Supporting speech with sensory play part 1: sensory sand play
- jessicabunnell2
- Jul 11
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 30
Four ways to practice speech sounds with sand sensory play this summer & a BONUS freebie!
Welcome to our summer series on supporting speech and language with sensory play! Summer is a great time to explore textures and sensory experiences and sensory-based activities are an amazing way to support development and encourage play. In this month’s post, we are going to explore 4 fun ways to boost speech sounds while playing with sand!Â
Whether you are planning to head to the beach this summer or just outside for sensory play in the sandbox or kinetic sand bin, here are four easy ways to incorporate speech and language while having fun in the sun! Â
1) Go on a Sandcastle Treasure Hunt
Go on a mini treasure hunt for items to add to your sandcastle (seashells, pebbles etc.) and play I-spy as you hunt to find as many things that start with your child’s sound as you can! Bonus points if they put the words that they find into a short sentence for extra practice!
2) Sand Pretend Play
Bring out some favorite (and easily washable) figurine toys and help your kiddo come up with a creative name for their figures that starts with the sound they are practicing. As they play with the figures in the sand or create a little story with them around their sandcastles, they can tell you all about what the characters are doing and practice their speech sounds as they go!
3) Guess the Word
Play a game of 'guess the word' with sand drawings as clues! Have your little one practice guessing what word you are ‘thinking of’ (hint: pick a word that starts with their speech sound) by asking you questions about the word... you can even draw clues in the sand with your finger to help them guess. This works best with kinetic sand or wet sand! Once they guess the word, hold up your hand and have them say the word 5 times (one for each finger) before you switch ‘jobs’ and they get to think of a word for you to guess.
4) Hide the cards
This one is a SLP favorite! Print out and laminate cards that start with the child’s speech sounds and hide the cards in the sand. They can use different items like sticks, sensory play tools, or even their hands to ‘dig’ out the cards. If the child is working on single words, they can say the sounds when they find the cards. If they are working on saying their sounds in a sentence, they can practice making ‘silly sentences’ with two of the cards!
What if I am not sure whether my child needs support with speech sounds?
Check out our speech sound development chart below! If you hear speech sound errors that are past the age that our kiddos typically master them, it is a good idea to reach out to a SLP. This is just one aspect that we look at as SLPs to help determine whether a child would benefit from speech therapy, so when in doubt, reach out! We advocate for the earliest intervention to help our kiddos be successful with learning new motor patterns…the earlier we can address the errors, the easier it is to correct them! Don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or concerns and we can guide you in the right direction. Check out contact information on our website.Â
PS: We created a FREEBIE for our readers to help practice some of the earlier developing speech sounds. Click below to access your freebie!