Umbrella and Rain Games

It’s raining, it’s pouring, but nobody should be snoring. April weather can make for a dreary time to work on speech and language goals. This is a great time to use a familiar item in a new way. Grab a few older umbrellas and head outside or into a larger space to have some fun.

Umbrella Go Round

While kids love to play outside in the rain, it is not very practical for sessions. Why not take some old umbrellas and use them to play some indoor or outdoor games? The first game you can try is using your umbrella as a sort of top. Turn it upside down and pin numbers on the inside. These numbers will represent the number of times you want each child to do something specific with articulation, pragmatics, vocabulary, or any other area.

Have each child stand up and carefully spin their umbrella while on the ground using the handle. The area that stops in front of their legs is the number that they receive. For younger children, you may want to place pictures of words onto the umbrella. Velcro tabs would work well to be able to change words from |ch| to |r| for different groups. If you have space, they can march around the umbrella while doing the activity to get more. Depending on your space and resources, make up more games with an umbrella, boots, or other spring things that will get your students excited about learning.

Rain Drop Matching Game

If you are looking for a quieter game that works well in smaller spaces for younger children, make a rain drop matching game. This is a great way to review multiple sounds at the same time. Make some umbrella cutouts with the sounds that you are working on. To allow for multiple uses, you could laminate the umbrellas in different colors and attach Velcro tabs to change the letters for the needs of the children in each session. Next, have a group of raindrops that match each of the umbrella sounds. They should not be color coded, but should include a picture that requires the kids to say the word to practice and recognize the letter sound.

To continue with the idea, send home some additional blank raindrops for carry over work. Explain in a letter to families what you are doing as a speech-language pathologist. Be sure to translate the instructions for those who may need the assistance. Encourage children to look around their homes for items with the sounds and color them on the raindrop. Then they can bring them back into school to share with the rest of the group at a later date.