Diwali Themed Speech and Language Therapy Activities
By Larisa Vaz
Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist
As the festival of lights, Diwali, fills the air with joy and vibrancy, it presents a wonderful opportunity to infuse speech and language therapy with a touch of cultural celebration. By embracing the spirit of Diwali, speech and language therapists can create engaging and purposeful activities that not only captivate the attention of their clients but also contribute to their speech and language development. Let's explore some Diwali-themed speech and language therapy activities.
1. Storytelling Diyas
Foster narrative skills by engaging in a storytelling activity centred around Diwali. You can choose any topic for example, the story of Rama and Sita. This activity is fun when done with a group of children. Provide the children with a set of diya-shaped cards, each containing a different story element. Encourage them to take turns selecting cards and weave a cohesive story incorporating the elements they've chosen. This activity not only enhances narrative skills but also encourages creativity and expressive language.
2. Articulation Rangoli
Transform the traditional art of rangoli into a fun articulation activity. Create a large rangoli outline with various speech sounds written in each section. Choose speech sounds that your child might be working on in speech therapy sessions (your child’s speech and language therapist can help you with this) As children practice their target sounds, they can fill in the corresponding areas with colourful materials like sand, rice, coloured paper or even playdough. This is a fun activity, and your child can also practice speech sounds in a fun way.
3. Diya Descriptions
Improve your child’s conceptual language skills by helping them describe and compare different types of diyas. Encourage children to use descriptive words such as ‘beautiful’, ‘bright’, ‘shiny’, and ‘colourful’. You can also introduce size-related concepts like ‘big’, ‘small’ and ‘medium’ as well as location-based concepts like ‘near’, ‘far’, etc.
4. Sweet Sensory Sensations
Dive into the world of sensory exploration with a Diwali sweet tasting activity. Introduce your children to traditional Indian sweets like laddoos, barfis, chum chums, jalebis etc. As they savour the yummy flavours, guide them in expressing what they feel. For example, if your child is savouring a jalebi, you can ask them questions like “Is it crispy or soft?” If they were eating a chum chum, you can ask, “Is it juicy or dry”? This activity not only enhances descriptive language skills but also encourages children to try new tastes and textures.
5. A Pataakaa (Firecracker) Guessing game
This game requires quite the creativity skills. Adults would need to craft a guessing game related to the different Diwali firecrackers. For example, "I'm bright and loud, in the night sky, I make a sound. What am I?" Encourage children to guess the answer. You can even help them create their own guessing game.
6. Language Lanterns
Combine creativity and language skills by making Diwali-themed language lanterns. Help children decorate paper lanterns with words related to Diwali such as colours, glitter, decorations etc. As they create their lanterns, encourage them to discuss their choices. For example, “Why did you choose the red colour?” or “Where do you want to put the glitter?” etc. This activity is particularly useful when targeting various ‘Wh’ questions and narrative speech generation.
7. Multilingual Greetings
Diwali is a festival celebrated across the entire Indian subcontinent and among people from various linguistical backgrounds. Help children embrace the linguistic diversity of Diwali by practicing greetings in various languages spoken during the festival. Create flashcards or a poster with greetings like "Happy Diwali (English)," "Shubh Deepavali (Sanskrit)," or “Deepavali Shubhashayagalu (Kannada)." This activity promotes multicultural language exposure.
8. Diya Dot Art
Engage young learners in a Diya dot art activity. Provide them with a diya made from clay or any other material. You can also use a black and white picture of a diya. You will also need colourful dot markers. These can be colouring paints in tubes or even sketch pens. As children they dot along the diya, encourage them to name the colours they're using, fostering colour concepts. You can also mix some colours and use the mixed colours to colour the diya.
9. Singing Diwali Rhymes
Introduce Diwali-themed nursery rhymes or songs to young children. If you are looking for some, there are various ones available on the internet. For example, you can find rhymes like "Diwali Twinkle Twinkle" or "I am a little diya."Sing together and incorporate gestures or simple dance moves. This activity promotes language development and imitation skills.
These tailored Diwali-themed activities for young children aim to make speech and language therapy both educational and enjoyable. By integrating play, creativity, and cultural elements, therapists and adults working with children can create a positive and engaging learning environment for their little learners.
