals using the candy.
12. Practice “I/you” pronouns. “I have…” “You have…”
13. Practice following directions using the candy as manipulatives.

The BEST No Prep Halloween-Themed Activities:

I LOVE using categories and following directions activities because there are so many ways to implement and use them with mixed groups. 

✅Want to make your life easier? Use DIFFERENTIATED NO PREP activities because it requires basically no time to prep and covers so many students on your huge caseload.

✅Use no prep worksheets and activities in your session and send home unfinished activities for homework. Win-win!

✅Engage your students with themed activities and target holiday-themed vocabulary at the same time, making the vocabulary relevant for your students.

➡️Includes enough activities for multiple sessions including 25+ worksheets and 780 directions!

➡️Save your precious time for other tasks by using these NO PREP print and go activities.

 

➡️No access to a functioning printer? Use these worksheets digitally by opening an editing app and digitally drawing right on the page

➡️Homework is already prepped for you! Send home additional printed worksheets for at-home practice and carryover.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE NO PREP HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES