“Turkey Trouble” Speech & Language Extension Activities

If you have a young child at home, I love reading “Turkey Trouble” by Wendy J. Silvano at home. The book follows a turkey at a farm who tries to disguise himself prior to Thanksgiving. The story has wonderful pictures for descriptive language, vocabulary, and answering recall questions. 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:

• Build vocabulary by naming and describing farm animals.
  

• Make a craft - Focus on following 1-2 step directions and prepositions while crafting. Create your own turkey in disguise!
  

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

• Adjectives & attributes - There are many opportunities to practice using descriptive language while looking at the pictures.
  

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

  
  

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.