Your Calm Practice Pack
For parents told to "just practise at home": gentle, SLP-designed ways to practise the sounds your therapist chose, no fight.
Therapy is once a week, but the in-between is every day, and that is where home practice lives. Here is a calm, play-based way to make those few minutes feel like play instead of a battle. Use what fits your family and leave the rest.
The practice ladder
This is the path speech therapists climb with a sound. Start wherever your SLP told you, and only move up a rung when this one feels easy and fun.
The sound by itself
Just the sound, like a happy snake hiss. Make it silly and fun.
Little sound-snaps
The sound joined to a vowel, sa, see, so. Quick and playful.
Whole words
Words with the sound at the start, middle, and end, see the word bank below.
Short phrases
Two or three words together, like silly seal.
Sentences
The sound inside one short, playful sentence.
Real talking
The sound shows up in everyday chat. That is the goal, no drills needed.
Five golden rules
Keep it short and sweet
A few minutes beats a long session every time. Stop while it is still fun, so your child wants to come back tomorrow.
Fold it into play, not a desk
Practice during a game, a walk, bath time, or a favourite story. It counts just as much, and it feels like play instead of homework.
Follow what they already love
Use the toys, snacks, and characters your child is already into. Their motivation does most of the work for you.
Model, do not correct
Say the word back warmly the way it sounds when you say it, then move on. You are not grading them, and you do not need to fix every sound.
Find a gentle rhythm
A small, regular moment, after breakfast or before a bedtime story, quietly becomes a habit. No streaks, no pressure.
How to respond, without the fight
- Model, do not correct. Say the word back warmly and move on.
- Aim for about ten happy moments for every nudge. The trying is the win.
- Keep it under five minutes. Stop while it is still fun.
- Skip days guilt-free. Showing up gently, most days, is the whole game.
Pick the sounds your SLP is working on
Tap one or more sounds. Each one adds its own word bank, play ideas, and a page of cut-out picture cards. When you print, only the sounds you picked are included, so you never reprint the pages you do not need.
Want to read about a single sound first? See our practice guides for each speech sound.
How to make it: Round your lips like a kiss and let out a long, soft shhh, like you are asking everyone to be quiet.
The SH sound is a later sound to develop, lots of children are still working on it around age 5, and your speech-language pathologist knows what is right for your child.
Start of word
- ship
- shoe
- shop
- shark
- sheep
- shell
- shed
- shut
- shine
- shy
- shower
- share
In the middle
- washing
- dishes
- wishing
- fishing
- pushing
- brushing
- sunshine
- machine
- ocean
- mushroom
- seashell
- lotion
End of word
- fish
- dish
- wish
- brush
- push
- cash
- wash
- splash
- trash
- leash
- crash
- dash
Short phrases
- shiny shell
- big ship
- shy sheep
- fresh fish
- new shoes
Sentences
- The shy sheep sails a big ship.
- Shelly washes the shiny dishes.
- A shark and a fish splash in the ocean.
- Push the cart to the shop.
- I wish for shiny new shoes.
A silly sound story
Shelly the sheep sailed a shiny ship to the shop. She wished for fresh fish and seashells. A shy shark splashed by and whispered, shhh, the fish are sleeping.
Sound hunt
Walk around and make a soft shhh sound each time you both find something with the SH sound, like a shoe, a shirt, or a fish.
Mirror mouth
In the mirror together, round your lips and watch each other make a long, quiet shhh.
Give it a character
Turn SH into a sleepy grown-up shushing a baby, and let your child make a soft shhh before each word.
Book points
While reading, point to and say the SH words you spot, like a ship or a fish.
Bath and car
In the bath or the car, take turns naming SH words like splash, wash, and seashell.
Cut along the dashed lines, pop the cards in a bowl, and take turns picking one to say and play with. No screen, no pressure, just a few warm minutes together.
Our week of play
Tick a box on the days you had a few warm minutes together. No streaks, no pressure.
Know another parent in the trenches?
Send them this free pack. The calm, no-fight kind of help is worth passing on.
logopedia-site-ecru.vercel.app/guideSome days you will skip it, and that is completely okay. Showing up gently, most days, is the whole game. And for your child's specific sounds and needs, your speech-language pathologist knows them best. This guide is just here to make the practice in between feel a little lighter.
Free for home and practice use. Please don't resell or repost the file. © Logopedia+