7 Speech Activities for Valentine’s Day Using Conversation Hearts

4. Kiss and Crunch

Lip closure and chewing can be particularly hard for children with speech impairment. Have your child practice kissing the hearts and then move on to crunching while alternating practice with a chew toy such as Ark Therapeutic’s Y Chew (link: http://www.arktherapeutic.com/arks-y-chew/)

5. Matchmaker

Label the blank side of the heart with numbers, making sure you label two of each number and then have each member of your family draw a heart out of a hat. They will then trade valentine’s card with their match! You can continue the game until everyone has given and received a Valentine from each family member.

6. Custom Love

Order your customized conversation hearts specially tailored to your child’s vocabulary. Pick action words, objects, and people (i.e. “Go”, “Car” “Mama,”) and have your child string them together to practice constructing sentences.

7. Bingo

Download a free printable Bingo card with conversation hearts and let your child practice his receptive language skills by matching the hearts to their message until he or she gets a Bingo (where of course the prize is more candy).

Most of all, have fun watching your child get candy crazy with the best of them!

Jamie Sumner is mother to a son with cerebral palsy and Beckwith- Wiedemann Syndrome and is the author of the blog, The Mom Gene. Her son’s story has been featured in The Tennessean and YooCanFind.com.