20 Easy Christmas Themed Activities for Speech and Language Therapy

Christmas 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 December speech therapy that have a Christmas theme. Some of them include Christmas trees, Santa, reindeer, elves, gingerbread, presents and gifts, decorations, treats and candy, and so many more!

Here are 20 easy Christmas-themed ideas to use in your speech therapy sessions this month.

General Christmas Activities for Speech Therapy:

• Read a Christmas-themed book. Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree and Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear! are 2 of my favorites! (Check out my next post for a list of the best Christmas books for speech therapy!)
• Practice following directions with a Christmas theme. Use props/pictures and create your own directions for students to follow.
• Print and cut out Christmas-themed shapes (e.g., trees, ornaments, Santas, reindeer, elves, peppermints, etc.). 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 ornament under the table!”
• Cut out some paper reindeer, and write target words/vocabulary on each one and fling it off of a parachute. Practice the words as you find the reindeer. While using the parachute, you can also target up/down, high/low, fast/slow, etc.
• Sing a Christmas song. One great gingerbread song that includes movement is “The Gingerbread Cookie Dance” by Danny Go! Another great Christmas movement break song is “Boom Chicka Boom Christmas” by The Learning Station.
• Practice and role play giving and opening gifts. Talk about what is considered polite in your culture [e.g., saying “thank you” (if possible), how to react if you don’t like the gift, etc.]. 
• If you’re in a school, walk around the school/classroom and look for Christmas 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.
• Find a toy catalog. Describe and sort the different toys you find. It can be as simple as “I like” and “I don’t like” or as complex as “battery-operated” or “electronics.”
• Using pine needles and craft glue, make a Christmas tree on a piece of construction paper. 
• Create a simple Christmas themed sensory bin. Use a filler such as pieces of ribbon or red and green crinkle paper. Add a scoop, tongs, spoons, or measuring cups. Add objects to find such as mini Christmas erasers or flash cards. That’s it! You can also add a small container to hide the items into such as a miniature box.

• Using a small branch of pine needles, use it as a “stamp.” Dip the pine needles into paint and “stamp” a piece of paper.
• Using lots of plastic ornaments or licorice ropes, spell out letters and names. You could also line them up and talk about which line is long/longer/longest, short/shorter/shortest, etc.
• Practice describing different Christmas themed items using photos. Don’t want to spend time looking up photos? Click HERE for a Christmas-themed digital describing activity.
• Create a Christmas tree using modeling dough and additional items such as googly eyes, toothpicks, twist ties, pipe cleaner pieces, and beads. Describe your tree. Talk about what it looks like, but also tell a story about it. What does your tree like to do? What does your tree like to eat? Is your tree similar or different than your friend’s? Target fringe vocabulary words such as squish/squeeze, mold, roll, and pound/smash.
• Create your own Christmas tree using different colored pieces of construction paper. Cut out different shapes and sizes and glue them together. Describe your tree.
• Create a Santa beard by printing (or drawing) an outline of Santa’s head. Using large (or mini) marshmallows, dip them in white craft paint to create a “stamp.” Stamp the beard.
• Check out a NO PREP Christmas themed activity by clicking HERE, or find it at the end of this post.
• Grab a bunch of Christmas themed items (e.g., Santa hat, ribbon, wrapping paper, ornament, fake tree, etc.) and hide them in a gift bag. Describe an item and see if the students can guess what you’re describing. Pull it out so they can see if they’re right!
• Make a Christmas tree lot (dirt and Christmas lights) on a piece of poster board or butcher paper. Put tree cut-outs on it with your target vocabulary written on them (or pictures). Have students take turns choosing a tree from the lot and practicing their speech and language targets.

Sweets, Treats, and Goodies Themed Activities:

• Grab a variety of candy (or wrappers or pictures), cookies, or sweets and target SO many speech and language skills!
• Sort the sweets into different categories such as chewy, sweet, chocolaty, sour, long, crunchy, size, shape, etc.
• Count the number of syllables for the name.
• Describe the sweet - shape, size, bumpy/smooth, heavy/light, etc.
• Identify the beginning and ending sounds of the name.
• Practice core vocabulary such as more, in/out (of the bag/wrapper), open, eat.
• Practice requesting for a piece.
• Target articulation and phonological processes using the sounds found in the names.
• Practice counting, addition, subtraction, and quantity concepts by placing the sweets in different piles. Which one was more/less, etc.?
• Try to persuade someone what the best sweet is by explaining why.
• Compare/contrast the different sweets.
• Target singular and plurals using the sweets.
• Practice “I/you” pronouns. “I have…” “You have…”
• Practice following directions using the sweets as manipulatives.

Christmas is probably THE BEST theme to do in speech therapy. Students are so excited and even the most reluctant students often participate.

However, having to add activity prep to your already huge Christmas to do list, may keep you from doing some of these fun activities. 

Save time and the hassle of planning by checking out these NO PREP Christmas themed activities below!👇🏼

The BEST No Prep Christmas-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.

CLICK HERE to Check It Out!

➡️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 CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES