My two boys LOVE Shark Week. They eagerly await for it to start every summer. I’m sharing some low-prep, easy Shark Week speech and OT activities that are perfect for co-treating and will make planning therapy a breeze. These Shark Week ideas will have your students working on their speech and OT skills without even realizing it!
Whether you choose to do an entire week filled with shark themed activities or spread out the fun over the course of a month, these fun speech, language, and fine motor activities will have your students asking for more!
BOOKS:
Here are a few books (both fiction and non-fiction) that your students will love for Shark Week.
Big Shark, Little Shark by Anna Membrino (Great for targeting attributes, basic concepts, and opposites.)
National Geographic Kids Everything Sharks (Perfect for working on shark facts and vocabulary skills.)
Sharky McShark by Alison Murray (Based on the fable “The Lion and the Mouse”, Sharky McShark is such a cute book. Use it to target emotions/feelings, friendship, problem solving, answering wh-questions, making predictions and inferences, cause and effect relationships, ocean vocabulary, and so much more! Reminds of the Rainbow Fish.)
Clark the Shark: Too Many Treats by Bruce Hale (Good for working on sequencing, answering a variety of wh-questions, and making simple predictions.)
SONGS:
I love pairing books with songs that incorporate motor movements. Music is a great way to stimulate spontaneous language and social interactions. You can practice following directions, imitating motor actions, and giving directives (ex. play it, turn it on, play it again, turn lights off, you do it, etc.). Here are a few fun songs that our students enjoy.
(Click on the song titles below to play the songs on You Tube.)
Baby Shark What better song to use during Shark Week than Baby Shark? It also happens to be a personal favorite of my nephew.
Five Little Sharks Great for working on counting, colors, simple wh-questions, and positional concepts.
GAMES:
When selecting games, I look for something that is fun, interactive, and open-ended. The following games are great for targeting turn-taking, asking and answering questions, sentence formulation and expansion, carryover of articulation, describing, or perfect as reinforcers.
Shark Bite – It’s played similarly to Let’s Go Fishing. Perfect for working on turn taking, counting, and colors or great to use for positive reinforcement. (You can find Shark Bite at Target or on Amazon.)
Guess the Shark Boom Cards Guessing Game for Speech Therapy (It’s played similarly to Guess Who? and includes 3 different levels.)
Recipes:
Watermelon Fangs Super easy. You could use cantaloupe or honeydew melon if your students do not like watermelon.
Shark Week Trail Mix Who doesn’t love trail mix? Great for working on bilateral coordination, measurement, counting, following directions, requesting, negation, requesting more, sentence formulation, asking questions, and so much more.
Ingredients Used:
- Cheddar Goldfish
- Rainbow Goldfish
- Gummy Sharks (found some at Target)
- Swedish Fish
- Tropical Mini Swedish Fish
Looking for more Shark Week Fun?
Check out these other ocean-themed activities:
- Free Summer Speech Therapy Shark Themed Articulation Boom Cards™
- Summer Speech Therapy Shark Themed Articulation Boom Cards™
- FREE 30, 60, 90 100 Ocean Themed Articulation Trials
SAVE THESE SHARK WEEK SPEECH & OT ACTIVITIES
If you’re not quite ready for these ocean themed speech & OT activities, then pin this to your favorite speech and/or OT Pinterest board so you can come back when you are!
