Dog Themed Activities to use in Speech Therapy
Updated: Jul 27
I00% dog person here, folks.
National Dog Day is August 26th, and I've got your speech therapy sessions more than covered for a dog theme! Full disclosure– I probably won't be your go-to for National Cat Day ideas (is that a thing?), but check out these doggone good finds from around the web to engage your students with this great theme at the end of August... or any time!
Why use dog-themed activities in speech therapy?
A dog-themed speech therapy unit is a fun, engaging way for speech-language pathologists to target a variety of communication skills with students of different ages. Students often have their own furry friends at home or may simply love dogs, so this familiar pet theme naturally sparks conversation and increases engagement. Whether you're working with elementary students or looking for ways to engage middle and high school students, this non-holiday theme offers plenty of opportunities for meaningful speech and language practice.
These digital resources make planning this pet theme even easier while keeping students actively involved in both in-person therapy and teletherapy. With minimal prep, you can use engaging dog-themed activities to target a wide range of speech and language goals across your caseload.
Dog Themed Speech Therapy Activities
Whether you're putting together a week-long pet theme or simply looking for a few engaging activities, these dog-themed speech therapy ideas make it easy to target a variety of speech and language goals with elementary, middle, and high school students.
Boom Cards deck
This dog-themed Boom Card deck is a great resource for groups. It includes 7 language activities targeting goals such as:
Understanding vocabulary
Answering wh questions
Sequencing the events of short stories
Inferring and making predictions
Listening for details
Comparing and contrasting
Using verbs to formulate sentences
There's even an articulation activity incorporating dog-themed vocabulary. Use it to target the following speech sounds: k/g, f/v, s/z, sh/ch/j, l and l-clusters, r
Books
Search the following dog-themed book titles/authors wherever you access digital versions of books (your local library, YouTube, websites, online stores, etc.) to provide background information about dogs and improve students' understanding of basic vocabulary and concepts related to this popular pet.
Fiction
My Dog Thinks I'm A Genius by Harriet Ziefert is a humorous story about a child whose loyal dog believes everything they do is amazing.
Lucy Rescued by Harriet Ziefert is a heartwarming story about a rescue dog finding a loving forever home.
The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey is about a curious little puppy who wanders off and learns valuable lessons.
Clifford the Big Red Dog series by Norman Bridwell tells the adventures of Clifford, an oversized red dog whose kindness and loyalty help him solve everyday problems.
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion is a great book about a white dog with black spots that gets so dirty while avoiding a bath that his family doesn't recognize him.
Non-Fiction
My Dog Likes Me by Bobbi Kalman introduces young readers to the special bond between dogs and their owners while sharing basic facts about caring for a pet dog.
In Guess the Dog by Kari Noel, readers use clues and photographs to identify different dog breeds while learning interesting facts about each one.
Short, Shorter, Shortest by Rebecca Felix provides a great opportunity to use comparative and superlative adjectives to compare the sizes of various dog breeds. Extend the conversation by having students talk about their own pets, if they have them!
Cool Pets for Kids: Dogs by Dawn Titmus is an introduction to caring for a dog, including information about responsibilities and problem-solving dog behavior.
Videos
A short video is the perfect addition to your dog-themed lesson plans. Perfect to address almost anything! Verb tenses, pronouns, making inferences and predictions, sequencing, retelling, and so much more!
"The Present" animated short film is about a boy who finds an unexpected connection with a three-legged puppy that he receives as a gift.
"Pip" is an animated short film about a puppy determined to become a guide dog, despite some big obstacles.
DOGS by All Things Animal TV explores the characteristics, behaviors, and roles dogs play in human lives.
This 2-minute video about dogs provides many research-backed reasons why they are the most popular pets, including their physical, emotional, and social benefits.
Games and Activities
These activities can be used for reinforcement or any number of speech and language goals!
The PBS Kids website has a few fun dog-themed games and activities, such as these Clifford games and this Arthur Animal-Home Builder activity.
"Dog Doodle" on Toy Theater allows students to draw on a photo of a dog. Additionally, this Toy Theater sticker activity includes a few dog stickers to create your own dog-themed scene.
"New Puppies" Hidden Picture on Highlights Kids is a cute activity that can last a couple of minutes or several.
A "Which dog breed are you?" quiz is always fun (and funny)! This one from Highlights Kids is perfect for younger kids, as it includes photo options.
Puppies memory game on matchthememory.com includes real photos of puppies of various dog breeds.
There are dozens of digital coloring pages of dogs on thecolor.com, which are great for filling a few extra minutes or for targeting description and vocabulary.
This dog breed guessing game is an easy way to elicit a variety of language goals because it gets your kids talking! Students of any age will love chatting about which dog breed each person has while playing this guessing game. It includes both Google Slides and printable versions.
Social Skills Activities
Dogs naturally lend themselves to conversations about relationships, responsibility, and everyday interactions, making them a great topic for targeting social interaction goals. Whether you're working on perspective-taking, conversation skills, or problem-solving, students can practice these skills through simple discussions and role-play.
Here are a few quick ideas:
Would You Rather? Questions like, "Would you rather have a tiny dog or a giant dog?" and "Would you rather walk a dog in the rain or play fetch at the park?" Find more questions here if needed, and encourage students to ask follow-up questions and keep the conversation going.
Dog Owner Problem Solving Students who own dogs will likely be able to come up with everyday situations they've experienced (dog gets loose, won't eat, chews a shoe, barks during a phone call). For each one, students can discuss possible solutions, expected outcomes, and what they could say in each situation.
Conversation Practice Practice asking and answering questions about pets, favorite dog breeds, funny pet stories, or what students would do if they adopted a dog. This works well for turn-taking, topic maintenance, and asking follow-up questions.
Emotions and Perspective Taking Use pictures of dogs to help students figure out how the dog might be feeling based on its body language and what might have happened. You might even compare the dog's body language to a human's! There's a lot of information and images on the American Kennel Club's website if you're not well-versed in dog body language!
Activities for Older Students
These activities are great for targeting comprehension, vocabulary in context, main idea and supporting details, articulation carryover, and more!
This Kiddle Encyclopedia article on dogs provides a lot of information, including fun facts and links to specific breed information.
A Brief History of Dogs by National Geographic is a 3.5-minute video that gives an interesting explanation of how dogs evolved from wolves.
This video from TED-Ed also tells the history of dogs (in less than 5 minutes).
"Through The Nose" on ReadWorks is a great article that includes some highlighted vocabulary words in context.
Simon's Cat videos are so fun for older students, but they're not just for cat lovers... these Simon's Cat videos include dogs in them too!
Check out the trivia games on the American Kennel Club website to test your and your students' knowledge of dogs.
This dog-themed passage comes ready to go with language activities for multiple goals. It includes 2 digital formats (for use in teletherapy or on a device) plus printable pages.
Phew! This blog post helps you get set to "work like a dog" on those speech and language goals for National Dog Day, or any day. The dog theme includes many fun ways to capture students' attention and get them barking, I mean, talking! Have fun!
Originally published on 08/22/2020. Updated on 7/27/26.
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