“Owl Moon” Speech & Language Activities

I love using the picture book “Owl Moon” by Jane Yolen for speech therapy. This is a great book for upper elementary school students. The story is about a child who goes to look for owls at night in the winter with her father.

“Owl Moon” has wonderful imagery, figurative language, and vocabulary for students. It’s also easy to work on speech sounds while reading aloud.

There are many lessons that can be built off of this book. Below are some ideas:

1. Practice speech sounds during reading aloud - Model these sounds for your child, and then have the child say the words back.
   

2. Make an owl craft - Focus on following 1-2 step directions, describing the owl, and prepositions while crafting.
   

3. Learn about owls - Explore the habitats of owls, what they eat, and why they hunt at night. This is a great opportunity to build vocabulary, make inferences, and answer comprehension questions.
   

4. Practice sequencing and story retell - Use a graphic organizer and/or picture cards to help your child sequence and retell the story’s events.
   

5. Grammar - There are many opportunities to practice verbs and other grammatical forms while looking at the pictures.
   

6. Figurative Language - Find examples of personification, similes, etc. in the story.

Readers: Have you tried any storybook extension activities at home?

About the Author: Melissa Goff, M.S, CCC-SLP, is the owner of Sunflower Speech & Myo Therapy, PLLC, in Charlotte, NC.