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K and G Speech Therapy Activities: Effective Techniques for Articulation Improvement

If you are a speech therapist working on articulation therapy for the K & G sounds, then you are at the right place. In this blog post, we want to provide you with activities that specifically target the production of the ‘K’ and ‘G’ sounds. Articulation disorders and errors are common for these target sounds. These errors can affect a child’s speech, impacting their ability to communicate effectively.

A great way to address these specific sounds in your speech practice, is to use a variety of techniques and tools. From one speech therapist to another, I wanted to make your therapy sessions easier, so in this blog post we will review how to correctly produce these speech sounds, give you a list of over 50 fun activities to do to practice correct sound production of ‘K’ and ‘G’ in your therapy sessions, as well as provide you with a great ‘K’ and ‘G’ articulation bundle freebie to start practicing these target sounds today!

K and G Sound Articulation Techniques

We’ll focus on effective speech therapy techniques that aid in the correct articulation of K and G sounds. Our approach is segmented into understanding tongue placement, engaging in activities to enhance back sound articulation, and utilizing the minimal pairs approach to distinguish between target sounds.

First, let’s review some basics.

Speech Sound Fundamentals

Understanding and working with speech sound production is critical in speech therapy. Key components we attend to are:

Tongue Placement: Crucial for accurate articulation. For example, for back of the mouth sounds, the back of the tongue rises towards the soft palate.
Back of the Tongue: This is important for producing sounds like “k” and “g”, which are formed at the back of the mouth.
Soft Palate: The soft part at the back of the roof of the mouth must be manipulated correctly for certain sounds.
Vocal Folds: We ensure they function properly for voiced sounds.

We can use tools such as a tongue depressor to facilitate correct tongue placement and exercises that help strengthen the muscles involved in speech.

Tongue Positioning for K and G Sounds

Proper tongue placement is crucial for the correct production of K and G sounds, which are back sounds. For the K sound, the back of the tongue elevates to touch the soft palate, creating a burst of air when released. For the G sound, this placement is similar, but the vocal cords vibrate.

Key Tongue Positions:
- Raise back of the tongue to the soft palate.
- Create tension before releasing a burst of air.
- Ensure vocal cord vibration for G sound.

Activities for Back Sound Articulation

Speech therapy activities geared towards K and G sounds involve exercises that encourage the correct placement of the tongue for back of the mouth sound articulation.

Effective Activities Include:
- Articulation Bundle: A sequence of targeted exercises that focus on sound production.
- Mirror Exercises: Practicing in front of a mirror helps visually confirm tongue placement.
- Blowing Activities: Use activities like blowing bubbles to strengthen muscles necessary for the burst of air required in these sounds.

Minimal Pairs Approach

The minimal pairs approach is a technique that contrasts words differing by only one sound to refine articulation. This method helps individuals distinguish between similar-sounding words, enforcing the correct placement and production of K and G sounds.

Examples of Minimal Pairs:
- “Come” vs. “Gum”
- “Card” vs. “Guard”
- “Back” vs. “Bag”

Using these pairs in practice drills aids in reinforcing the relative tongue placement and sound articulation for each word.

Specific Techniques for K and G Sounds

When addressing the pronunciation of K and G sounds, it’s crucial to incorporate techniques that engage multiple senses to solidify learning. We’ll explore tactile and kinesthetic strategies as well as methods for enhancing auditory discrimination.

Tactile and Kinesthetic Methods

Tactile and kinesthetic approaches involve physical touch and movement to teach the correct placement and motion for the K and G sounds, which are back sounds. Here are specific strategies:

Place a finger on the throat: Children feel the vibration of their own voices, discerning between voiced (G sounds) and voiceless pairs of sounds (K sounds).
Use a mirror: Watching their own tongues can help children understand where the back of the tongue needs to raise to make the K and G sounds.
Quick movement exercises: Guide children to move their tongues quickly to the correct position, reinforcing the muscle memory required to produce these specific sounds.

Auditory Discrimination for K and G Sounds

Auditory discrimination is crucial for distinguishing between similar sounding phonemes. For K and G sounds, which are front sounds, we can employ the following activities:

Minimal Pairs: Introduce pairs of words that only differ in the K or G sound (like “cold” and “gold”) to sharpen listening skills.
Phoneme Isolation: Practice saying words that contain the target sounds, emphasizing the K or G sound so

K & G Resources and Activities

Below you will find a comprehensive list of over 50 ‘K’ and ‘G’ Sound Articulation Activities and Resources!

K & G Initial Sounds

Initial g and k words speech “fishing” homework freebie by Saidi Marshal is a set of homework sheets with 12 words per page. This is a fun way to practice K and G at the word level!
FREE Initial K & G Articulation Sound-Loaded Sentences Worksheet by the Speech Spot Creations is a speech therapy worksheet that has target words that start with K and G. Start practicing your students phonological process with this highly rated freebie!
ARTICULATION CARDS Students can color & keep: Initial K & G FREE! By The Beachy Therapist is a resource with single words and a letter name on a card for students to practice their articulation skills with initial K & G!

BONUS: Our shop store has some amazing articulation bundles! Grab this bundle of over 20 sound decks of cards (Initial, Medial and Final K & G included) for $14. We love sending these home for students to color as homework, then using the deck of cards to play a ton of different articulation games in their speech therapy session. Or have them play those games with family at home!

K & G Final Position

English & Spanish Articulation K & G Sound Spring Printable for Speech Therapy by Bilingial SLP LLC is a fun spring themed printable to practice final K & G. We recommend this resource for your elementary students.
Speech Therapy: Final /k/ and /g/ words “fishing” homework by Saidi Marshall is a great resource to have students practice k and g sounds at the end of the word.
Frog and Pond Speech Therapy Game with Final G Articulation Cards by Speech Sprouts is an engaging final g drilling activity that students love!

Activities with Visual Cues

Speech Sound Cue Cards – FREEBIE by Lauren Walters is a great resource to have that reminds children with visual cues what theirs mouth should look like as they say a letter sound.
Final Consonant Deletion: Boat Theme by Speech With Miss Chelsea is an engaging articulation game with the sounds K & G included. Students are given multiple visual cues such as they boat and sentence strips as they practice K & G sounds and build in complexity level.
Articulation and Speech Sounds visual support BUNDLE (FREE) by Free Speech Goodies is a pack of 11 pages with visual cues on how to pronounce multiple sounds including K and G.

Tactile Activities

Shape and Say Articulation: Winter Theme Free by Miss Gardenia’s Speech Room is an engaging activity that has students build pictures with shape tiles as they practice their language skills. This activity includes lots of letter sounds including K & G!
Counting Bears Early Sounds Articulation Mats FREEBIE by Panda Speech is a bundle with multiple sounds that has students practice articulation as they cover mats with counting bears. This is a highly rated hands on activity!
Dough Articulation: K, G, F, S by Jenna Rayburn Kirk is an activity that younger elementary students love! Print out these mats with the name of the letter K & G and have students use playdough or clay as they practice articulation. We also recommend having students make a play dough ball to build into the pictures on the mats starting with that target sound.
Magnet Tiles Speech FREE Sample for /k/ and /g/: Articulation Toy Companion by Panda Speech is a favorite hands on activity! Students use magna-tile blocks to build letters and objects with their target sounds and words.

FOR YOU! We love hands on games, so we created a bundle of articulation fortune teller oragamis for students to practice their articulation skills! My students have loved cutting and folding these and then moving their hands around as they practice their target sounds. K & G are included in this bundle, but there are more than 20 sounds! Scroll to the bottom for a free sample of the origami fortune tellers for K and G!

Articulation Games

ARTICULATION WHEELS: K, G, T, & D FREE! By The Beachy Therapist is such a fun and easy to play game to practice K & G! This is a low prep activity for many different years of age students!
Go Gumballs Game! Articulation G Initial, Medial and Final! By Now We’re Talkin is a highly rated articulation game for younger elementary students that has a cute, gum ball themed gameboards!
Ugly Sweater Laundry – Articulation Game by The Urban SLP is a fun articulation game that has students laughing and engaged.

PRO TIP! We love original and creative articulation games, but there is also something to be said about the classics! At our Speech Therapy Store Shop, you will find articulation bundles to go with classic games such as our Articulation Apple to Apple Game, Articulation Connect Four, and Articulation Bingo! Check them out!

Articulation Cards

HAM Articulation by Speech Me Maybe is a great articulation game with over 72 articulation cards to practice with! This deck focuses on K and G.
Monkey Match Articulation – k & g by SLPfromCLE is a highly rated articulation cards game that engages students with silly monkeys and written symbols.
Animal Photo Articulation Flashcards by Busy Miss Lizzy Speech is a set of flashcards for K and G articulation with engaging animal photos on them!

SLPS LOVE IT! Our articulation Go Fish Deck Bundle is a favorite! This deck of articulation cards has something for everyone on your caseload!

Interactive Games

Build a K and G Articulation Sentence Scene No Print Freebie by Beth Sies Creation for SLPs is a fully interactive game that has students build single words into a short sentence! This is great for students who are at sentence level articulation practice!
Track The Turkey Articulation – K and G (Lite Version) by Thought Bubble Therapist is an engaging game that has students practice Kand G articulation as they track a turkey in a picture search scene.
Speech Sounds: S, K, G, F, SH, CH, T, D, P, B by Kristen Leer is a great resource for younger elementary students that prompts them to drag and match single words to pictures.

Boom Cards

FREE SAMPLE Silly Sentences K and G Boom Cards™ Speech Therapy Articulation by Pinwheel Speech Source is a great resource that uses silly sentences to practice K and G at sentence level!
Boom Digital Cards Articulation K,G Sounds by Badger State Speechie is an interactive boom card set to practice high frequency k and g words!
Back to School K & G Sounds Boom Cards™ – Sticker Book – Articulation by Michelle’s Communication Corner is a highly rated boom card set that is interactive and fun for elementary students!

Minimal Pairs

Final /k/ and /g/ Minimal Pairs by the Curious SLP is a great resource for speech students with different types of speech sound disorders. Practice final K and G minimal pairs with a visual cue in this freebie!
Fronting & Backing Minimal Pairs (/k/ /t/ and /g/ /d/) by Rachel’s Speech Goodies is a 5 page set of minimal pairs flashcards that target the phonological process of k and g fronting.
Articulation: Minimal Pairs K and G, T and D, CH and SH by Miss Gardnia’s Speech Room is a spring and butterfly themed minimal pairs articulation card set.

Word List

/K/ and /G/ Sound Battleship Word List by Savvy Speech is a complete K and G wordlist that prompts a battle ship game.
Initial K and G Word List FREE for Speech Therapy Practice by Karina Kurlz is a word lists for K and G with clear and engaging pictures.
Father’s Day Word List: K & G by The Speech Spot Creations is a set of Initial and Final K and G Words with a Father’s Day theme.

BONUS: Visit our blog for an extensive list of articulation word lists and flashcards, as well as articulation freebies! Here are the highly rated K Word Blog Posts!

Younger Students

K and G Speech Sound Articulation Homework by Speech Language Lady is a K and G homework bundle created for younger elementary students!
K and G Fall Trees Printable Articulation Activity Speech Therapy FREEBIE by Pinwheel Speech Resources is a hands on activity for younger students that has them color or dot leaves as they practice their articulation target words.
No Prep K & G Articulation Fronting Game Boards by Britney Adams – SLP is a fun fall themed game boards for younger students to play on and practice the K and G sounds.

Sentences and Conversational Level

Encanto Articulation K and G by Jacelyn Kieffner is an older elementary favorite! Students use the movie Encanto to practice K and G articulation at sentence level.
Build a K and G Articulation Sentence Scene No Print Freebie by Beth Sies Creation for SLPS is a highly rated free resource to practice building sentences with K and G articulation.
G Flashcards and K Flashcards at sentence/convo level by Speech Therapy Store are a great way to practice articulation at word/phrase/sentence level. Use the flashcards to practice the WH- Questions for conversational level articulation practice too!

High School Students

Articulation Tower K/G Edition by Speech with Sharon is an engaging game similar to jenga that is great for older students to practice their K and G articulation in a fun way.
Fry Words Articulation Card Deck- VELARS (Freebie!) by Voices Ablaze is a great resource that helps incorporate more articulation words into literacy sessions for high school students.
At Home Word Lists for Articulation and Phonology for SLPs – Freebie by Natalie Snyders is an organized word list to practice K and G articulation with your older students! Send this home to practice as homework.

Ready to Go Worksheets

Spring Themed Articulation K & G Sounds Coloring Work Sheets Print & Go! By Sparkly Speech Girl are no prep, print and go coloring worksheets to practice K and G with your speech students!
FREEBIE! Valentine’s Day No Prep /K/ & /G/ Articulation by Speachin -n -teachin are fun valentines themed worksheets to practice K and G.
FREEBIE Articulation Bones – initial /k/ and initial /g/ by a Spoonful of Speech is a no prep set of worksheets for you to use in your therapy room to practice K and G!

Picture Scenes

K & G Summer Articulation Folding Surprise Craft by Jeannie’s Speech room is a highly rated craft that opens into a picture scene for students to practice K and G articulation. This is great to send home as homework as well!
FREE No Print Final Consonant Deletion Picture Scenes for Speech Therapy by Teach Speech 365 is a no print picture scene for your students to practice lots of articulation words including K and G!
Christmas Search and Find Articulation Homework by Old Speech School is a highly rated free resource! Students search, find and color the target K and G articulation words in a picture scene.

Seasonal Activities

Free Thanksgiving Baking Articulation Activity (K & G Sounds) by Lil Mae’s Speech is a great set of boom cards with a Fall and Thanksgiving theme!
Spring Freebie: Articulation /k/ and /g/ by Tale of Two Speechies is a bundle of Spring themed K and G articulation worksheets. This is highly rated!
Initial /K and G/ Fall Leaves – Articulation Craft FREEBIE by Let’s Get Speechie

Books and Short Stories

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is perfect for articulation therapy goals on your caseload. The repetitive text with the “g” sounds helps children with speech disorders to anticipate what might come next in the story.
Articulation K and G: Pictured Silly Stories & Word Lists by Speech2u is a highly rated game that uses K and G silly words to make K and G short and silly sentences!
G Sound Mini Articulation Activity Book Initial Medial Final Words and Phrases by Pep Talk is an engaging mini book to build with your students to practice the G sound.

For You! Grab our Articulation Reading Passages to practice your articulation goals with your students! This is a bundle of 266 reading passages with 6 stories per sound, and 20 articulation words per passage.

Reinforcement Games

Free Sample! /k/ and /g/ Articulation Coloring pages by Easy Peasy Lemon Speechie is a great reinforcement game with high instances of hitting the target sound.
K & G Articulation Dots FREEBIE! By Linden Speech is a great worksheet that is engaging and reinforcing for students practicing their K and G articulation.
Hugs and Kisses: Articulation K and G by a Speechie World is a fun and silly game that students love to play! It has one game board and 2 mats.

Conclusion

We hope this list of resources to use when practicing K and G articulation is inspirational and helpful for you! There are so many ways to teach K and G, and making the speech therapy session engaging and fun for our students is a high priority!

To help make your sessions fun, but also easy for you to plan, we compiled this bundle of a K and G preview of some of our most popular articulation games! Enter your info below to grab a preview of our Articulation Fortune Tellers and Articulation Tic Tac Toe for the K and G sounds. Find more of our Articulation Game Bundles on our Speech Therapy Store Shop!

<< FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW TO DOWNLOAD A MINI BUNDLE OF K & G ARTICULATION ACTIVITIES! >>

Frequently Asked Questions

In addressing these frequently asked questions, we aim to provide specific, evidence-based answers that will be useful for speech therapists, parents, and educators involved in helping children practice and improve their articulation of K and G sounds.

What activities can help children practice K and G sounds in speech therapy?

We often use engaging activities like blowing bubbles to encourage the production of the /k/ sound, as it closely resembles the mouth shape required to say “k.” For the /g/ sound, we might incorporate games involving animals, like gorillas or geese, as they naturally elicit the /g/ sound in a fun context.

How does using minimal pairs in therapy assist with correcting K and G sound errors?

Using minimal pairs, such as “coat” and “goat,” assists in enhancing phonological awareness. We find that this contrastive approach helps children discern the difference between sounds, thereby improving their articulation accuracy for K and G.

What are some age-appropriate K and G speech activities for preschoolers?

We use play-based activities such as “kitchen” stations for the /k/ sound or “garden” themes for the /g/ sound. These relevant, enjoyable activities help preschoolers practice the sounds without the drills feeling like work.

How effective are loaded sentences in the remediation of K and G sounds?

Loaded sentences, which are packed with target sounds, have proven very effective in our work. This repetitive and contextual practice encourages the child to use K and G sounds in a sentence-level format, fostering generalization to natural speech.

What types of ‘Would You Rather’ questions could be used to reinforce K and G sounds in therapy sessions?

We may use questions such as “Would you rather have a pet kitten or a pet kangaroo?” to practice the /k/ sound. For the /g/ sound, we might ask, “Would you rather grow grapes or play a game?” These choices invoke more natural speech and frequently repeat the targeted sounds.

At what age should a child typically be able to pronounce K and G sounds correctly?

Children typically master the K and G sounds by the age of three to four years. However, we observe variations in development, and we emphasize the value of early intervention if a child is showing signs of difficulty with these sounds.

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