Are you looking for spider activities for speech therapy? I’ve put together a set of easy activities that are perfect for a spider theme! Amazon affiliate links are included.
I love incorporating nonfiction themes into my therapy. It’s a great way to target fact vs. fiction, comprehension, and teach vocabulary, especially when the themes go along with the classroom units they’re learning about simultaneously! I also find that nonfiction units, particularly themes with animals, have such great engagement with the students! I usually do a week long theme on Spiders during October, which is a great way to incorporate a spooky theme if your school (or student) doesn’t celebrate Halloween.
Spider Books:
For my Spider theme, I spend most of the time on nonfiction text. However, I sometimes incorporate fictional books as well! My favorite spider books are:
- Spiders, by Gail Gibbons
- I’m Trying to Love Spiders, by Bethany Barton
- Are You A Spider? by Judy Allen
- The Very Busy Spider, by Eric Carle
- There Was An Old Mummy Who Swallowed a Spider, by Jennifer Ward
Want more book recommendations for HALLOWEEN themes? Click here for a post on my favorite Halloween books!
I made a book companion for Spiders, by Gail Gibbons. It includes an array of spider activities for speech therapy, including comprehension, true/false, spider types, basic concepts, articulation activities, and much more!
I also created TWO FREEBIES for the book There Was an Old Mummy Who Swallowed a Spider. One is a printable (with a corresponding sequencing worksheet), and the other is a Boom Card set. With both activities, the students can “feed” the mummy the items as he eats them. It’s a great way to make the book engaging and interactive for your younger students, and practice sequencing with the other students! You can grab the Boom Card Freebie HERE, and the printable freebie from my free resource library HERE. (If you’re not already on my email list, sign up with your email, and you’ll be emailed the password in my welcome email!)
Spider Games:
I try to incorporate movement into as many therapy sessions as possible! It keeps my students engaged and lets them burn off energy they get from sitting behind a computer all day while we’re also learning!
I’ve used this inflatable ring toss game the past several years, and my students love it!
I also recently got this new Springin’ Spiders game, and it is so much fun! It’s similar to Ants in the Pants, but my students have been so excited to race against the timer and see who can get the most spiders in the web!
Spider Crafts
A Perfect Blend Teaching has a great Spider Craft Writing FREEBIE! It also comes with a preposition activity and comprehension passages/questions!
Spider Decorations
What’s a good Spider theme without decorations? Seriously, if you’ve ever wanted to do a room transformation, this is as easy as it gets! Buy the spider web packs from Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree, etc. (they’re usually like $1, but I bought a few on clearance last year after the season for $0.10 each!) and just string them around your room. It takes about 5 minutes (the messier, the better), and your students will LOVE it!
I snagged the table cloth from Walmart for less than $2, and the spider web bowl from Dollar Tree for $1. The dangling spiders are also from Walmart or Target, and you can just hang them around your room or in the spider webs!
Finally, I grabbed the spider light up pointers and spider rings from the Target Dollar Spot. I’m letting my students each take a ring as a reward.
Finally, they loved using the light up pointers to “swat” the spider vocabulary definitions from the Spiders book companion. We played a game that whoever swatted the correct word for the definition fast enough got that point.
Additional Spider Activities for Speech Therapy
Looking for more? Try some of these activities from other amazing SLP Authors!
Interactive Song Book: Itsy Bitsy Spider, by Speech Room News
Spider Spin & Smash, by Courtney Gragg
Spot the Spider Prepositional Unit, by Panda Speech
Spider Rings for Speech Therapy, by Texas Speech Mom
Feed the Spider by Communication Window
I hope this helps you with your planning for spider activities for speech therapy! Halloween is so fun! What other spider activities do you use?
I love all of your wonderful ideas for spiders and can’t wait to use them with my students. I have one more idea that you may not have seen. Take a bendable straw and place it upside down as a downspout on the side of a house drawing. Slide the spider ring up and down as you sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider Song. Also this site has extra versions of the Itsy Bitsy Spider Song that are perfect for making an additional book.
https://www.considerable.com/entertainment/songs/itsy-bitsy-spider/
That’s such a great additional activity! Thank you for sharing!
Where did you get your magnetic trays on your white board?
They came from Lakeshore Learning! I highly recommend them!!! They’re super sturdy and have strong magnets!