“Room on the Broom” Speech & Language Activities

“Room on the Broom” by Julia Donaldson is one of my favorite Halloween picture books for speech and language therapy. The story is about a witch who gives a ride on her broom to her animal friends. “Room on a Broom” has wonderful rhymes and sequencing opportunities 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. Decorate a witch - Focus on following 1-2 step directions, describing the witch, and prepositions while crafting.
   

3. Learn about Halloween - Explore the history of the holiday. This is a great time 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. Phonological Awareness - Find examples of rhyming 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.