Bats get a lot of flak, but I hope you'll join me on a mission to change that– at least in speech therapy sessions. In fact, bats make a great fall theme, especially because you'll really be able to surprise your students with some fascinating information about them. All the while you're also targeting those speech and language goals!
Bat Themed PDF for Speech Therapy
One downloadable resource that covers tons of speech therapy goals is my go-to SLP M.O. This bat-themed PDF has multiple activities and be used on an iPad, teletherapy platform, or interactive whiteboard to target articulation and language goals. The big, bold graphics make it a hit for your preschool and elementary caseload.
Articles About Bats
National Geographic Kids gives 10 fascinating facts about bats.
Time for Kids has a great article on the dangers facing bats and some solutions to help save these animals.
The Smithsonian shares bat facts as well as tons of references to bats at their various museums. Browsing the artwork, artifacts, and short videos can feel like a virtual field trip as well!
Books About Bats
Search the following bat-themed book titles/authors wherever you access digital versions of books (your local library, YouTube, websites, online stores, etc.).
Fiction Books
Bats at the Beach, Bats in the Band, Bats at the Library, and Bats at the Ballgame by Brian Lies
Bat Loves the Night by Nicola Davies is about the events of a bat's day, including how she catches food and navigates the night.
Little Red Bat by Carole Gerber follows a bat's decision on whether to hibernate or migrate.
Nightsong by Ari Berk teaches about echolocation when a young bat discovered the ability on its first night alone.
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon is the story of a baby bat that gets lost from its mother and is raised by birds.
Non-Fiction Books
Bats by Gail Gibbons is beautifully illustrated and tells about the amazing features and abilities of bats. It's ideal for preschool through early elementary students.
Bats by Kate Riggs uses real photos to teach early elementary students about bats' habitats, appearance, and behaviors.
For slightly older students, Amazing Bats by Eyewitness Juniors also has real photos. It explains interesting phenomena about bats and debunks a few myths about these creatures.
Bats: Hunters of the Night by Elaine Landau is a great way to teach about bats' physical appearance, habitats, and life cycle.
Bat Themed Videos
This short video from National Geographic Kids provides interesting facts about bats. The channel also has this funny song about bat snacks that your speech therapy students might enjoy.
This video from SciShow Kids explains echolocation using a combination of cartoons and real videos.
The Wild Kratts are a child favorite! They search for bats in a dark cave in this less-than-two-minute video.
Bat Themed Website Activities and Games
Bat Conservation International has some great activities on its site. Students can explore various bat sounds, which is such a fun, new way to make therapy interactive. There's also a live webcam of a cave entrance where millions of bats live. So cool! You can download and print some really detailed bat coloring pages.
Working on phonemic awareness skills? This activity from ABCya uses a bat-theme to find rhyming words. They also have similar activities for beginning word sounds and counting syllables.
PBS Kids' Echo Explorers Game teaches about bats (including echolocation and how bats help pollinate plants) through a fun, interactive activity where students rescue bats.
Can't go wrong with some jokes! These bat-themed jokes from Fun Kid Jokes are a great way to start or end a session. A bat digital coloring page is also a great addition to your session.
The DK website has some awesome photos and diagrams for kids to find out about the parts (inside and outside) of bats, as well as their roosting habits.
Bat Themed Activities for Older Students
This video from PBS NewsHour shares tons of facts (and videos and photos) on vampire bats.
This Simon's Cat video includes a bat plus tons of opportunities for targeting language goals such as making inferences and predictions.
Students may enjoy testing their bat knowledge with this 10-question quiz from Scout Life or this 5-question quiz from Fun Trivia.
My favorite sessions with older kids involve a deep dive into a theme! In this resource, students learn about bats by reading a short passage before completing any number of language activities to support their various speech therapy goals.
Bats are such cool animals, and your students will love to learn more about these mysterious creatures. These bat themed activities help you take the high-interest theme and make the most of it when targeting goals in speech therapy!
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