Speech therapy exercises to do at home: concrete sheets to print
Are you looking for concrete speech therapy exercises to do at home? This page gathers, for each major family of disorders, a sheet ready to print in one click (button "🖨 Print this sheet"), a list of other exercises to try to vary the fun, and the appropriate application to extend the work according to the person's age.
The sheets are extended into a game on a tablet. Depending on age and disorder, the application changes: here is the child, adult, senior, and communication version.
📋 Quick access to the 6 sheets to print
Why working at home makes all the difference
A speech therapy session lasts on average thirty minutes, once a week. It's valuable, but insufficient on its own: rehabilitation relies on repetition and regularity, two ingredients that are mainly cultivated at home, between appointments. Research in cognitive neuroscience confirms it: it's the frequency of solicitations, more than their duration, that triggers brain plasticity and durably consolidates achievements.
The family environment also offers ideal conditions. The setting is reassuring, stress is lower, and relatives are present to encourage. Skills worked on at home then transfer more naturally into daily life: a word learned while cooking will be reused at dinner, an instruction understood during a game will be replayed the next day. It's this generalization that truly makes progress.
The golden rule is simple: better 10 to 15 minutes each day than one hour once a week. Choose a fixed time (after snack, before bed), keep a playful atmosphere, and value every small progress. In case of refusal or fatigue, stop: motivation counts more than performance.
1. Articulation and facial motor skills
The precise articulation of sounds requires fine coordination of the lips, tongue, cheeks, and soft palate. Even before working on a particular sound, these muscles are loosened and strengthened through "facial gymnastics" exercises. The tongue, in particular, is involved in the majority of French phonemes: it is mobilized in all directions, made to click, point, and stretch.
The progression goes from the simplest to the most complex: first, large and slow movements to become aware of each muscle, then increasingly rapid and precise sequences. For children, very short sessions (5 to 10 minutes) are preferred but daily, always in front of a mirror so they can see what they are doing.
Face gym — bucco-facial praxies
📅 My praxies week
| Movement | M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big smile | |||||||
| Jam tongue | |||||||
| Balloon cheeks | |||||||
| Clapping horse |
➕ Other articulation exercises to try
- Tongue twisters: “The archduchess's socks...”, “A hunter knowing how to hunt...” — faster and faster.
- Drink through a straw a thick liquid (smoothie, applesauce): strengthens suction and lip closure.
- The grimace game: stick out the tongue towards the nose, chin, each cheek, then make full circles.
- Repeat syllables in rhythm: “pa-pa-pa”, “ta-ka-ta-ka”, while tapping on the table.
- Blow a party horn (party blower): works on breath and lip closure simultaneously.
- Make loud kisses then stretched smiles alternately, like a “fish-smile”.
👶 Child version👵 Senior version2. Breathing and breath control
Breathing is the engine of voice and articulation. Poorly controlled breath weakens vocal intensity, chops speech, and tires the patient. There are three ways to breathe — clavicular, thoracic, and abdominal — and it's abdominal breathing, that of a newborn, that we aim to regain: it offers the best control of airflow and the greatest reserve.
The work is done with playful supports that make the breath visible: soap bubbles require continuous and regular exhalation, a candle flame reveals the slightest jerk, a feather measures the fineness of the breath. We then progress to exercises with voice (sustained vowels), then in continuous speech (nursery rhymes, reading aloud with marked breathing pauses). A good objective marker: the duration of an “Aaaa” held on a single exhalation, to be noted each day.
The breath journey
⏱ My longest “Aaaa” (in seconds)
| Day | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duration (sec.) |
🎯 Benchmarks: about 15 s at 6 years old · 20 s at 12 years old · 25 s in adulthood.
➕ Other breathing exercises to try
- Table football: push a ping-pong ball or a paper ball along a course, just by blowing.
- Storm in a glass: blow into a straw dipped in a glass of water to make bubbles... without splashing.
- Balloon: inflate it with a single breath, then count how many breaths are needed.
- Whistle or kazoo: hold the note as long as possible.
- Birthday candle: blow just enough to make the flame flicker without extinguishing it, gradually moving away.
- Pinwheels and confetti straws: the fun ensures regularity.
On tablet, the COCO app includes a sports break every 15 minutes: a good way to pace the child's breathing between games and release tension.
3. Vocabulary and language enrichment
Enriching vocabulary is not about stacking isolated words: it's about weaving networks. By grouping words by semantic fields (the sea, cooking, professions, emotions...), we exploit the way the brain naturally organizes language. Result: words are better memorized and come back more easily when speaking.
For children, the goal is to expand both active vocabulary (the words they use) and passive vocabulary (those they understand). For adults recovering after a Stroke, it is often about reopening access to words that seem "stuck" on the tip of the tongue. Definition games, riddles, synonyms, and antonyms simultaneously develop precision, mental flexibility, and richness of expression. All these exercises work both orally and in writing, at the table, in the car, or in the waiting room.
Word fields
🔁 The riddle game
➕ Other vocabulary exercises to try
- "Neither yes nor no": answer questions without ever saying yes or no, to find workarounds.
- The merchant game: "I'm going to the market and I buy...", each repeats the list and adds a word.
- Synonyms & antonyms: "Find another word for happy / the opposite of fast".
- Word families: starting from "earth" → terrain, terrace, land, underground...
- The mystery word: make someone guess a word by giving three increasingly precise clues.
- The odd one out: in "apple, pear, carrot, cherry", which one doesn't belong and why?
👶 Child version🧑 Adult version4. Comprehension and oral expression
Understanding a message, then reproducing it in one's own words, involves a chain of processes: decoding sounds, accessing the meaning of words, analyzing the sentence, and constructing an overall representation. In children, comprehension is developed through increasingly long and complex instructions; in brain-injured adults, each link in this chain is retrained.
On the expression side, the rule is to encourage speaking: open prompts ("tell me...", "explain how...") are favored over closed questions that only require a yes or no. Narration from sequential images is particularly rich: it works on the logical order of events, the structure of the story (situation, triggering event, resolution), and the connectors "first, then, next, finally" that give coherence to the discourse.
I read, I understand, I tell
Saturday morning, Paul accompanies his grandmother to the market. The weather is nice and the stalls are overflowing with colorful fruits. Grandmother first buys bright red tomatoes, then a large melon which she lets Paul smell. At the cheese stand, Paul chooses a piece of comté, his favorite. Before heading home, they stop at the florist: grandmother gives Paul a bouquet of sunflowers for his mom. On the way back, the basket is so heavy that Paul carries it with both hands.
🗣️ Tell the story with: first... then... next... finally...
➕ Other comprehension exercises to try
- Chain instructions: "Clap your hands, go to the door, then turn on the light" — add a step with each success.
- "Simon says": only execute the instruction if the phrase is spoken — fine listening and inhibition.
- Sequential images: put 3 or 4 images in order and tell the story.
- Summarize a cartoon or an episode just watched, in three sentences.
- "Who am I?": guess a character or animal from its description.
- Logical riddles: "I am yellow, you peel me and the monkey loves me. Who am I?"
5. Reading: sounds, syllables, and rhymes
Reading relies on two complementary paths: the phonological path, which assembles sounds to decipher a new word, and the lexical path, which recognizes known words at a glance. Good rehabilitation develops both in a balanced way. Upstream, everything depends on phonological awareness: the ability to perceive and manipulate the sounds of the language.
We always start orally, even before showing the letters: breaking a word into syllables by clapping hands, identifying rhymes, finding the repeating sound. These games, which can be played in the car or in a queue, directly prepare for learning to read. Then comes decoding (associating a sound with a letter), followed by fluency, which is improved by repeatedly reading the same text presented as a challenge ("beat your time", "make fewer mistakes than yesterday").
Syllables & rhymes
👏 Count the syllables (one clap per syllable)
🔗 Circle the word that rhymes with the word on the left
| Word | Choice 1 | Choice 2 | Choice 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAT | APPLE | RAT | BOOK |
| MOON | SUN | PLUM | CLOUD |
| BOAT | CASTLE | CAR | BRANCH |
| RABBIT | CARROT | PINE | HEN |
➕ Other reading exercises to try
- The sound bingo: match each image to the card that starts with the same sound.
- The syllable dominoes: connect "MA" + "SON" to reconstruct a word.
- The letter hunt: circle all the "a" letters in a text as quickly as possible.
- Word searches adapted to age, to reinforce visual word recognition.
- Timed repeated reading: reread the same short text 3 times and improve your time.
- Read-aloud: the parent reads aloud to preserve the pleasure of the story, even in case of difficulty.
6. Writing and graphic gesture
Writing simultaneously engages the body (fine motor skills of the hand), the brain (spelling memory), and language. We always prepare the hand before the letter: pinching games, handling small objects, finger gymnastics. Then we draw the basic large shapes — loops, bridges, waves — first in very large format (board, A3 sheet), before gradually reducing to notebook size.
For spelling, the multisensory method "see – say – write" is extremely effective: look at the word, spell it out loud, hide it, write it from memory, then check letter by letter. It engages multiple channels at once and firmly anchors the word's form. Creative dictations, where the child dictates their own story, finally turn an often-dreaded exercise into a moment of pleasure.
I prepare my hand to write
✏️ The loops
✏️ The bridges
✏️ The waves
👀 See – say – write
HOUSE → BOAT →
➕ Other writing exercises to try
- Write in sand or semolina: trace the letters with your finger, without the stress of making a "mistake".
- Letters in modeling clay: make the shape of the letters to better memorize them.
- The treasure tongs: grab beads or pom-poms with tongs to strengthen the fingers.
- The silent dictation: write the name of images under each drawing.
- Active copying: read a word, hide it, write it — rather than copying letter by letter.
- Rough letters (sandpaper): follow the trace with your finger, eyes closed.
Integrate exercises into everyday life
The most effective exercises are often those that go unnoticed because they are blended into daily life. This "ecological" approach avoids the impression of an additional chore and promotes the natural transfer of skills. Some key moments to exploit:
- Meals: describe the food (color, taste, texture), recount your day, take turns speaking.
- Car journeys: nursery rhymes, riddles, word games, "yes or no" — without support, the ear works alone.
- Bedtime: recount the day's story in order, or invent a sequel to a tale.
- Household activities: sort groceries by category, follow a recipe step by step, name each gesture.
- Outings: the market, the zoo, the museum become mines of new vocabulary to reuse later.
Establishing small language rituals (morning weather in precise vocabulary, weekend story in the future tense) anchors these habits effortlessly and makes progress continuous.
The role of relatives and collaboration with the speech therapist
At home, the parent or caregiver becomes a true co-therapist. Their attitude matters as much as the exercise itself: valuing efforts, positively rephrasing errors rather than correcting them harshly, and maintaining realistic expectations adapted to each person's pace. The playful aspect should always take precedence over performance: a child who has fun returns, a child who fails gets discouraged.
For this work to bear fruit, consistency with the speech therapist is essential. Keep a small logbook of activities performed, successes, and obstacles: it facilitates exchanges during sessions and allows for program adjustments. A communication notebook or a session tracking sheet usefully structures this communication. And before starting, a free online cognitive test (memory, executive functions, communication profile) helps identify the areas to prioritize.
Extend each exercise with the right application
Each sheet also exists as a game, with difficulty adapting to the patient and progress tracking. Depending on age and need, the application changes:
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See the offer for speech therapists →Frequently Asked Questions
How to download a sheet in PDF?
Click on "🖨 Print this sheet" at the top of each sheet, then choose "Save as PDF" as the printer. The sheet is on your computer in seconds, with no registration or email required.
How much time per day should be dedicated to exercises?
10-15 minutes for 3-6 years, 15-20 minutes for 6-12 years, 20-30 minutes for teenagers and adults. Daily regularity always takes precedence over duration: better a little every day.
Do these exercises replace speech therapy?
No, never. They are a valuable complement between sessions, or a support for families waiting for an appointment. The evaluation and diagnosis by a speech therapist remain essential.
How to know if an exercise is too easy or too difficult?
Aim for a success rate between 70 and 85%. Above that, the exercise no longer provides progress; below 50%, it discourages. Adjust the difficulty or change the medium accordingly.
Are these exercises suitable after a Stroke?
Yes. Brain plasticity allows for significant recovery, and daily stimulation greatly contributes to it. Adapt the level (short sequences, regularity) to the patient's abilities and prioritize telecare with JOE for remote monitoring.
What to do if the person refuses to do the exercises?
Never force: refusal always has a cause (fatigue, boredom, fear of failure). Change the time of day, vary the media, or do the exercise together. Sometimes, simply turning the activity into a game can unlock the situation.
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