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Children’s Books for Speech Therapy: The Ultimate List

If you are a speech-language pathologist searching for the best children’s books for speech therapy, check out this blog post! Using books during speech therapy sessions provide a fun way to target articulation and language goals. This article explains why SLPs might use children’s books in speech therapy. Additionally, it provides suggestions for how to use books in speech therapy, as well as suggestions for actual books that target a variety of speech and language skills. There are books listed by target speech sound. Additionally, there are book suggestions for vocabulary development, story retell, sequencing, spatial concepts, wordless picture books, imitating actions, gestures, and sounds, and books that promote diversity and inclusion. Finally, this blog post provides links to 5 websites that SLPs or other educators might use to access free digital libraries. 

This post contains affiliate links, which means we could receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended.

Why Speech Pathologists Use Children’s Books in Speech Therapy

Books are such a wonderful tool to use with children who have language delays. In fact, shared book reading has been found to have a  positive impact on receptive and expressive language skills . 

When we read books aloud to children, we are exposing them to a ton of new vocabulary that they wouldn’t typically hear in conversation! The more exposure and direct instruction children have to new vocabulary words ( especially  tier II vocabulary words), the better! Think about it: how often would your students hear the word ‘huddle’ in their day to day? But exposure to new vocabulary will also help increase literacy skills!  SLPs also know how important vocabulary instruction is, and that it needs to be interactive and fun. Students have to be able to do more than spit out definitions. They need to actually make connections between words and their meanings .

In addition to encouraging vocabulary development, books also provide a wonderful way to increase narrative skills. Skills like retelling stories, summarizing, and sequencing can be directly taught through appropriate children’s books.

Books can also be a fantastic tool for targeting comprehension goals. 

Speech sound targets can be addressed using books as well during speech therapy sessions.

Finally, books provide a fun way to keep kids engaged during speech therapy sessions. 

How To Use Books in a Speech Therapy Session

It’s easy to incorporate books in a speech therapy session! Engaging stories encourage language learning. Children’s books are a wonderful way to target a variety of speech and language objectives.  

Here are some ideas that school SLPs could try during therapy sessions in academic settings or outpatient speech therapy:

• Identify tier II vocabulary in the book. Discuss the definitions of unknown vocabulary terms both before, and during, a story read-aloud. Have the students write target vocabulary words on index cards, and draw pictures or write sentences to pair with that definition.
• Incorporate the strategy of dialogic reading into your story read-aloud. 
• Find any target word that pairs with a specific speech sound. Write those words on a dry-erase board while reading, then review them after the story read aloud.
• Discuss any figurative language while reading a story aloud.
• Sort pictures related to the book into different categories. For example, if reading The Little Blue Truck, one might sort farm animal pictures and vehicle pictures into separate piles.
• Answer comprehension questions about the story.
• Review the story grammar elements using a graphic organizer (plot, setting, point of view, characters, and conflict). 
• Have students retell the story using their own words. Provide a list of transition words to help them out. 
• Describe story characters or objects using a multisensory tool, such as the Expanding Expression Toolkit. 

The Best Children’s Books for Speech Sounds and Articulation Therapy

Did you know that children with  speech sound disorders sometimes struggle with storytelling? That can be an issue because storytelling and reading success go hand in hand ! 

SLPs can incorporate literacy into speech therapy sessions while targeting articulation. There are too many book options to list! 

The best part is that, typically, you can use (almost) any book of your choice to target any speech sound. If the text doesn’t directly state words with the target sound, then we describe what we see in the picture using our target sound. 

Still, it can be super nice to have a set of books that target specific speech sounds in your therapy room. Check out the following books for articulation therapy:

P Sound-Loaded Books

“Peek a Who” by Nina Laden

“The Pout-Pout Fish” by Deborah Diesen

“Pig the Pug” by Aaron Blabey 

B Sound-Loaded Books

“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

“Bear Snores On” by Karma Wilson

T Sound-Loaded Books

“The Tiptoeing Tiger” by Philippa Leathers

“Ten Apples Up on Top!” by Dr. Seuss

D Sound-Loaded Books

“Five Little Ducks” by Raffi

“Dinosaur Dig” by Penny Dale

K Sound-Loaded Books

“Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type” by Doreen Cronin

“Whose Chick Are You?” by Nancy Tafuri 

G Sound-Loaded Books

“Giggle, Giggle, Quack” by Doreen Cronin

“Gooey Gummy Geese” by Angela Holzer

F Sound-Loaded Books

“The Foot Book” by Dr. Seuss

“Hooray for Fish” by Lucy Cousins

TH Sound-Loaded Books

“The Tooth Book” by Dr. Seuss

“The Mighty Thor” by Billy Wrecks

S Sound-Loaded Books

“The Seals on the Bus” by Lenny Hort

“Silly Sally” by Audrey Wood

S-Blend Sound-Loaded Books

“Sneezy the Snowman” by Maureen Wright

“There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Spoon” by Lucille Colandro

“The Snail and the Whale” by Julia Donaldson

SH Sound-Loaded Books

“Sheep in a Jeep” by Nancy Shaw

“Sheep Blast Off!” by Nancy Shaw

“Sheep in a Shop” by Nancy Shaw

CH Sound-Loaded Books

“Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

J (DJ) Sound-Loaded Books

“Giraffes Can’t Dance” by Giles Andreae

“Jump” by Scott M. Fisher

R and R Blend Sound-Loaded Books

“Raccoon on His Own” by Jim Arnosky

“Room on the Broom” by Julia Donaldson

L and L Blend Sound-Loaded Books

“Llama Llama Red Pajama” by Anna Dewdney

“There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” by Lucille Colandro  

Top Childrens Books for Vocabulary Development

Books can provide engaging ways to target vocabulary knowledge and depth.

Have you checked out the ‘Bear’ series by Karma Wilson? If you haven’t, you absolutely need to!

Karma Wilson is one of my favorite children’s book authors. These are the best books for working on vocabulary development! This is because tier II vocabulary words are included in these engaging books for younger students! Tier II vocabulary words are high-frequency words that are important to target during your speech therapy session. Tier II vocabulary words are not super common in everyday conversations, but are not as specific as content-area vocabulary.

One of the best books in the ‘Bear’ series is  Bear Feels Scared , but check out any that you see!  Some tier II vocabulary words in “Bear Feels Scared” include “scared”, “huddle”, “tremble”, “quake”, “shiver” and “worry”.  Check out this blog post to learn how to target learning new vocabulary in speech therapy . 

Another great Karma Wilson book is “ Bear Wants More “. Some tier II vocabulary words that a speech therapist could target during a speech and language session might include “ravenous”, “wriggle”, “gobble”, “drowsy”, “gorge”, and “sniff”. 

Best Story Retell Children’s Books

Little Blue Truck  is a classic book featuring a friendly blue truck and different animals that share in his adventure. In this story, Little Blue takes the time to be a friend to many farm animals and help others out (including a grumpy dump truck). Little kids find the illustrations and rhyming lines enchanting! Repetitive books are fun, as your students can help repeat lines as the story goes on. This book is a fun way to work on narrative sequence and animal sounds! 

Tomie DePaola is another children’s author to check out. My favorite is  The Knight and The Dragon . This book is really fun for obtaining language samples because although there are words, there are many pages that are illustrations-only and encourage children to talk about the story! The best part about this story is the unlikely best friends that pair up in the end! 

P.S. Want to learn how to best  assess preschool narrative skills ? Some research indicates that interactive conversations with your younger students are the preferred way to do this! 

My Favorite Children’s Books for Spatial Concepts 

A speech language pathologist will want to try reading  “Where’s Spot?”  by Eric Hill when targeting spatial concepts. This book is engaging for younger learners working on early language development. The book contains a lift-the-flap component to keep kids interested! 

Rosie’s Walk  by Pat Hutchins is a great book for teaching prepositions to younger children. In this story, a hen goes for a walk while being trailed by a sneaky fox! There are tons of opportunities for discussing spatial vocabulary during a speech therapy session while looking at the pictures in this book! 

An additional children’s book that targets spatial concepts (prepositions) using colorful dogs is the classic book  Go, Dog. Go!  by P.D. Eastman . And since children of all ages love animals, a good dog book is always a win in speech therapy! 

Wordless Picture Books for Speech Therapy

Want to try using some wordless picture books? These provide a perfect way to target all sorts of objectives in articulation and language therapy! 

One of my favorite wordless picture books is  Chalk by Bill Thompson . Students can help tell the story while looking at the different pictures. Your students can practice using target words in a variety of sentence structures. Try writing a target word, like a conjunction, on a sticky note. Stick it onto a page and see if your student can come up with a sentence to describe the picture using that target word. 

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney is another fantastic option. It includes beautifully-drawn illustrations. This story tells the tale of a lion who spares a mouse. The mouse then goes on to help free the lion later in the story. 

Another wordless picture book series is the Wimmelbooks. There are no words, but each page has a TON of exciting action and characters. Younger students could simply label action words. Older students can follow characters from page to page and tell a story. Check out  My Big Wimmelbook: Dinosaurs  or  My Big Wimmelbook- Cars and Things That Go . 

Books for Imitating Actions, Gestures, Sounds, and Exclamations

SLPs know how  gesture development is an important precursor to language development ! That’s why it’s important to incorporate imitating gestures into your therapy session. 

I love the simple illustrations in the Leslie Patricelli board books that are just so engaging for my younger students! These are wonderful, quick books for working on expressive language or a speech disorder. Though advertised as toddler books, my younger preschoolers still loved them! These were wonderful books for my preschool students with special needs. I paired them with gestures and exclamations. Check out the silly book  Yummy, Yucky  to get started. Your students can imitate a thumbs up, or thumbs down gesture, and practice exclamations like “ewww!” 

Hoping to try books written by SLP authors? One great pick is  The Big Book of Exclamations , written by Teri Kaminski Peterson and Chris McAllister. Bonus- they’ve also written a part two ( Talk with Me! The Big Book of Exclamations 2 ). Young children will be engaged by this interactive book, and it’s easy to modify language modeling based on a child’s ability. 

Dear Zoo   is such a great book and another classic! It is sturdy and contains interactive, “lift the flap” features. Work on labeling animals, animal sounds, and other language or imitation skills. This board book will be a favorite for young children.

Top Children’s Speech Therapy Books for Sequencing

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  This is a classic book by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle that a speech therapist might try out in therapy! The unique illustrations and engaging rhythm are very appealing to young children.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar  by Eric Carle is a wonderful way to discuss the life cycles of butterflies! The beautiful transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is very enchanting for children to see, and the illustrations are a hit. If you happen to own a felt board,   check out these Very Hungry Caterpillar felt board pieces  that can be paired with the story. This book provides a great way to work on vocabulary, sequencing, and more! 

Another personal favorite is  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie  by Laura Numeroff . In fact, my SLP coworkers and I even dressed up as characters from the Laura Numeroff book series one year at Halloween! This is a classic story that is fun and engaging and can easily be used to address sequencing skills. 

The Mitten by Jan Brett is another great children’s book that can be used to target sequence of events! Nicki loses his mitten in the snow, but many grateful animals soon snuggle inside to stay warm.

The Best Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

Are you wanting to use interactive books in speech therapy? My favorite books, both written by Bill Cotter, include  Don’t Push the Button!  and  Don’t Push the Button: A Halloween Treat!   These fun books will have your students shaking the book, pushing buttons, and shouting when instructed- and of course, they’ll be giggling the entire time! 

Another fun interactive book option that speech language pathologists could recommend that parents try at bedtime is  Touch the Brightest Star  by Christie Matheson . 

Best Children’s Books for Speech Therapy that Promote Diversity and Inclusion

Check out   Max and the Tag-Along Moon  by Floyd Cooper ! This is a comforting story about a little boy and his grandpa. The swervy-curvy car ride home and the beautiful text and illustrations will make this story a favorite in your speech therapy room! 

The children’s book  Last Stop on Market Street  by Matt de la Peña is absolutely worth checking out! In this story, a boy and his grandmother take a bus ride after church through a busy city. Along the way, he meets many diverse people. At his final stop, his grandmother encourages him to see the beauty in his surroundings. 

All Are Welcome  by Alexandra Penfold is a wonderful book where children from all backgrounds go to a school that promotes love and inclusion. It promotes being kind to all, despite our differences. 

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales has the most beautiful illustrations! This is the inspiring true story of the author who immigrated to the United States with her son. They had to be resilent and faced times of confusion and lonliness in a new country. They discovered the public library and an enthusiastic love for books and reading, which allowed them to have hope and finally feel at home.

Best Books for Upper Elementary

In case you missed it, I reviewed my f avorite books for upper elementary students in a previous post . In that post, I provided suggestions for how to use books in speech therapy with older students. I also provided a list of my absolute favorite books to use with 4th and 5th graders. Make sure to check it out! 

5 Websites with Free Digital Libraries for SLPs and Educators

Although I always prefer a hard copy of a book if possible, it doesn’t hurt to know how to access a digital copy! This is especially important for a busy speech pathologist who travels between buildings.

Here are a list of websites or apps that school SLPs and educators might wish to check out for free digital copies of books:

• Open Library is one possible option for SLPs or other educators ( https://openlibrary.org/ )
• Project Gutenberg has a library of over 70,000 free e-books! ( https://www.gutenberg.org/ )
• Check out Storyline Online, which features videos with well-known actors reading stories aloud ( https://www.storylineonline.net/ )
• Epic! is a must-check out digital library site that is free for educators! ( https://www.getepic.com/ )
• Check out Bookshare, a federally-funded library of ebooks that is FREE for educators! ( https://www.bookshare.org/ )

Incorporating Yoga and Children’s Books into Speech Therapy Sessions

Speech pathologists can pair this yoga mat book companion with any book. It’s the perfect way to target story retell and story elements!

First, your student will listen to the story. Then, he will identify the characters, setting, and problem. He will additionally describe events in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Finally, your student will explain the solution to the problem and identify any lessons learned from the story.

After each part of the story retell task, your student will complete a yoga pose!

In summary, Speech-Language Pathologists often use children’s books in speech therapy. Books can provide an engaging way to promote language skills, speech sound skills, and literacy. SLPs might wish to target a variety of speech and language objectives using a book during a speech therapy session.

Scroll up to read a list of suggested books sorted by target goal area for speech therapy. Finally, SLPs might wish to access free digital libraries in addition to reading paper copies of the best children’s books. 

Speech therapists may also wish to read about  the best books for 4th and 5th graders .

Related SLP Articles:

• BEST Books for Speech Therapy: 4th and 5th Grade
• 30 Vocabulary Goals for Speech Therapy (Based on Research)
• 15 Best Speech Therapy Board Games for Younger Students   

Related SLP Resource:

• Yoga Mat Book Companion (for ANY book)

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Books are an amazing tool to help children learn new words and concepts. They provide a context for learning language! But, with so many new titles popping up each day, it can be hard to know which books are the right books— especially when you want to support your child in speech therapy.

This post will give you tips, background info, and suggestions for how to choose good books for your preschooler in speech therapy. It’ll give you insight into how speech therapists choose books for their preschool-aged clients. And, it’ll leave you with a list of titles you can keep in your back pocket.

Quick and painless library trips, here you come!

4 Tips for Choosing Books for Preschoolers in Speech Therapy

In speech and language therapy, we would be strategic about picking a book that supports the specific goals a child is working on, on a topic that child is interested in— so we can keep things light and fun!

#1 Consider Your Preschooler’s Therapy Goals

Preschoolers in speech therapy have a wide variety of abilities. Some may be working on first words, some may be working on more advanced use of social language, and everything in between! So, it’s important to understand what their goals are to help you know what they could use practice with.

Good books for preschool speech therapy families are ones that reinforce the goals preschoolers work towards in speech therapy. So, the first step to choosing great books is to make sure you’re familiar with those goals. And, so many books could fit the bill! For example, if your child’s goal is to improve their ability to answer questions, you could work on that with pretty much any picture book.

The goals your speech-language pathologist (SLP) sets for your child will be individualized and SMART : specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. And, they’ll be based on your child’s speech assessment. 

You’ll be involved in this process for your own preschooler, so you should be clear on their goals from the start. But, if for any reason you’re not, just speak with your SLP. They’ll love that you want to be in the loop and that you want to keep working on speech at home!

Keeping in mind that your child’s speech therapy goals will be very specific to them and their needs, and that every child is different, some common goals preschoolers work on in general are:

Increasing attention span

Understanding directions

Increasing vocabulary 

Beginning to speak in longer sentences

Expanding play skills

Saying specific speech sounds correctly  

Taking turns during conversations

Learning to understand that others’ perspectives

#2 Lean Into Their Interests

Just like for us adults, it’s so much easier for your preschooler to learn about things they’re interested in. If they love trucks, read books about trucks! Variety is great, but there’s no need to force it.

#3 Make Reading Fun!

Our number one goal is to keep reading and communication fun. If our children start to feel like it’s a chore or a test, they’ll inevitably lose interest quicker. It’s okay to incorporate a toy, let them wiggle and play, or to not read every word on the page if it makes reading more enjoyable— for them and for you!

Related: Tips for Sitting & Reading With A Busy Toddler

#4 Get A Library Card

Whether it’s because you need new books on specific topics, you want a lot of books on hand to encourage variety or exploration, or because you and your child are getting sick of the options you have at home… hit up the library! 

When reading is a priority and a part of your daily routine, you burn through books. And buying new every time you need a refresh gets expensive fast ! The library is a free activity for you and your child. It’s full of options. And, it offers tons of variety.

Great Books for Preschoolers in Speech Therapy

Any book you read with your preschooler and that they enjoy is great for their language development. That said, these are a few of our speech therapy favorites:

My Big Truck Book

If your little one loves things that go, this book is a must! There are endless things to talk about which means they’ll be exposed to a lot of new vocabulary words. It would also be great for practicing speaking in longer phrases and sentences.

With this realistic-yet-whimsical book, your preschooler gets to plan out their day. ‘Today’ is great for working on comprehension, making choices, and responding to questions. And, it’s fun for adults too, because each time you read it’s different!

Cycle City is another book that offers a lot to talk about. It’s about a town full of bike riding animals preparing for a parade. (Sounds random, we know! But we swear it’s super cute.) It’s vibrant, colorful, fun and we discover something new each time we read it.

One thing to consider: Cycle City has a lot going on within each page. If too many things on a page aren’t ideal for your child, this wouldn’t be a good choice.

Maisy First Experiences Book

The Maisy series has simple illustrations and it’s easy for preschoolers to follow along with. Kids seem to really enjoy these animal characters!

Llama Llama Series

We find that the Llama Llama books really catch the attention of my preschool age clients. The catchy, rhythmic quality helps keep them engaged! And, the themes are things that preschoolers can relate to.

The Color Monster

The Color Monster is great for working on social-emotional learning skills, like learning to label your emotions. 

If you’d like more books about social-emotional development, then you’ll love the mini booklist we put together.

Lola Goes to School 

It’s surprisingly hard to find books with pictures of kids as the characters! We love the Lola books — and use them all the time in therapy — for this reason.

Bonus: Books About School

Finally, if you’d like a list of books to help support your preschooler as they transition to preschool or daycare, this list will really help! These books talk about routines and help your preschooler understand what to expect when they go off to school.

Support Language Development With Storytime!

We know books are so powerful when it comes to encouraging language development. So, we created this free storytime video you can play for your toddler at home! Hit start, then sit back while a speech therapist reads a book to your toddler or preschooler, inviting them to join in, take action, and repeat words as they go.

It’s a high-quality, educational screen time option that you’ll love as much as they do. And, it’s totally free!

13+ Best Children’s Books for Speech Therapy

Today I am beyond excited to share my latest blog post outlining a few of my favorite children’s books for speech therapy. 

Plus learn a fun way a Speech-Language Pathologist could use one of these great books in their next speech therapy sessions to target specific goals. 

In addition, I’ve included digital versions of the following books. **Please be sure to preview the digital versions of the books prior to reading or watching with your child or student. I have previewed all the videos myself, but you know your child or student best and your/their comfort levels with different words or detailed illustrations.**

Children’s Books for Speech Therapy

Here is a list of over 13 of the best children’s books for speech therapy that are perfect for a Speech Language Pathologist or parent looking for a fun and engaged way of working on different speech sounds and language goals.

Be sure to check out the additional growing list of great activities at the bottom of this page and add some of these children’s books for speech therapy to your school supplies list this year.

1. Bear Snores On

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman is one of those favorite books of young readers that is all about a bear who sleeps through the long winter while his friends join him inside his cave inorder to find safety during a winter storm. 

BONUS: If you like these types of books then it would be worth it to check out the new books in this bear series. There are a lot of books perfect for adding to your book collection. Such as the following books: Bear’s New Friend, Bear Can’t Sleep, Bear Stays Up for Christmas, Bear Feels Scared, Bear Feels Sick, Bear’s Loose Tooth.

Articulation: 

• S- Blends- snores, sleeps, stays

Language Skills

• Sequencing – Read this book and have your stores retell the order of animals that come into the bear’s den while he is asleep to practice sequencing and order.
• Vocabulary – This book has some great elementary vocabulary. Have students describe the words heap, slurp, scuttles, tunnel up, flutter, mutter, twitter, clutter, den, lair, cave, woods, winter, and bear.
• What does bear feel like in the winter?
• What do you think bear is thinking when he wakes up? 
• What do you think bear feels when he wakes up? How do you know?
• How do the other animals feel when bear sneezes and why?
• What do you think will happen when mouse starts the fire?
• What do you think the hare will do?
• What do you think badger will do with mouse and hare?
• Do you think the animals will wake bear up?
• Who do you think will wake bear up?
• How do you think the animals will make bear feel better?
• What animal was sleeping?
• What season was it in the story?
• Why was bear sleeping?
• What are the three different animals that go into bears cave?
• What food did the animals eat?

Language Expansion

• Making Requests – A great activity to practice language expansion is to make hot cocoa or chocolate milk with your child or student. Practice correct conversational skills, following directions or have them describe how the drink tastes.

Social Skills

• During this story, bear wakes up and sees that his friends are having fun without him. He feels upset, and then his friends find a way to include him. This is a great situation to discuss with students to increase social skills.

Digital Version:

2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a beautiful story about a caterpillar who eats a variety of different foods before emerging as a butterfly. This book is perfect for students with a language disorder and working on new words, such as hatches, searches, days of the week, names of fruit, and more.

Articulation:

This is a great book to go on a sound hunt using all the pictures in the book! Have your students look and listen for worlds that have a specific sound. Use some of the ideas below to get started!

• /K/ sound – Caterpillar, came, cone, cake, cocoon
• /S/ Blends – started, still, strawberries, slice, stomachache, small, stayed
• /L/ Sound (initial, medial & final)  – light, little, lay, leaf, look, lollipop, caterpillar, watermelon, small, hole, apple

Language Skills:

• Basic Concepts – This book is a great tool to go over basic concepts with your student. Go over descriptive concepts by recounting topics in the book such as big vs little, and all the colors. You could also cover quantity concepts by ordering the days one through five. This book also covers temporal concepts such as days of the week, morning, day and night. 
• Vocabulary – The Hungry Caterpillar is a book filled with some great vocabulary practice words. Here are some ideas: Chrysalis, butterfly, nibbled, cocoon, metamorphosis, larva, pupa, hatch, emergy, wiggle, slice, hungry and the days of the week. 
• Grammar – Practice grammar with this story as well! Target the present and past tense verbs as you read. Also practice marking the plural nouns that are read. Have your students practice the verb actions they see in the pictures. 
• Sequencing – This is a great story to practice sequencing with. Have students retell the story while focusing on sequencing concepts such as first, then, next, when, after, last. You can also have your students sequence the order of foods the caterpillar ate. (EXAMPLE: First he ate an apple. Second he ate two pears etc). Another idea is to sequence the days of the week. (EXAMPLE: Mon – 1 apple, Tuesday – 2 pears, Wed – 3 plums etc)
• Describing – This book has some amazing illustrations that are great for providing description practice. Have your students describe a caterpillar vs a butterfly. You could also prompt your students to describe the different food in this story. Turn it into a taste testing activity and describe different fruits as juicy, sour, sweet, crunchy, the color, size and shape, or the category of food. 
• Past Tense Verbs – This story uses many irregular past tense verbs such as lay, came, ate, was, felt, built and some irregular past tense verbs such as stayed, called and started.
• Show me the butterfly and tell me your favorite color on it.
• Count the number of holes on the leaf and then turn the page.
• Point to a red piece of fruit, and then touch the orange.
• Put your finger onto the caterpillar and then slide your finger toward the sun.
• Put a finger onto the egg and tap your thumb on the moon.
• Who is this book about?
• Where is the egg on this page?
• What happened to the caterpillar when he ate all the food and then the green leaf?
• What is a caterpillar’s small home called?
• What did the caterpillar in the story turn into? 
• 2 Syllable – morning, tiny, cocoon, apple, hungry
• 3 Syllable – lollipop, butterfly, chocolate, strawberry
• 4 Syllable – Caterpillar, watermelon, stomachache
• Opposites – There are lots of opposites in this story! Look for these as you read – moon/sun, caterpillar/butterfly, junk food/healthy food, skinny/plump, small/big, and hungry/full.
• Category Ideas – Practice language expansion skills by practicing categories with your students. After reading the book, practice sorting fruits, vegetables and junk food. You could look at what the caterpillar eats and sort food vs insects. This is a great bridge into a quick discussion on if the food eaten was healthy food or junk food. 
• Comparing and Contrasting – As you read through this story, compare and contrast the food. Discuss with your students how two foods are the same and different (EXAMPLE: Both the strawberry and apple are red, but a strawberry is soft and an apple is crunchy.)

3. Happy to Be Me

Happy to Be Me by Emma Dodd is a great way to work on identifying different body parts which are functional words that might be some of your students’ first words. The story goes through each body part and thanks each of them for the amazing things that they help us do. Plus the best part is the book teaches our students to celebrate what makes them, them!

Practice TH Articulation with the “Thank You” repetition in this story.

Language Skills: 

• Body Part Vocabulary – Use this story to go over the following body parts: mouth, toes, thumbs and fingers, hands, ears, eyes, head, nose, tongue, legs, lips, teeth
• Rhyming – Practice rhyming with your student and highlight the multiple rhymes in the story as well: wiggle/giggle, to/you, hold/told, smell/well, lap/nap, chew/you, above/love.

4. Press Here

Press Here by Herve Tullet is one of those favorite interactive books that many Speech Pathologists love to use when working in the schools and is a huge hit with younger children. This is a silly book filled with verbs allowing your child to work on their language development by following directions of the action given, such as press here and then making more dots appear on the next page. 

• Colors – This book is great for your young children who need a little extra help working on identifying colors. Simply give them a simple direction, such as “Touch the red dot.”
• Following Directions – Read the story and have your student follow the 1-step directions. For example, “blow on the page” or “tap the circle.” Some of the directions do get a little more complex, such as “tap only the yellow circles” or “tilt the book to the left”.
• Basic Concepts – Descriptive Concepts (small, medium, large, colors, gently, hard), Quantity Concepts (counting, all, just, only, more, once, twice), Location Concepts (left, right, middle).
• Vocabulary Action Verbs – shake, tap, blow, rub, turn, tilt, or clap.
• Past Tense Verbs – Have the student retell you what action they or their classmate just took. For example, Sam could say, “Jason just tapped the red dot.”
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your student’s simple questions about what they or their classmate just did. For example, “What color of dot did you just tap?” 
• Predicting – Have the child or student try to predict what will happen before you turn the page. “What do you think will happen next?” My students always loved the fun element of surprise when reading this story.
• Expressive Language – Expressive language is an important skill to work on your student’s communication skills. Start by having your student explain what happened on each page. For example, if you have them tap the red circle 5 times and the next page shows 5 red circles in a line your student could explain that when they tapped the red circle 5 times it made 5 individual circles appear on the following page. 

5. Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is perfect for all of those language therapy goals on your caseload. The repetitive text helps children with speech disorders to anticipate what might come next in the story. 

Articulation

• B Sound – bear, bowl, balloon
• G Sound & G-Blends – goodnight, great, green
• L Sound – little, light, lady, old, telephone, balloon, bowl, full
• M Sound – mitten, mouse, mush, moon, jumping, comb, room
• Vocabulary – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different household items, toys, animals, and clothing. (moon, light, clock, sock, star, bear, chair, red balloon, cow, telephone, mittens, toy house, comb, house, and brush).
• Prepositions – There is a mouse hidden in every picture which is great for working on prepositional phrases.
• Colors – This book is great for your young children working on identifying colors. Simply have them sort the different vocabulary words by color.
• Categorization – As you read the story, have your student category sort the different vocabulary words into one of the following categories, such as toys, clothing, animal, or furniture.

Here are a few additional ideas to expand on the book activity.

• Categorization – Give your child or student a room within their school or their house and have them say night night while naming 3-5 objects within each room. For example, if you give them the kitchen they could say, “night night refrigerator”, “night night oven”, “night night toaster”, etc. 
• Following Directions – If you have a play house or toy animals you could give the student a 1-step or 2-step direction to follow using the toy objects. For example, “put the bear on the chair.” 

6. A Bad Case of Stripes

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon is one of the best books for student’s with a communication disorder working on different perspectives and making inferences. You could have your older students work on interpreting facial expressions and talk about how other people might feel in a given situation. 

• Why do you think Camilla got stripes?
• What do you think will happen when she goes to school?
• What could cure Camilla?
• Why did the old lady give Camilla lima beans?
• Vocabulary – There are some great vocabulary words to target while reading this story! Look for lima beans, examine, normal, experts, therapist, afraid, specialists, multi-colored.
• Sequencing – To practice sequencing, have students sequence the events in order of first, next, then, and last. 

Social Skills:

• Identify Facial Expressions – A good reason to work on facial expressions is that it helps your students interpret how others feel. 

7. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen is perfect if you’re looking for one of those repetitive books that you can use in therapy over and over again. This book follows a family getting out into nature and exploring the world before coming back home.

• B Sound – bed, beautiful, bear, big, back, bedroom, and stumble.
• S-Blends – snowstorm, stairs, splosh, splash, swishy-swashy, stumble, squelch, squelch, and scared. 
• K Sound – cave, covers, catch, can’t, back, dark, and thick.
• W Sound – wavy, wet, we’re, what, whirling, and we.
• Story Retell/Sequencing – Due to the repetitive nature of the book along with a clear sequence of events makes this story a great one for story retelling/sequencing.
• Spatial Concepts – Have the student practice putting the bear, “over”, “under”, “through”, “up”, “down”. You can grab a bear cutout here .
• Descriptive Words/Opposites – As you come across the different descriptive words throughout the text have your students identify the opposites for example, long/short, cold/hot, deep/shallow, wavy/straight, thick/thin, big/little, dark/bright, wet/dry, narrow/wide.
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your students wh-questions. For example, “who is going on a bear hunt?”, “what animal are they hunting?”, “where are they now?”
• Vocabulary – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different nature nouns (snowstorm, bear, mud, cave, grass, river, forest, and trees. You can grab some of these vocabulary words from this Boardmaker Board simply sign in to download your copy here .

This book is filled with different sound effects so here are a few additional ideas to expand on the book activity.

• Sound Effects – Have your child or student act out the different sound effects, such as “splashy river” or “howling snowstorm”.
• Prepositions – Have your child act out the different prepositions (over, under, and through) with hand gestures or have your child on a bear hunt by printing out some bear pictures or grab a couple of stuffed animal bears and hide them around the house. Then have your child tell you where they found the bears. For example, “the bear was under the chair”.

SEE ALSO: 430+ Free Multisyllabic Words List Activity Bundle

8. good dog, carl.

Good Dog, Carl by Alexander Day is perfect if you’re looking for wordless books. Using wordless picture books can be a great first step when introducing using books in therapy. The author has many more favorite wordless picture books. This story follows a dog named Carl who has to babysit while his Mom is away and even though the baby and Carl make a mess Carl is a good dog and makes sure to clear up before his mom comes home. 

(This digital version is 9 min and has a 4-5 min blurb before about how this is a book with very few words, but we can use the pictures to predict, make inferences etc).

• Sequencing – After reading the story, have students practice sequencing by ordering the events from first, next, then and last to show the understand the order of events.
• Describing – Practice describing by prompting your students to retell what is happening in the story.
• Predicting – Throughout the story, there are multiple chances to practice predicting by asking the question, “What might happen next?” 

9. The Little Old Lady That Wasn’t Afraid of Anything

The Little Old Lady That Wasn’t Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams and Megan Lloyd is one of the best children’s books out there. This story follows a little old lady who goes on a walk through the forest looking for herbs, nuts, and seeds and on her way home meets various clothing items that try to scare her, but she keeps telling them that she is not afraid of anything! This book is great for your older children who wouldn’t be afraid of scary clothing items following a lady home. 

BONUS: If you like this story then it would be worth it to check out the different old lady series of books to add to your list of great speech therapy books. Covering the following favorite topics: There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Clover, There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Bell, There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Rose, There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Chick, There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Turkey, etc.

• L Sound – lady, little, left, long, look, locked, old, walk, suddenly, stumbled, whistled, bravely, silly, middle, wiggle, still
• L-Blends – clomp, gloves, sliver, black, clap, closed
• S Sound – seeds, suddenly, so, safe, sat, saw, said, seemed, forest, whispered, whistled, inside, once, nuts, pants, pace, us
• S-Blends – spices, started, stopped, stop, sliver, stumbled, scary, scare
• Z Sound – closed, was, herbs, spices, seeds, shoes, gloves
• R Sound – ran, rocked, afraid, afternoon, forest, orange, early, farther, through, shirt, scary, started, sliver, herbs, dark, whispered, garden, her, far, were, hear, faster, near, door, chair, fire, answer, ear
• T Sound – time, two, talk, tall, afternoon, cottage, started, faster, nuts, pants, startled, brighten, whistled, left, not, went, forest, collect, night, shirt, white, hat, out, quite, fast, sat, quiet, next
• Clothing Vocabulary – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different clothing items (gloves, hat, shoes, pants, shirt).
• Verbs – Have the student retell you what action each clothing item took. For example, “The pants wiggled.” To take it one step further you could have the child act out the action verb.
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your students wh-questions. For example, “Which item goes clap, clap?”, “Why was the old lady in the forest?”, “Where was the old lady headed to after it got dark?”, or “What action does the hat do?”
• Sound Effects – Have your child or student act out the different sound effects, such as “pants wiggling” or “gloves clapping”. (Shoes – stomp your feet, Pants – wiggle your body, Shirt – shake your arms, Hat – nod your head, Gloves – clap your hands).
• Categorization – If you have some play clothes or pictures of clothing items you could have the child practice separating out the clothes into different categories. For example, you could have your child or student identify clothing that fall into summer clothes versus winter clothes. 

SEE ALSO: 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy

10. polar bear, polar bear, what do you hear.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do You Hear by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle is a fun and adaptive book that you can use to work on animal vocabulary, animal sounds, sequencing, and answering wh-questions. This story is similar to Brown Bear, Brown Bear in that each animal introduces the next animal and the sound it makes.

• Vocalic R – roaring, leopard, ear, snorting, snarling, hear, polar bear, boa constrictor, zookeeper
• Initial H – hear, hippopotamus, hissing
• L Sound – lion, leopard, flamingo, elephant, snarling, yelping, walrus, bellowing, whistling, children, growling, polar bear, fluting, 
• Vocabulary Animal Names – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different animals (lion, polar bears, hippo, zebra, snake “boa constrictor”, elephant, peacock, leopard, walrus, and flamingo).
• Symbolic Noises – Have your child identify the different animal sounds as you come across each animal in the story. 
• Answering WH-Questions – Answering the question, “[animal name] what do you hear?”

Here is an additional idea to expand on the book activity.

• Categorization – If you have some play animals you could have the child practice separating out the play animals into the different categories. For example, you could have your child or student identify animals that fall in all three animal categories of pets, farm animals, and zoo animals. 

Digital Version: Ends at 3:45

11. Dear Zoo

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell is one of those highly engaging flap books about a young boy who writes to the zoo asking them to send him a pet. The illustrations along with the lifting of the flaps helps to encourage joint attention in a fun and interactive way.

• B Initial – This book is perfect for working on the b sound, because on every page you send the animal ‘back’ and each animal comes in a ‘box’.
• Basic Concepts – You can have the child or student work on the concepts ‘ open ’ and ‘ close ’ as they use the flaps. In addition, each animal is given a description, such as “the elephant is too big ” or “the giraffe is too tall ” allowing the student to work on even more concepts.
• Answering WH-Questions – This book is perfect for wh-questions. For example, after reading the story together you could ask, “Why couldn’t the boy keep the giraffe for a pet?” The child could then answer, “Because the giraffe is too tall and it couldn’t fit through the front door of my house.”
• Answering Yes/No Questions – As you go through the story you could point to an animal and then ask a yes or no question about that specific animal. For example, you could point to the elephant and ask is an elephant purple?
• Vocabulary – You can have your child or student practice filling in the blanks at the end of the repetitive sentences by naming the animal under the flaps.
• Multisyllabic Words – Another fun activity you could try would be to count or clap out the number of syllables in naming each animal. For example, el-e-phant has 3 syllables.
• Categorization – Categorization is a great vocabulary activity. Have your child or student identify animals that fall in all three animal categories of pets, farm animals, and zoo animals. If you have some play animals you could have the child practice separating out the play animals into the different categories.
• Reasoning Skills – You could also work on reasoning skills by asking your student what their favorite animal is and have them explain why it is their favorite animal.
• Nursery Rhymes – You could even throw in a nursery rhyme, such as Hey, Diddle, Diddle and categorize the animals or make their symbolic noises as well for some extra fun!

12. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst is all about a boy named Alexander who ends up having one thing after another go wrong. However, it might make these very bad days easier when you know it happens to other people as well.

• Why did the author write a story about a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?
• Is there a lesson we can learn from the story?
• Did Alexander behave appropriately?
• Is there any time in the story when he could have behaved differently? Would this have helped make the day better?
• Did he make good choices?
• What did Alexander’s mother say to help him solve his problem?
• Could she have said something that would have helped him solve his problem?
• Sequencing – After reading the story, have students practice sequencing by ordering the events first, next, then, to last.
• What happened to Alexander’s sweater?
• What did Alexander find in his cereal box?
• What number did Alexander skip when counting at school?
• What did Alexander draw in his invisible picture?
• Vocabulary – This story is filled with some great vocabulary practice words such as cereal, sailboat, skateboard, shoestore, downstairs, carsick, crybaby, railroad, undercover, cupcakes

Language Expansion:

For language expansion, carry on from your prediction lesson and predict that Alexander wakes up the next morning to the start of a great day! Have your students write a story about his day. You could also prompt your students to write a story about a terrible, no good, very bad day in their own life. How would their day go badly from waking up to going to bed to fall asleep? Have them title their own story similarly. 

13. Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is a fun and exciting book all about a boy named Max who dresses up in a wolf outfit and pretends to set sail to an island inhabited by Wild Things who end up naming Max king. 

• R Articulation: rolled, roared, room, forest, terrible, around, mother, year, far, supper
• R Blends Articulation: grew, private, through, trick, frightened
• When did Max sail off?
• Who called Max a wild thing first?
• Who did Max threaten to eat?
• Where did Max go in his boat?
• Why did Max’s mother send him to bed?
• What did the wild things do when they saw Max?
• Vocabulary – Practice the following vocabulary words with your students: mischief, private, wild, terrible, claws, frightened, cried, supper, lonely
• Story Retell – After reading the story, have your students retell it in a few sentences to practice retelling.
• Compare and Contrast – Have your students compare and contrast Max to the Wild Things.

SEE ALSO: 179+ Free Speech Therapy Wh Questions Printable

14. The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein follows the main characters a boy and a tree about the gift of giving and the acceptance of another’s ability to love in return. This book is a great read with a great message all about love and acceptance.

• Vocabulary – Review these vocabulary words with your students as you read through this story: love, swing, eat, hide, sleep, play, carry, shake, cut, sail, sit, rest, build, speak
• What do you think Shel Silverstein wanted us to learn from reading this story?
• How did the boy treat the tree throughout the story?
• Why do you think the tree is so giving to the boy?
• What problems were solved for the boy by the tree?
• What could the tree have done differently?
• Did the tree have to give all of herself away?
• Story retell – After reading the story, have your students retell it in a few sentences to practice retelling.
• Compare and Contrast – Compare and contrast the boy vs the tree.

Great Resource List

If you want additional effective tools or resources that go along with these great stories to work on your student’s specific targets then be sure to check out the following freebies.

If you need other children’s speech therapy book lists then you will want to check out my complete list of 15+ interactive books for speech therapy .

Little Kids

Here are a few different ways to work on your child’s ability to retell past events using these fun visuals. 

• Sequencing and Retelling Short Stories FREEBIE by Speech Language Lady is a great short story for story to read and then practice retelling in sequential order. Cut and glue the story back into order to practice retelling with your young students.
• The Mitten – Retell a Story by Building a Foundation is a whole retell activity to set that accompanies a short story. Print in color or black and white!
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears Retelling Pictures and Story Cards by Courtney N is a clear, ready to go activity to help teach retelling. This includes free story cards and a pocket chart station to be used with a big group when reading the story.
• Retell Story Hands by Blue SKies with Jennifer White is an activity that uses hands to identify the setting, plot and characters to help students gather details to retell the story.

In Conclusion: Children’s Books for Speech Therapy

We hope you have found this article helpful for finding some awesome children’s books for speech therapy and the best way to use each book within your next therapy session. 

Want Even More Lesson Plans for Speech Therapy?

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• 31 Best Wordless Videos to Teach Problem Solving
• 133+ Categories List for Speech Therapy

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30 Picture Books for Early Intervention Speech Therapy

11/20/2023 by Jenna Leave a Comment

In early intervention speech therapy, picture books serve as invaluable resources to support language development and enhance communication skills in young children. Incorporating picture books for early intervention speech therapy can enhance language development, improve communication skills and create an engaging learning experience. Each book on the list below has been carefully selected to target specific speech and language goals, making them valuable resources for speech therapists working with early intervention children.

Why Use Books in Speech Therapy?

As stated above, books are powerful tools in speech and language therapy, offering numerous benefits for children undergoing intervention. Incorporating picture books into therapy sessions can enhance language development, improve communication skills and create an engaging learning experience. In addition, incorporating books when targeting speech and language skills helps with the following things:

Promoting Language and Vocabulary Development:

Books expose children to a rich variety of words, expanding their vocabulary and language comprehension. By reading aloud and discussing the story, SLPs can introduce new words, reinforce concepts and encourage expressive language skills.

Enhancing Storytelling and Narrative Skills:

Engaging with books nurtures storytelling abilities and narrative skills in children. As they follow the plot and characters, they learn about story structure, sequencing and cause-and-effect relationships. These things are essential for effective communication.

Stimulating Imagination and Creativity:

Books transport children to imaginative worlds, fostering creativity and critical thinking. They encourage children to visualize and describe scenes, characters and events, promoting expressive language and descriptive skills.

What is Early Intervention in Speech Therapy?

Early intervention in speech therapy refers to the proactive approach of addressing speech and language difficulties in young children as soon as they are identified. Early intervention aims to support and enhance a child’s communication skills during those critical early developmental stages of their life.

Early intervention speech therapy typically targets children from birth to around three years of age. During this critical developmental period, speech therapists work with infants and toddlers who may be exhibiting speech and language delays or disorders. Early intervention aims to address these challenges as early as possible to support the child’s communication skills and maximize their developmental potential. By recognizing these challenges at a young age, speech therapists can implement targeted strategies to address them promptly, leading to improved speech and language outcomes.

At this age, families are active participants in the therapeutic process. Speech therapists collaborate with parents and caregivers to create individualized treatment plans that can be integrated into daily routines, maximizing the child’s progress.

30 Picture Books for Early Intervention Speech Therapy:

{This post contains affiliate links. It does not mean that you pay any more for the item, it simply means that I receive a small commission if you purchase from the link for researching it for you. Thanks so much for supporting my blog!}

Interactive Books:

Books that encourage touch and interaction provide valuable opportunities to increase attention, promote vocabulary development and engage the senses. These interactive books are ideal for early intervention speech therapy sessions:

• All Better – This interactive book features reusable bandages and stickers, allowing children to engage in pretend play while learning about body parts and emotions.
• Hats Off – With colorful hats that children can remove and place back on the characters, this book supports vocabulary development, turn-taking and fine motor skills.
• Poke-a-Dot Books – These books incorporate satisfying tactile experiences, such as popping bubbles or pushing buttons, to engage children and reinforce counting, colors and animal names.
• Flap Books like “Where’s Spot” – Lift-the-flap books like this one encourage anticipation, fine motor skills and vocabulary expansion as children search for the hidden character.
• Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? – This interactive book prompts children to find body parts and supports early language skills, body awareness and vocabulary development.
• Little Bear Needs Glasses” – With movable glasses that children can place on the character, this book introduces the concept of vision correction and promotes discussion around emotions and empathy.
• Happy Birthday Touch and Feel – This book incorporates textures and sensory elements to celebrate birthdays, encouraging descriptive language, vocabulary and tactile exploration.
• That’s Not My Puppy – With touch-and-feel elements on every page, this book stimulates sensory exploration, descriptive language and texture recognition.
• Baby Faces, Peekaboo (with mirror) – This book features mirrors and engaging illustrations of baby faces, promoting social interaction, facial expression recognition, and early communication ski

Durable Books:

Durable books are perfect for early intervention speech therapy. They provide sturdy pages that can withstand the handling from this age group. Here are some durable book recommendations:

• Indestructibles: Hello, Farm – Made of a durable material, this book introduces farm animals and supports vocabulary development, animal sounds, and visual engagement.
• Indestructibles: Things that Go! – This durable book features various modes of transportation, fostering language skills, sound imitation, and visual tracking.
• Bath Books: Eric Carle – Waterproof bath books by Eric Carle combine the joy of reading with water play, promoting language development, vocabulary, and water-related concepts.
• Barnyard Bath – This bath book introduces farm animals and their sounds, making bath time an opportunity for learning and language stimulation.

Board Books:

Board books are popular choices in early intervention speech therapy due to their sturdy construction, repetitive text, engaging pictures and potential for incorporating songs. Here are some recommended board books:

• First 100 Words – This board book presents a variety of everyday objects, supporting vocabulary expansion, word-picture association, and early categorization skills.
• My Truck is Stuck – With rhythmic text and vibrant illustrations, this book introduces transportation vocabulary, action words, and engages children in interactive storytelling.
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear – This classic book features repetitive text and vibrant illustrations, aiding in color recognition, animal names, and developing early sentence structures.
• Moo, Baa, La La -Through rhythmic text and animal sounds, this book promotes sound imitation, expressive language skills, and engages children in interactive participation
• Barnyard Dance – With lively illustrations and catchy rhymes, this book encourages movement, imitation, and vocabulary related to farm animals and actions.
• From Head to Toe – This interactive book invites children to mimic various animal movements, promoting body awareness, motor skills, and expressive language.
• Giraffes Can’t Dance – This heartwarming story celebrates individuality, rhythm, and self-expression, fostering social-emotional skills, vocabulary, and storytelling.
• Goodnight, Construction Site – This book features construction vehicles winding down for the night, introducing vocabulary related to construction, bedtime routines, and sequencing.

• Going on a Bear Hunt – With repetitive text and engaging illustrations, this book encourages participation, sound imitation, and storytelling while going on an exciting adventure.
• Goodnight Gorilla – This wordless book invites children to create their own narratives, promote observational skills, inferencing, and engage in expressive language.
• Are You My Mother? – This classic tale follows a baby bird’s search for its mother, supporting vocabulary, descriptive language, and storytelling skills.
• Dear Zoo – Through lift-the-flap elements, this book introduces various animals and their characteristics, fostering vocabulary, animal names, and descriptive language.
• Snuggle Puppy – With its playful rhymes and endearing illustrations, this book encourages engagement, emotional expression, and bonding experiences.
• Little Blue Truck – This book emphasizes kindness, friendship, and vehicle vocabulary, promoting social skills, sound imitation, and interactive storytelling. Check out 7 speech skills to target with this Little Blue Truck sensory bin.
• Yes, Yes, No, No – This board book explores opposites, gestures, and emotions, supporting expressive language, concept development, and early communication skills.
• I Went Walking – Through repetitive text and vibrant illustrations, this book introduces animals, colors, and action words, fostering vocabulary expansion and sequencing skills.
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a beloved board book that follows the journey of a caterpillar as it eats its way through various foods. This classic book promotes vocabulary development, counting, food-related concepts, and sequencing skills.

Want More Picture Book Ideas for Speech Therapy?

Incorporating picture books into early intervention speech therapy sessions provides numerous benefits for children with communication difficulties. By incorporating these picture books into early intervention speech therapy, therapists can foster language growth, stimulate imagination and create a foundation for lifelong learning.

Check Out These Other Picture Book Ideas To Use in Speech Therapy Sessions:

• 5 Wordless Picture Books for SLPs to Use in Speech Evaluations
• The ULTIMATE List of Wordless Picture Books for Speech Therapy
• Picture Books that Feature AAC Users
• 8 Books that Target “WH Questions” for Preschoolers
• 10 Repetitive Picture Books to Use in Speech Therapy
• 10 Favorite Farm Picture Books
• 15 Children’s Books that Feature a Single-Parent Household
• Big List of Picture Books for Older Students
• 15 Best Picture Books for Winter Themed Speech Therapy
• The Best Christmas Books for Speech Therapy
• Top 17 Thanksgiving Books for Speech Therapy You Need to Know
• Fall Picture Books about Leaves
• Children’s Books for St. Patrick’s Day

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Best-Ever Books for Preschool Speech Therapy: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

We just finished up our Five Little Monkeys week with our preschool speech therapy groups.

So much speech and language covered and oodles of enthusiasm!

I pulled out this unit for my Pre-K program, but my kindergarteners saw some of the activities and begged to do them too. (I’ve never met a child who doesn’t love monkeys.) It was perfect for them. My second through fourth graders saw our game and wanted to play too. I love it when that happens, easy planning for me, and engagement galore.

My Favorite Five Little Monkeys Books

Eileen Christelow has written adorable books to illustrate the traditional rhymes and fingerplays, and added more adventures too! You could easily spend two weeks this unit, and there are so many of speech and language goals to target.

My favorite titles are Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree . These books are perfect for preschool speech therapy because they have repetitive text, simple storylines, and adorable illustrations that the children love.

First, we read Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed .

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed starts out with the little monkeys getting ready for bed. They brush their teeth, Mama tucks them in and says goodnight. The little monkeys are supposed to be going to sleep, but as you probably have heard, these mischievous little monkeys start jumping on the bed as soon as Mama leaves the room.

One by one the little monkeys fall off and bump their heads in this countdown song. Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mama makes a call to the doctor each time who admonishes, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” My children just love that the monkeys are naughty.

We use finger puppets for the monkeys.

A felt board set or printables will work. But I have this cute little set of finger puppet monkeys that match the illustrations. It’s By Merrymakers. You can find it at many stores online including Target and Walmart. (I’m not an affiliate, and get no compensation… just want to help you locate it if you like!)

I also have a little “bed” for the monkeys. Truth…you may say  stay away from the teacher giveaway table at school. (“You don’t need more stuff!”) But I scored this! Just saying.

If you don’t have a little bed, you can easily make one for your monkeys.

To make a simple bed, put together a cardboard box, a small soft cushion, and a few dish towels. We take turns making the monkeys jump on our bed. They fall off and get a huge bump on their head of course. Ouch! (But you can elicit a ton of repetitions if you’re working on articulation of two-syllable words, /m/, j, or /k/sounds.

Goals you can target with Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed .

1. Articulation: this rhyme is sound-loaded with initial /m/ and medial K (monkeys, Mama, more), “J” (jumping) for articulation practice. 2. Position concepts on/off. How many monkeys are “on” the bed? Who is off? 3. Verb + ing: jumping. What is she doing? 4. Regular past tense verbs: jumped, bumped, called 5. Irregular past tense verbs: fell 6. Regular plural: monkeys 7. Answering Where? Questions. Use finger puppets or printables to place monkeys in various places and positions. Ask “Where is the monkey?”

More Five Little Monkeys Activities

Review and Story Re-telling

I love being able to review and ask the children to “re-tell” what we did in the last session (or at the beginning of our long session.) Bonus: You get to read the story again. Repeated storybook readings are fabulous for reinforcing vocabulary, setting up children for success in answering questions, and giving them plenty of opportunities for story re-telling.

Wrap up your session by watching this adorable video.

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Super Simple Simple Songs

If you think this was more fun than a barrel of monkeys, you will want to read about Day 2

We couldn’t neglect The Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree. Check out my next post: Monkeyshines in the Speech Room: Adorable Five Little Monkeys Craft and Language Activities . You’ll find a fun craft and a link to another freebie that’s full of monkey business. Sorry, couldn’t help myself, but I think that’s all the “monkey sayings” I can muster for right now.  ( Insert a chuckle and a grin. )

• Read more about: Freebies , Language , Preschool , Storybooks

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A selection of some of the best children’s books for encouraging speech and language development in young children. Use the filter function to search for specific speech and language goals within these books.

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A website dedicated to helping SLPs use PLAY-BASED speech and language therapy so they can save time and have fun!   

My five favourite books for preschool speech therapy.

Books are one of my favorite speech therapy tools for preschoolers because they are full of language, and I can adapt them to suit any student's needs. I love using books that are familiar to students, but I also like to spice things up sometimes and bring less familiar books into my therapy room. Here is a round-up of five of my favorite books that I added to my therapy room this year!

1) OH NO! by Patrick George: This is a wordless picture book with bright and clear pictures. What makes this book unique is the transparency overlay on each page. The child can flip the transparency to change the picture! I love using this book to target predicting, past tense verbs, intonation, answering wh-questions, and early word shapes.

2) Spot the Difference: A great lift the flap book! What makes this book different is that under each flap, there are two images with one difference. This book is perfect for targeting negation and adjectives.

3) Rhyme Crime by Jon Burgerman: This book is one of my all-time favorites for targeting rhyming. The premise of the book is that there is a thief who steals objects and replaces them with a rhyming item. The child can guess what the thief will leave behind. It's such a natural way to work on rhyme production because the rhyme is inherent to the story! Even if the child doesn't guess the item, they are still practicing thinking of rhyming words. The pictures are hilarious and make kids laugh. Children particularly like when the thief replaces a hat on someone's head with a cat!

4) Peck, Peck, Peck by Lucy Cousins : The playful text in this story, combined with the little holes on each page, make this book a huge hit with preschoolers. Kids LOVE poking their fingers in the small holes that the little bird pecks on each page. Final consonant deletion, spatial concepts, past tense verbs, pronoun (I), concepts (many, few, some), and rhyming are all goals that I have targeted using this book.

5) Little People: Let's go to School: I adore all of the Little People books for their diverse representation of people. Each page provides ample opportunity to model language. I have honestly targeted every goal with this story and others in the Little People collection. My favourite goals to target with these stories are vocabulary, verbs, SVO sentences, pronouns, describing, and spatial concepts.

I showcase these books over on my Instagram Page in my "Favorites" Highlight. Feel free to check it out!

Have you used any of these stories in your therapy room? What is your favourite book to read to preschoolers?

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