13 Easy Valentine’s Day Themed Activities for Speech and Language Therapy

Valentine’s Day is such a fun theme to use in your speech and language therapy sessions. There are tons of great vocabulary and activities. 

And you don’t have to focus specifically on “love!” You can talk about friendship and being kind to those around you.

I will admit that as a kid, Valentine’s Day was all about love and “mushy stuff.” Which is why talking about friendship may be a better option for your students!

Here are 13 easy Valentine’s Day-themed ideas to use in your speech therapy sessions the next couple of weeks.

Valentine’s Day Speech Therapy Activities:

• Read a Valentine’s Day-themed book. Here Comes Valentine Cat and Duck and Hippo: The Secret Valentine are two of the best Valentine and friendship themed books!
• Practice following directions with a Valentine’s Day theme. Use props/pictures and create your own directions for students to follow. You could even grab some conversation hearts to use as manipulatives.
• Print and cut out Valentine-themed shapes (e.g., hearts, chocolates, flowers, 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 flowers under the table!”
• Cut out some paper hearts, write target words/vocabulary on each one and fling it off of a parachute. Practice the words as you find the heart. While using the parachute, you can also target up/down, high/low, fast/slow, etc.
• Sing a Valentine’s Day song. One great Valentine song that includes movement is “Valentine’s Day Freeze” by Jack Hartmann. *Make sure to watch videos in advance to check for appropriateness for your students.*
• Write a note to a friend or family member. Mention something you like or appreciate about them. See if you can use any words that contain your target speech sound.
• Create a simple Valentine themed sensory bin. Use a filler such as red and pink crinkle paper. Add a scoop, tongs, spoons, or measuring cups. Add objects to find such as mini heart erasers, flash cards, and heart shaped toys. That’s it! You can also add a small container to “hide” the items into such as a miniature mailbox. Or, use the mailbox to “mail” the objects to someone. Try to “mail” objects that include your target speech sounds!  

• Using lots of paper hearts or candy hearts, 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 Valentine-themed items using photos. 
• Check out a NO PREP Valentine-themed activity by clicking HERE, or find it at the end of this post.
• Create a love monster using modeling dough and additional items such as googly eyes, toothpicks, twist ties, pipe cleaner pieces, and beads. Describe your love monster. Talk about what it looks like, but also tell a story about it. What does your love monster like to do? What does your love monster like to eat? Is your love monster similar or different than your friend’s? Target fringe vocabulary words such as squish/squeeze, mold, roll, and pound/smash.
• Whatever toys your students love to play with, turn it into a Valentine scene by taping paper hearts on it! It's really fun with toy doll houses and plastic barns.
• Grab some heart shaped sugar cookies to decorate with frosting and candy. A little too much effort/money? Cut out some hearts/cards and other smaller shapes. Decorate them by following directions or describe your heart/card. Make sure to use all of your good speech sounds!

Valentine’s Day can be such a fun theme to use in therapy. It can be tricky, though, if your students tune it out because they think it’s only about love and “mushy” stuff. 

If that’s the case, adapt it to be more of a friendship theme.

🤔 But what if you want to do Valentine's Day activities, but you don’t really have access to a lot of materials? Or you don’t have a place to store them?

No problem! Just grab some NO PREP differentiated Valentine categories and following directions activities.

🤔 No access to a functioning printer? 

No sweat! Just open these worksheets in a PDF reader on a device and mark up the page digitally.

🤔 Need help coming up with a homework idea?

Just print a few extra worksheets to send home as homework. Simple enough!

❤️Cross something off of your to-do list and save time planning by checking out these NO PREP Valentine’s Day themed speech therapy activities below!

Check out the Valentine's activities by clicking HERE.