Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Activities | Following Directions | Main Idea and Supporting Details
By Karen Krogg, M.S., CCC-SLP | Last Updated: June 2026
Thanksgiving speech therapy activities can target articulation, following directions, main idea and supporting details, vocabulary, and other receptive and expressive language goals. This guide includes free Thanksgiving articulation word lists, low-prep session ideas, and ready-to-use activities with students from preschool through middle school.
I’m a CCC-SLP with 15 years of experience in outpatient pediatric and school settings. Throughout my career, I’ve worked with students targeting articulation and receptive and expressive language skills. I love using seasonal activities in my speech room, and the recommended Thanksgiving speech therapy activities and Thanksgiving speech therapy worksheets have all been successfully used with my own caseload. The activities are engaging, goal-driven, and appropriate for a wide variety of grades and ages. The clinical tips and Thanksgiving articulation word lists are provided to help busy school SLPs celebrate this holiday with their own students.
Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Activities by Skill Area
The most useful Thanksgiving speech therapy activity is the one that helps an SLP effectively address a specific skill area within a session.
And it’s a bonus if the Thanksgiving speech therapy worksheets or activities work for mixed groups!
What I like to do is have my materials printed and prepped. I keep them on my desk, and for each group, I can grab what I need.
| Goal Area | Thanksgiving Activity | Best-fit student level | Featured Resource |
| Articulation | seasonal word and sentence-level practice | upper-elementary and middle school | Thanksgiving Vocalic R Worksheets |
| Following directions | one- and two-step following directions containing embedded concepts task cards | preschool through first grade | Thanksgiving Following Directions Task Cards |
| Main Idea and Supporting Details | short Thanksgiving-themed passages | upper elementary and middle school | Thanksgiving Main Idea and Supporting Details Worksheets |
| Mixed speech and language goals | comprehension, vocabulary, concepts, grammar, and more | elementary | Thanksgiving Worksheets for Speech Therapy |
Thanksgiving Articulation Word Lists
Thanksgiving and fall vocabulary provide the perfect way to address articulation.
The following articulation word lists are organized by speech sound.
Use the desired articulation word list in your speech session to effectively target your student’s articulation goals.
Articulation word lists are organized by target sound. When possible, I have also organized by word position (initial, medial, or final), if there are enough words for that target sound.
As a school SLP who is often running around like crazy, I like to use articulation word lists in simple ways. My students love tic-tac-toe on a dry-erase board, so I write the target words on the board.
You could also write a few words on index cards, hide them in a bucket, and toss a ball into the bucket to land on a word. Call it a “turkey toss” and you’ve got yourself a simple themed activity.
Thanksgiving K and G Articulation Word List
INITIAL K WORDS: casserole, carve, cook, corn, cozy
MEDIAL K WORDS: acorn, bacon, napkin, turkey, pecan
FINAL K WORDS: bake, cook, thank, rake, snack
INITIAL G WORDS: gobble, gather, give, guests, garden
MEDIAL G WORDS: sugar, yogurt, bigger, together
FINAL G WORDS: egg, hug, mug, bag, rug
Thanksgiving S Word List for Speech Therapy
INITIAL S WORDS: soup, salad, sauce, serve, season
MEDIAL S WORDS: recipe, casserole, dressing, messy, spicy
FINAL S WORDS: sauce, rice, house, nice, slice
Thanksgiving S-Blend Words for Speech Therapy
INITIAL S-BLENDS: snack, snuggle, scarf, squash, smell, spice, spoon, stir, stuffing, stove, sweater, sweep
FINAL S-CLUSTERS: taste, feast, crust, toast, mix
Thanksgiving SH and CH Words for Speech Therapy
INITIAL SH WORDS: share, sugar, chef, shelf, shop
MEDIAL SH WORDS: dishes, special, tradition, wishbone, decoration
FINAL SH WORDS: dish, mash, wish, finish, squash
INITIAL CH WORDS: chair, chop, cheese, chestnut, cherry
MEDIAL CH WORDS: kitchen, crunchy, nature, watching, peaches
FINAL CH WORDS: lunch, match, sandwich, watch, peach
Thanksgiving L Words for Speech Therapy
INITIAL L: lemon, ladle, leaf, leaves, leftovers
MEDIAL L: celery, colorful, family, holiday, salad
FINAL L: bowl, fall, meal, roll, apple, table
Thanksgiving L-Blend Words for Speech Therapy
INITIAL L-BLENDS: blanket, clean, flavor, flour, plate, please, slice
Thanksgiving Voiced and Voiceless TH Words for Speech Therapy
INITIAL VOICELESS TH WORDS: thankful, thank, Thanksgiving, thaw, Thursday
MEDIAL VOICELESS TH WORDS: healthy, nothing, something, toothpick
FINAL VOICELESS TH WORDS: cloth, broth, mouth, both
INITIAL VOICED TH WORDS: them, then, there, these, those (*not Thanksgiving-specific, but could be used in sentences to discuss related topics)
MEDIAL VOICED TH WORDS: another, gathering, feather, weather, together
Thanksgiving Initial R Words for Speech Therapy
INITIAL R WORDS: rake, recipe, relatives, roast, roll
Thanksgiving Initial R Blend Words for Speech Therapy
INITIAL R-BLENDS: bring, broccoli, cranberry, crust, crunchy, dressing, frozen, fruit, gravy, grateful, gratitude, group, tradition
Thanksgiving Vocalic R Words for Speech Therapy
Pro-tip: be sure to check out these Vocalic R Thanksgiving Worksheets.
AR WORDS: farmer, garden, harvest, scarf, yard
AIR WORDS: chair, cranberry, scarecrow, parents, share
EAR WORDS: cheerful, near, deer, here, ear (of corn)
ER WORDS: butter, dessert, November, turkey, sweater
OR WORDS: corn, cornbread, fork, pour, more
Thanksgiving Vocalic R Speech Therapy Worksheets
School SLPs who work with upper elementary and middle school students often target the vocalic r sounds.
These Thanksgiving speech therapy worksheets provide engaging on-page elements, such as mazes.
Students can practice vocalic r sounds in words and sentences.
And don’t miss my Vocalic R Program for more in-depth practice of vocalic r sounds.
→Ready-to-use activity: Thanksgiving Vocalic R Worksheets
Thanksgiving Following Directions with Embedded Concepts Activity for Speech Therapy
These Thanksgiving Following Directions cards are a hit in my speech room every November with my preK and kindergarten students.
The images are cute and colorful, which your students will appreciate.
But SLPs will love how organized these cards are.
You can easily target embedded concepts such as inclusion, location, sequence, and temporal concepts.
→Ready-to-use activity: Thanksgiving Following Directions Task Cards for Speech Therapy
Thanksgiving Main Idea Worksheets
Short, engaging Thanksgiving-themed passages are the perfect way to teach your students about the main idea.
These main idea worksheets are perfect for upper elementary and middle school students on your speech caseload.
The corresponding open-ended main idea and supporting details fill-in page provides visuals to help your student better understand the main idea (“the turkey”) and the support details (“the sides”).
→Ready-to-use activity: Thanksgiving Main Idea Worksheets
Thanksgiving Speech and Language Worksheets
If you need a complete toolkit of Thanksgiving-themed speech and language worksheets, check out this resource.
It is a great option for mixed groups. Print out a page based on skill area.
Students can take turns answering questions and coloring the Thanksgiving-themed pages.
Ready-to-use activity: Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Worksheets
Example Thanksgiving Preschool Speech Therapy Sessions
Here are some simple ideas for running a preschool speech therapy session with a Thanksgiving theme! As a CCC-SLP with experience working with preschoolers, I always try to incorporate movement into my sessions.
Use this simple digital visual schedule to help organize your session: book, movement, craft, good-bye.
BOOK:
First, read a simple story. You’d love The Turkey That Wasn’t Thankful. After reading the story, talk about the word ‘thankful’- and ask your students what is something that they’re thankful for?
MOVEMENT ACTIVITY:
After that, spread the Thanksgiving following directions task cards around your room on the floor.
If you have access to a scooter, have your students glide over to them. If you don’t, have your students strut over to each card while pretending to be a turkey. You could even pull up a video to show them how turkeys move!
CRAFT:
Make a simple turkey craft! Trace your student’s hand. The thumb is the turkey’s face, while the other fingers represent feathers. Instead of tracing, you could also use paint.
Example Lower Elementary Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Session
GRAB A GREAT BOOK
One of my favorite Thanksgiving speech therapy activities is reading the book Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano!
This silly story features a turkey who comes up with a series of disguises to hide from the farmer. His main goal? To not be the main course on Thanksgiving. Spoiler alert: this story has a happy ending, and the farmer’s family enjoys pizza instead.
Try pairing this fun book with this Turkey Trouble Book Companion for Speech Therapy. Use these language prompts while reading.
You can easily target a variety of articulation and language goals using this resource and the included printables.
My students especially love the “Turkey Slider” activity. As I read the story aloud, my students take turns sliding the turkey to “disguise” him.
And don’t forget that this digital data collection tracker offers an easy way to collect data quickly during mixed group sessions.
TRY THESE THANKSGIVING SPEECH THERAPY WORKSHEETS
Need something fast? No time to prep?
In that case, these Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Worksheets provide a simple way to target communication goals with an engaging theme.
Example Upper Elementary and Middle School Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Session
For upper elementary and middle school students working on articulation, I always grab these Thanksgiving Vocalic R Worksheets. That’s because they’re age-appropriate, and offer fun elements on each page to keep my students engaged.
For my students working on language objectives, I love these Thanksgiving Main Idea Passages. Use the theme to work on stating main idea and supporting details. And if you’re in a mixed group and your other student has articulation objectives, just grab a highlighter. They can practice reading words aloud with their target sounds while the other student works on main idea and details.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Some Fun Thanksgiving Activities for Speech Therapy?
There are many fun activities you could try with your students in speech therapy! Your students may enjoy making simple turkey handprint crafts. Additionally, you can try reading turkey-themed books such as ‘Turkey Trouble’ by Wendi Silvano. Singing songs like ‘5 Little Turkeys’ and doing fun “turkey-themed” movements work well with younger students. Roll a ball back-and-forth in a group to discuss things you are thankful for. Elementary and middle school students also enjoy themed activities- try these Thanksgiving Vocalic R Worksheets or these Thanksgiving Main Idea Passages.
Where Can I Find Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Worksheets?
There are several Thanksgiving speech therapy worksheets available on TpT. Try these no prep Thanksgiving Speech and Language Worksheets with your elementary caseload, or see all of the Thanksgiving activities in my store.
Where Can I Find a Thanksgiving Articulation Word List?
This article provides a list of Thanksgiving-themed articulation words, organized by speech sounds. The speech sounds included are: k, g, s, s-blends, sh, ch, l, l-blends, voiced and voiceless th, initial r, r-blends, and vocalic r sounds. These lists can be used in articulation drills or during carryover practice.
How Far In Advance Should I Start Thanksgiving Speech Therapy Activities?
I prefer to start targeting this theme a few weeks before Thanksgiving.
First of all, this provides me with several sessions for teaching specific vocabulary words and content.
Second, I find that there’s always schedule changes in the school setting around the holidays and breaks! Starting early ensures that we’ll have time to finish any story, craft, or activity in time to send home for break.
