Mother’s Day Activities for Speech

Mothers are special. In other words, our friend, first teacher, and guide. Moreover, this bond is beyond expressions, just beyond words and pictures. Further, mother’s efforts are just priceless, from having sleepless nights managing a toddler to being an anxious mom waiting for their children to return home early, mothers are known to be the epitome of love, kindness, and selflessness.

For many of us, Mother’s Day is every day. No matter our age, we rely on our mothers for support, encouragement, and unconditional love. To honor these everyday heroes, Mother’s Day is celebrated worldwide on the second Sunday in May each year.

When it comes to children with speech delay or other developmental challenges, the role of the mother becomes even more crucial. These mothers often take on multiple roles—caregiver, therapist, educator, and advocate—all with the singular goal of helping their child speak, learn, and grow. That’s why Mother’s Day activities for children with speech and language delay can be a perfect opportunity to boost communication skills and show appreciation. Speech therapists for kids often use such thematic activities for effective language stimulation and speech therapy at home.

1. Marking the day on the calendar

This basic activity is ideal for language development in toddlers and older kids alike. Ask your child to mark or color the second Sunday of May on a calendar. This supports concept learning, time awareness, and introduces calendar vocabulary like “Sunday,” “May,” and “Mother’s Day.”

2. Mother’s are superheroes

Use this engaging prompt to elicit action verbs. Ask the child, “What does your mother do?” Responses like cook, clean, drive, teach, hug, help, etc., encourage verb usage in speech therapy and enhance sentence formation.

3. Different avatars of mother

This activity helps children identify different types of clothing vocabulary and relate them to people they know. Show visuals or flashcards and ask, “What is mom wearing here?” This supports vocabulary building for special needs children.

4. Making a mother’s day card

This classic activity is excellent for expressive language skills. Whether it’s drawing, sticking shapes, or using words, children get to use their creativity. Encourage them to write a short message or use symbols/pictures to communicate feelings. It's a great Mother’s Day language activity for speech therapy.

5. Planning a mother’s day celebration

Ask open-ended questions like, “How do you want to celebrate Mother’s Day?” or “What should we do for Mom?” This activity enhances conversation skills and decision-making. It’s particularly helpful for children with autism or language delay to structure their thoughts and communicate them clearly.

These are just a few examples of how to work on speech and language stimulation using the concept of Mother’s day. Also, I am sure there is no end to using creativity using this particular concept. Furthermore, each one of us can use this concept in our own ways and let the child use their imagination. Few things to remember when we do a concept based activity are:

1. Keep it simple and short

2. Let there be room for loads of pictures/visuals

3. Focus on overall communication rather than just expression

4. Have different activities revolving around the same concept

5. Have scope of repetition of the concept in various context

6. Use natural communication pattern