Taking Play Outdoors to Enhance Communication Skills
Are you looking for simple ways to build speech and language skills during outdoor play?
Outdoor activities are one of my favorite ways to keep students engaged while still targeting important goals. Whether you are at the playground, in the backyard, or outside at school, there are so many easy ways to encourage communication through play.
Here are a few simple outdoor activities I love using with preschool and elementary students.
Scavenger Hunts
This is one of my favorite low-prep outdoor activities. You can target:
Categories
Describing words
Articulation sounds
WH questions
Following directions
For older students, you can add more complex clues or descriptive language tasks.
Nature Walks
Nature walks are perfect for describing activities. Students can describe colors, shapes, textures, and sizes. This is also a great opportunity to work on expanding utterances and introducing new vocabulary.
Obstacle Courses
Obstacle courses are great for following directions, sequencing, and spatial concepts.
Examples:
“Jump over the cone, then touch the slide.”
“Crawl under the chair before you grab the ball.”
Pretend Play
Outdoor pretend play naturally encourages social skills, conversation, storytelling, and problem-solving.
Students love pretending to:
Camp
Run an ice cream stand
Go on a treasure hunt
Outdoor play is such an easy, low-prep way to support speech and language development.
Sometimes simply taking an activity outside can make a huge difference in engagement and participation during sessions.
