I00% dog person here, folks.
National Dog Day is August 26th, and I've got your speech therapy dog-themed activity needs more than covered. Full disclosure, I probably won't be your go-to for National Cat Day ideas (is that a thing?), but check out these doggone good finds from around the web to engage your teletherapy students at the end of August.... or any time!
Dog Themed Boom Cards for Speech Therapy
This dog-themed Boom Card deck has something for nearly all of my students. With 8 different speech and language activities including vocabulary, sequencing, inferencing, listening comprehension, verbs, and more, I'll be using this to introduce the theme and tons of dog-related vocabulary, hone in on specific skills, and send for homework practice.
Dog Themed Books for Speech Therapy
Search the following book titles/authors wherever you access digital versions of books (your local library, YouTube, websites, online stores, etc.).
Fiction
My Dog Thinks I'm A Genius by Harriet Ziefert
Lucy Rescued by Harriet Ziefert
The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey
Clifford the Big Red Dog series by Norman Bridwell
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
Non-Fiction
My Dog Likes Me by Bobbi Kalman
Guess the Dog by Kari Noel
Short, Shorter, Shortest by Rebecca Felix
Cool Pets for Kids: Dogs by Dawn Titmus
Dog Themed Videos for Speech Therapy
Perfect to address almost anything! Verb tenses, pronouns, making inferences and predictions, sequencing, retelling, and so much more!
Dog Themed Games and Activities for Speech Therapy
These activities can be used for reinforcement or any number of speech and language goals!
The PBS Kids website has a slew of fun dog-themed games and activities, such as these Clifford games, these Martha Speaks ones, and this Arthur Animal-Home Builder activity.
"Dog Doodle" on Toy Theater allows students to draw on a photo of a dog. Additionally, this Toy Theater sticker activity includes a few dog stickers so you can create your own dog-themed scene.
"New Puppies" Hidden Picture on Highlights Kids is a cute activity that can last a couple or several minutes.
A "Which dog breed are you?" quiz is always fun (and funny)! This one from Highlights Kids is perfect for younger kids since it includes photo choices.
"Dog" activity on OwlieBoo is a simple activity, but it's full of language! You make dogs (of different shapes and sizes) do various actions like bark, wag their tail, lay down, and even go to the bathroom!
Puppies memory game on matchthememory.com includes real photos of puppies of various dog breeds.
There are dozens of digital coloring pages of dogs on thecolor.com, which are great to fill a few minutes of extra time or target description and vocabulary.
This dog breed guessing game is an easy way to elicit a variety of language goals because it will easily get your kids talking! Students of any age will love chatting about who has what dog breed as they play this guessing game. It includes a printable too, so it can be sent for homework.
Dog Themed Activities for Older Students
These activities are great for targeting comprehension, vocabulary in context, main idea and supporting details, articulation carryover, and more!
This Kiddle Encyclopedia's article on dogs gives lots of information about dogs, including fun facts and links to information about specific breeds.
A Brief History of Dogs by National Geographic is a 3.5 minute video that gives an interesting explanation of how dogs evolved from wolves.
This video from TED-Ed also tells the history of dogs (in less than 5 minutes).
"Through The Nose" on ReadWorks is a great article that includes some highlighted vocabulary words in context.
The blog on Top Dog Foundation's website has lots of heart-warming stories about dogs.
Simon's Cat videos are so fun for older students, but they're not just for cat lovers... these Simon's Cat videos include dogs in them too!
This dog-themed passage comes ready to go with language activities for multiple goals... in 2 digital forms for use in teletherapy (plus a printable)!
Phew! You should be set to "work like a dog" on those speech and language goals for National Dog Day, or any day. This favorite theme is sure to capture students' attention and get them barking, I mean, talking! Have fun!
Originally published on 08/22/2020. Updated on 8/17/23.
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