Most children love Halloween! As a speech therapist, I often include seasonal activities in my treatment sessions because they spark excitement and offer opportunities for practicing language skills in a way that is meaningful to the child. Holiday-based activities help to build speech and language skills that are relevant to the child’s environment and daily life. Halloween tasks are particularly fun for language-based activities because of the fantasy element. Parents can also incorporate holiday fun into their child’s intervention program at home. Halloween activities can target your child’s ability to follow directions, expand sentence length and complexity, utilize a variety of new vocabulary words, request and make choices, and ask and answer questions. Here are some Halloween ideas for parents to consider using at home:

1)      Carve a Pumpkin:

a)      Talk about the body parts (e.g., eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth)

b)      Have your child follow directions for where to draw each part on the pumpkin

c)      Use prepositions to discuss spatial concepts (e.g., under the eyes, above the mouth, in the pumpkin, scoop the seeds out)

d)      Use descriptive words to talk about how the inside of the pumpkin feels, smells, and looks. What a great sensory experience!

2)      Play Dress-up in Costumes:

a)      Pretend to be another person, animal, or character, using appropriate words for the context

b)      Have your child follow multi-step directions for putting on the outfit (e.g., First, put on the shirt, and then put on the hat.)

c)      Incorporate new vocabulary words about the costumes or characters.

3)      I’m Thinking of Something...

a)      Play this familiar game using Halloween themes:

i)        That flies on a broomstick and wears a black hat

ii)       That spins its own home

iii)     That is orange with a face on it

iv)     That looks like part of a person and is made of bones

4)      Face Painting

a)      Place a dab of marshmallow cream or icing on your child’s face and have his/her tongue lick it off to target tongue tip elevation, tongue depression, and tongue lateralization

b)      Put pudding on various parts of your child’s face to increase overall sensory awareness and tactile acceptance

5)      Sweet Tooth

a)      Have your child sort their Halloween candy by size, flavor, or color

b)      Talk about the similarities or differences between the candies

6)      Halloween Stickers and Stamps

a)      Create special pictures using Halloween stickers and stamps. Children need to request stickers or stamps, describe their pictures, and name colors.

b)      Use new vocabulary words to describe the scene and extend sentence length

c)      Give your child directions for where to put the stickers or stamps on the page, using a variety of concepts (dimension, inclusion/exclusion, temporal, location, condition, and sequence)

7)      Spooky Music

a)      Sing Halloween or fall songs with your child! Music is a wonderful way to stimulate speech and language skills

b)      Make silly noises that sound like ghosts (“boo”), witches (“hee-hee”), cats (“meow”), or the wind (“oooo”) to practice different oral motor postures

8)      Haunted Books

a)      Read a Halloween story and ask your child questions about the content and details of the story

b)      Have your child retell the story in his/her own words

c)      Ask extension questions about the story, such as “What would happen if?” and “What do you think will happen next?”

d)      Have your child label pictures in the book

e)      Have your child create his/her own spooky tale

9)      Kooky Cooking

a)      Follow a recipe to make a Halloween treat

b)      Explore textures and tastes with a variety of seasonal foods

c)      Decorate Halloween cookies and talk about what they look like