Holidays are the perfect time to work on language with your little ones! Kids are excited about holiday activities and they’re looking for something fun to do. 

Try the simple activity of looking at pumpkins together outside. You get to talk about different colors, actions (e.g., picking, holding, taping, etc.), and opposites like your vs. my, big vs. little, heavy vs. light, top vs. bottom, and smooth vs. bumpy. What a fun way to build vocabulary!

There are even more opportunities to work on language if you carve the pumpkin with your kids. They get to build vocabulary like carving, cutting, dumping, part, whole, some, all, stem, and sticky. Kids can have fun by helping with the face of the pumpkin while learning concepts such as shapes, size, and parts of the face (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth, etc.).

You can even bake pumpkin seeds! Try getting messy with the pumpkins and their seeds to work on desensitizing kids to different temperatures, colors, tastes, and textures. Explore with your child! Touch the pumpkin seeds to each of your arms, cheeks, or lips.  Let them know it’s okay to get really messy sometimes! This is a fun, stress-free way to work on feeding skills outside of mealtime. If pumpkin seeds are not for you or your kids, you can always make pumpkin bread together!

Feel free to break out the pumpkin or jack-o-lantern for your next speech and language teletherapy session! Your kids will love sharing their creations while learning!