Boost Speech Skills Using Finger Puppets

On one of my many ‘journeys’ through Ikea, I stumbled across these finger puppets and have been putting them to good use in therapy, particularly for my speech kids. If you don’t have an Ikea near you, keep an eye out at craft shops and small-town shops for the knitted or crochet kind and choose animals or characters that can help you represent terms for therapy.

TIGER = R SOUND

I love to talk about using a ‘growly’ sound for making ‘r’ and this tiger puppet is fantastic! Sometimes I hide him and he will come out and make funny growl at the kids when they use their ‘r’ sound. So simple. So motivating.

ELEPHANT = L SOUND

I love the trunk on this elephant and so when I am teaching the ‘l’ sound I ask my kids to lift their tongue up like the elephant. It’s a really great visual and has worked wonders for me!

TURTLE + RABBIT = SPEECH RATE

We all have had those kids that speak sooooo fast that their speech sounds just go everywhere. These two puppets are fantastic for working on slowing down speech for increased clarity as most kids know the tortoise and the hare analogy. I have also taught the opposite with some of my CAS kids, children who ‘overthink’ what to do, and students who break up sounds in their speech (c-ar).

RAT = F & V SOUND

Usually I would pull out my rabbit to work on these and have found some kids benefit from the term ‘show me your rabbit teeth’, but this finger puppet rat has two lovely chompers that I have had to change my phrase when I use these. Like the elephant with the ‘l’ sound, this is a great visual reference.