Spring Picture Books For Speech Therapy
- alykomerch
- Feb 17
- 4 min read
Posted on February 17, 2025
Spring is the perfect time to refresh your speech therapy sessions with engaging, seasonal picture books! Books are a fantastic way to target a variety of speech and language skills, from articulation and vocabulary to comprehension and sequencing. In this blog post, I’ll share 10 spring-themed picture books and how they can be used to support speech and language development.
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1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Speech & Language Goals:
Sequencing – Retell the story in order using visuals or story props.
Vocabulary – Identify and describe foods, days of the week, and concepts like “full” and “hungry.”
Basic Concepts – Discuss size words (big/small), prepositions (in, out), and temporal concepts (first, next, last).
WH-Questions – Ask questions like, “What did the caterpillar eat on Monday?”
2. Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson
Speech & Language Goals:
Expanding Sentences – Use carrier phrases such as “Bear wants ___” to help with sentence formation.
Inferencing – Predict what Bear might want next based on context clues.
Social Skills – Discuss how Bear’s friends help him and how we can be kind to others.
Negation – Identify things Bear doesn’t want or doesn’t have.
3. I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty
Speech & Language Goals:
Perspective Taking – Discuss how the frog feels about being a frog and how others feel about themselves.
Opposites – Compare different animals (e.g., big vs. small, wet vs. dry).
Articulation – Focus on /f/ sounds in “frog” and “funny.”
WH-Questions – “Why doesn’t the frog want to be a frog?”
4. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Frog by Lucille Colandro
Speech & Language Goals:
Rhyming – Identify rhyming words in the story.
Sequencing – Retell the story using a visual aid.
Cause and Effect – Discuss why the old lady swallows each item.
Articulation – Focus on /s/ blends with words like “swallowed” and “spring.”
5. Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Speech & Language Goals:
Colors & Descriptions – Label and describe different flowers.
Categorization – Sort flowers by color or type.
Following Directions – Give multi-step instructions for "planting" an imaginary garden.
Verb Tenses – Talk about what the gardener is doing (e.g., planting, watering, growing).
6. How Do Flowers Grow? by Katie Daynes
Speech & Language Goals:
Answering Questions – Explore science-based WH-questions like “What do plants need to grow?”
Descriptive Language – Use adjectives to describe flowers, seeds, and soil.
Verbs – Identify action words like “sprout,” “grow,” and “bloom.”
Inferencing – Predict what will happen to a flower if it doesn’t get sunlight.
7. Little Blue Truck’s Springtime by Alice Schertle
Speech & Language Goals:
Sound Effects & Animal Noises – Practice early speech sounds by imitating animal sounds.
Social Skills – Discuss friendly greetings and helping others.
Predicting – Guess which animal the truck will visit next.
Prepositions – Identify spatial words like “in the truck” and “on the road.”
8. Spring Things by Bob Raczka
Speech & Language Goals:
Expanding Sentences – Encourage students to describe springtime scenes using full sentences.
Spring Vocabulary – Learn new words related to the season.
Comparisons – Discuss how spring is different from other seasons.
Pronouns – Practice using “he,” “she,” and “they” to describe people in the book.
9. Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson
Speech & Language Goals:
Problem-Solving – Discuss what Rabbit’s problem is and how his friends help him.
Sharing & Turn-Taking – Encourage social conversations about sharing.
Articulation – Focus on /r/ words in “rabbit,” “carrots,” and “friend.”
Story Retell – Have students retell the story using beginning, middle, and end.
10. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle
Speech & Language Goals:
Repetitive Phrases – Encourage verbal participation with the repeating sentence structure.
Colors & Animals – Work on labeling and describing.
Articulation – Target /b/ sounds with words like “bear” and “brown.”
WH-Questions – “What does the brown bear see?”
Final Thoughts
Spring is a great time to incorporate fresh, engaging books into your speech therapy sessions! Using books with repetitive language, colorful visuals, and seasonal themes helps reinforce speech and language concepts in a fun and natural way.
Which spring books do you love using in speech therapy? Share in the comments!
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About the Author
Hi! I’m Kim, a licensed Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA) with nearly a decade of experience. I have a B.S. in Speech-Language Pathology and have worked in elementary, middle, and high schools, providing services to students in general education and special day classes. I created this blog to share my experiences and help other SLPAs on their school-based speech therapy journey!
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