Prepositions is an early language skill that I target often. Location vocabulary is functional and can be easily reinforced throughout the students’ day. From using manipulatives to adding movement, here are 4 fun and engaging ways to practice prepositions.
Use Hands-On Manipulatives
Keep it simple. Use items that you have around the classroom. You can grab a cup or container and a few small objects. This will make planning easy and quick! Once you have your items, you can prompt your student to put the object: in, under, on, off, out, beside and behind the cup.
My Basic Concepts Prepositions is also perfect for hands-on learners. These 3D prepositional location mats make targeting all propositions simple and easy. You are able to target “in”, “under”, “out”, etc. more effectively.
This resource includes 10 picture scenes and 16 visual sentence prompts per scene. Prepositional locations include: on/off, in/out, under/over, above/below, behind/in front and beside/next to.
If your student is virtual, encourage them to grab similar objects from around the house. By using common objects, this can support home practice after your sessions as well. You can use these visuals to help support your students. Leave your name and email and I will send you the preposition cards for FREE!
Go Outside to the Playground
Take speech therapy outside! There are several things for students to climb allowing you to target: over, under, on, off, behind, beside and in front. Give the student verbal and/or visual prompts to “go under the slide” or “sit on the swing.” You can also have students identify their own locations or the location of a peer. You can take photos for the students in the different locations (with parent consent) and create a prepositions book. By going outside, students will not only be engaged, but it will provide kinesthetic input to help them remember the prepositional locations.
Prepositions Scavenger Hunt
Place items around the room (i.e., under the table, in the drawer, on the chair, etc.) and have students search for the items. When they find the item, prompt the student to use the sentence structure of object + location + object. You can also complete this activity receptively by telling the student that you want them to find something that is “under” and they can located the correct item. Here are few suggested prompts:
- Put the (object) under the table.
- Put the (object) on the chair.
- Put the (object) behind the door.
- Put the (object) in front of the door.
- Put the (object) in the bin.
- Put the (object) on the bottom shelf.
- Put the (object) on the top shelf.
- Take the (object) out of the bin.
- Take the (object) off of the chair.
Boom Cards for Home Practice
Looking for an easy carry-over activity for students to practice at home? Use Boom Cards! Here are two of my favorite Boom Card decks to practice prepositions.
Prepositional Location BOOM CARDS
Dinosaur Prepositional Locations (FREEBIE!)
Hope these ideas help you facilitate fun and engaging ways to practice prepositions.
