We know all the holidays will look different this year. But, holidays and seasons are still a great way to incorporate new vocabulary and build your child’s language skills! Read more below about a few Halloween themed books for different ages and the fun ways you can interactively read with your child. We’ve also shared a few of ur favorite easy and inexpensive themed-activities for you and your child to do at home!
Where is Baby’s Pumpkin?: In this book Baby is looking for her pumpkin and you have to help her find it! This book is great for working on everyday, common vocabulary (e.g., things around your home), yes/no questions, simple WH-questions (what, where, who) and also prepositions (e.g., “Is it under the table?” or “Show me what is on the table.” or “What is next to the table?”, etc).
Say Boo!: Ghosts are suppose to say “boo!”, but in this book one ghost is having a hard time with that. This book is short and sweet and great for simple vocabulary building.
Mouse’s First Halloween: In this book Mouse has a pretty adventurous Halloween night. He sees and hears a lot of different things that seem spooky or scary at first, but turn out to just be things we see during Halloween. This book is great for early, simple inferencing and prediction skills, as well as, vocabulary.
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat: There are a lot of different “Old Lady Who Swallowed a….” books. These books are silly and fun and good for recalling details in sequential order (e.g., the items she swallows) and vocabulary.
Room On the Broom: This is a great book for rhyming, comprehension, and inferences. The witch keeps losing things from her broom and when a dragon shows up, her animal friends have to help her out.
Halloween Related Activities to Try at Home!
You can also do short, fun, holiday-themed activities at home with your child to work on building their vocabulary and language skills. Here are a few easy and inexpensive ideas:
Decorating Pumpkins: Many kids don’t know what a jack-o-lantern is (we describe it as what you see after you carve a pumpkin), so it’s a good idea to start with that. Jack-o-lantern faces provide an easy way to help your child identify and label emotions and feelings. You can draw out a bunch of faces first and have you child point to the happy/excited/scared/angry/etc face and then have them tell you which one they want.
Sorting: If you have Halloween paraphernalia you can use this to sort! Pre-covid times, we were big fans of the Dollar Spot at Target. They often had stickers, pencil toppers, and window stickers with a Halloween theme. These are perfect to have your child sort for different concepts (e.g., “Find all the pumpkins” or “Find all the orange things”).
Treasure Hunt: You can use all the same items from the sorting activity for a treasure hunt. Hide items around the house and describe where to find specific items (e.g., “Look under the bed in mommy’s room”) and when your child finds them all, have them describe what they found.
These are just a few ideas, but maybe you have some other ideas or activities you already do with your child. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments section for others to try out too!
Holidays and seasons are a great way to incorporate new vocabulary and build your child’s language and understanding of traditions or routines! Read more below about a few Valentine’s Day themed books for different ages and the fun ways you can interactively read with your child. We’ve also shared a few of our professionally-recommended easy and inexpensive themed-activities for you and your child to do at home!
For younger children (Toddlers & Preschoolers:18 months to 3 years)
Where is Baby’s Valentine? In this book Baby has lost her Valentine’s Day card and you have to help her find it! This book is great for working on everyday, common vocabulary (e.g., things around your home), yes/no questions, simple WH-questions (what, where, who) and also prepositions (e.g., “Is it under the table?” or “Show me what is on the table.” or “What is next to the table?”, etc).
Llama Llama I love you This book is good for simple sequencing of events (the steps to making the cards, giving the cards, sending the cards, etc), for verbs or action vocabulary (e.g., cutting, glueing, walking, etc), simple WH-questions and yes/no questions. There are also some rhyming words in this book (though your toddler or preschooler is still a little young for pre-reading and phonemic awareness skills, it’s still beneficial to read books with a variety of concepts!).
For children around Pre-K (4-5 years old)
Happy Valentine’s Day Curious George! We love Curious George books! They are great for WH-questions (who, what, where, when, why), inferences (“Why is the man upset?”, “Why does George looked worried?”), predictions (“Uh oh. What might George do?”, “What might happen?”) and recalling details and events of the story after the book
Lily’s Chocolate Heart This is a simple, but very cute book which is great for prepositions (e.g., under, next to, on, above, etc.) and vocabulary, as well as, WH-questions and recalling details about the story.
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose There are a lot of different “Old Lady Who Swallowed a….” books. These books are silly and fun and good for recalling details in sequential order (e.g., the items she swallows) and vocabulary.
For children who are a little older (Kindergarten, First Grade)
Franklin’s Valentines Franklin worked so hard on his Valentine’s Day cards, but something happens to them! This book is great for sequencing the events of the story, recalling details of the story, inferencing (e.g., “How do you think Franklin feels?”, “Why is Franklin sad?”, etc.) predicting (e.g., “Uh oh! His backpack is open! What might happen?” , “What might they do next?”, etc.) and problem-solving (“What is the problem?”, “What could he do to fix the problem?”, etc).
The Day It Rained Hearts In this book the main character, Cornelia Augusta, is very thoughtful with how she makes her Valentine’s Day cards and who will receive them! This book is also great for sequencing, recalling details, retelling events, making inferences and predictions.
Activities You & Your Child can do at home!
You can also do short, fun, holiday-themed activities at home with your child to work on ways to build their vocabulary and language skills. Here are a few easy and inexpensive ideas:
getting a box of valentine’s for their class and looking at what is the same or different with each valentine (e.g., they both have superheroes; one has iron man and the other has spider man)
describing what is on the valentine
sorting a box full of candy conversation hearts into colors
These are just a few ideas, but maybe you have some other ideas or activities you already do with your child. Feel free to leave your ideas in the comments section for others to try out too!
If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s development you can always reach out to us at The Speech Space!
