Fun Summer Therapy Activities

Summer is such a nostalgic time for us all. I often think back to riding my bike around the neighborhood with neighborhood friends and stopping at the ice cream shop on the corner. We would continue to ride around, ice cream melting down our hands, bikes sticky … it was perfect bliss! Now, as an adult, that sounds terrifying (my poor mother) ... I digress. 

Anyways, let’s talk about your summer! With running your kids all over town, setting up fun activities to keep them occupied, trying to get meals on the table, and trying to do therapy activities at home … summer as a parent can be a LOT! We want to partner with you and provide some helpful resources in an effort to streamline some ideas. That way, our job is to create, and your job is to execute. That’s what this blog post is all about! Let’s check out some activities together that you can do with your child this summer.

Speech Activities for Pool Days 🏊 with Ms. Hannah Claire:

Swimming is such a fun summer activity! It’s also a great time to model functional language and actions for your toddler. As a friendly reminder, functional language refers to a child being able to communicate their basic wants and needs. This can look like expressing what they want, “I want that,” if they are hurt, “I am hurt,” or even “I need to go to the bathroom.”

To help model functional language and actions for your toddler, try some of the following ideas:

• Use one to two-word phrases to communicate fun in the pool!

• One-word options can sound like: “jump,” “go,” “splash,” “swim,” “kick,” “go.”

• Two-word options can sound like: “jump in,” “more jump,” “more kick,” “go in.”

• While modeling these phrases, perform the action yourself, or say it while your child is performing the action!

• Feel free to add in simple ASL signs like more, go, stop, or play.

Speech on the Go! 🚘🗣️ with Ms. Sophie:

Car rides can be some of the best little pockets of time in a busy day, offering an easy way to sneak in speech practice. Whether you're heading to an activity, running errands, driving to a vacation spot, or going out for a treat, you already have built-in chances to support speech and language development without adding anything extra to your routine. The best part is that you don’t need any special materials or preparation: just your voice, what you see outside the window, and a few simple ways to keep the conversation going. These simple conversation strategies can be especially helpful for early language learners and children working on speech sounds. 

Here are some easy, fun ways to turn those summer drives into speech practice moments. 

For our early language friends:

If your child is working on early language skills, such as one-word or short utterances, car rides are a great time to model simple, meaningful language in a natural way. There’s no need to formally “teach”—just talk about what you see and what is happening in the moment as you drive. Start by labeling things you notice outside the window or in the car. Keep it simple and repeat key words often so your child has more opportunities to hear and learn them.

For example, you might say:“car,” “tree,” “dog,” “truck,” “bus,” “road,” or “sky.”

Core words are also great to use during the drive, since they are flexible and can be used in many situations:

• “go” when the car moves

• “stop” at red lights

• “up” when going over a hill

• “wait” when you’re parked or in traffic

Action words naturally fit into car routines as well. You might say “drive,” “turn,” “sit,” or “wait” as these actions are happening. If your child is working on -ing words, you can easily expand these into “driving,” “turning,” “sitting,” and “waiting.”

For our friends working on speech sounds:

If your child is working on specific speech sounds, car rides are a great way to get extra practice in a fun, low-pressure setting. Depending on their progress, you can encourage them to say target words or simply model the words yourself. Hearing a target sound repeatedly helps your child become more familiar with it, supporting both recognition and production over time.

For example, if your child is working on the /k/ sound, you might say words like:

• car

• cookie

• cow

• key

• cup

• cat

You can even turn this into a simple game: “I spy something that starts with /k/…” and give clues like “It’s something we’re riding in” (car).

If your child is working on the /g/ sound, you might use words like:

• go

• game

• gate

• gum

• girl

• garden

You can also build short, simple phrases with these sounds, such as:

• “go car”

• “good job”

• “green grass”

• “go slow”

The goal is consistent exposure and repetition in a relaxed, natural way. Your child doesn’t need to say everything perfectly—hearing the sounds often in meaningful words is what supports progress over time.

Car rides may seem like a small part of the day, but they can be a powerful opportunity to support your child’s communication skills in a natural and meaningful way. Whether you’re working on early language, speech sounds, or just building more connection through conversation, these moments add up over time. Keep it simple, keep it fun, and follow your child’s lead—you might be surprised at how much language can grow along the way!

Fun in the Sun With Occupational Therapy at Home with Ms. Micki ☀️

There are multiple ways to stay cool this summer while targeting your child’s goals. One way is with an Alphabet Spray Away game! Simply write letters, numbers, shapes, or pictures on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and let your child use a spray bottle to wash them away. While they’re having fun splashing water, they’re also strengthening the small muscles in their hands that are needed for writing, coloring, and cutting. You can even turn it into a recognition game by asking them to find specific letters or shapes before spraying. Another way that gets your kids moving is a water obstacle course. Using buckets, sponges, cups, or

turkey basters, have your child collect water at one station and transport it through a series of obstacles like a balance line and hopscotch grid before dumping it into a bucket at the finish line. This activity provides valuable heavy work, challenges motor planning skills, and encourages sequencing as children figure out the steps needed to complete the course.

Dressing skills can find their place in summer activities as well. While at the pool or beach, tape two ends of a pool noodle together to form a circle that fits snugly around their body. Ask your child to practice putting their arms into the hole and pushing it all the way down to their toes, simulating the motions of putting on a shirt and taking off pants. Stepping into the loop with their feet and pulling it over their head will simulate putting on their pants and taking off a shirt. This will create a low-pressure and fun environment to practice the motions needed to get themselves dressed.

And what says summer better than ice cream? Ice Cream in a Bag combines a tasty treat with sensory and motor skill development. Have your child help measure and pour the ingredients into the bags. This will encourage functional sequencing, following directions, and participation in a simple cooking task. Place the ingredient bag into a slightly larger bag filled with ice cream salt. Once everything is assembled, they can shake, jump, log roll, or do jumping jacks while holding the bag. These movements provide calming proprioceptive input, build strength and endurance, improve coordination, and encourage use of both sides of the body. The reward of enjoying homemade ice cream at the end makes all that hard work worthwhile!

Take Physical Therapy Outside with Ms. Taylor! 🏃🏻‍♀️

We can do so many activities that promote good physical therapy motions while outside having fun! Do you remember the classic games we played as children, such as hopscotch, red light green light, or skipping? The benefits of these fun activities haven’t changed, all these years later! These all promote lower extremity strength and coordination, and kids LOVE to jump around and release some of their energy. 

These are just a few ways for you and your child to have some fun in the sun, and accomplish some therapy activities! As always, if you’d like more activities to do at home, connect with your child’s therapist, and they’d be happy to help!