Winter auditory-speech rehabilitation: effective tasks and games for children

Winter is a time when we enjoy snowy fun, the coziness of home evenings, and the romance of the first snowfall. In this period, we can keep on developing our kids’ hearing and speech, making the process amusing and exciting. The process of auditory-speech development is closely linked to the surrounding stimuli, sounds and visual cues that children perceive and interpret. In this context the time of a year, in this case – a winter season, affords unique opportunities for hearing and speech development in children. Winter has a diversity of sounds, textures and visual images that can serve as an excellent material for stimulating children’s auditory-speech development.

Winter games and activities can not only contribute to the development of functional and phonemic perception, auditory analysis, vocabulary expansion, but also enhance perception of the world around in general.


The playful format of winter-themed activities can be used to organize sessions at home, outdoors or even in public transport. A simple and relaxed environment brings joy and fun to the activities and a child’s life, allowing adults to develop the child’s abilities in a comfortable setting. I will give clear examples of games and activities for children’s auditory-speech development at home, outdoors and in transport. I’m sure, that they will help you to perfect the rehabilitation potential of your children.

Games at home

The winter season offers great opportunities for speech development at home, in the most comfortable setting for children. Here are a few examples:
"Winter Associations"
Ask children to name words or phrases that come to mind when they think of winter. These can include words about snow, outdoor games, holidays and traditions. This activity helps to expand their vocabulary and develops associative thinking.

"Describing Gifts"

If winter holidays are approaching, ask children to describe gifts they would like to receive or give to someone. This helps them learn to express their thoughts through speech and stimulates their imagination.

"Stories from Winter Travels"

Ask children to come up with and tell a story about winter adventures.

Allow them to create their own mini-play about winter adventures using their toys and then perform it for the whole family. This will help them expand their vocabulary, improve storytelling skills, and engage their imagination.

"Listen and Repeat"

Reproduce various sounds with your smartphone or with the internet, such as snow crunching, bells ringing or sounds of snowstorm and ask children to repeat or describe these sounds.

"Winter Interviewer".

The child may ask family members about their most favorite winter moments, using open questions such as “What is your favorite winter memory?” or “What winter sport do you like most of all?” This kind of activity contributes to development of dialogue and connected speech in general.   
These games are not only funny, but expand vocabulary and enhance hearing and speech development, as well as children’s communication skills in a cozy home setting.



Outdoor activities

Of course winter offers unique outdoor activities enabling speech and hearing development in children. Here’re some examples:

"Sound Hunt Activity"

During their walks in a winter forest or in a park children with their parents can stop for a moment and actively listen to surrounding sounds. Talk about the sounds you’ve  heard, describe them and learn new words such as “birds’ chirping”, “broken branch” and “snow rustling”.

"Snow Word"

Write letters with a stick on the snow or on the ground and ask children to come up with the words, beginning with these letters. This will help to expand vocabulary and improve associative thinking.

"Molding Words" 

Using snow, create different objects and stories. Ask the children to recognize them and describe them with words, making sentences using these objects. This exercise is great for developing thinking, associations, and oral speech.

"Snowballs"

Using the snowballs you've molded, teach the child to throw them on your command, for example, when they hear the sound "A." This exercise helps develop the child's emotional and volitional sphere and contributes to the formation of conditioned reflex motor response to sound.

"Footprints in the Snow"

Draw the footprint of some animal on the snow and ask your child to guess who left it and why it looks like that. This will contribute to the child’s visual memory development, as well as connected speech and guessing.
These outdoor activities can create funny and memorable atmosphere at a walk, at the same time facilitating hearing and speech development in children.

Games and traveling

Developing children during travels is a smart solution!
Here are some examples:

"Winter Kaleidoscope"

Allow children to observe the surrounding peculiarities of winter, weather, nature and means of transport behind the window. Ask them to tell what they see. Then later at home ask them to recollect and draw their observations. It fosters descripting skills and visual perception.

"Tongue-twister about Winter Travels"

Ask your children to come up with and repeat tongue twisters referred to winter traveling such as snowfalls, sledges and Christmas trees.

"Sound Detective"

You can also play a game, where children listen to surrounding sounds, try to guess and describe them, such as an engine noise, a brake screech or nature sounds. This type of activity enhances child’s auditory perception as a basis of further speech development.
 
"Winter Word Game"

Ask children to make up as many words, as possible referred to winter, traveling and means of transport. It will encourage them to expand vocabulary and improve association skills.

"Sounds from Fairytales"

Create you winter fairytale using words starting with the same given sound. This task will foster phonemic sound perception.  

Such games will make winter travels enjoyable and entertaining, as well as enable children to strengthen their communicative skills and expand vocabulary.  

Winter  is not only a time for fun snow races and snow sculptures, but also a great opportunity to perfect children’s auditory and speaking skills. Together with the nearest and dearest children can not only enjoy merry winter days, but also carry out goal-oriented exercises, to enhance their auditory-speech skills, refine understanding of the world around them, as well as strengthen family bonds.
We recommend considering the winter season (and all other times of the year) as a unique moment for family communication, child development, and creating bright memories of time spent together.




Author: Olga Viktorovna Zontova – Methodologist, Speech Therapist at the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Ear, Nose, Throat and Speech