Pirate Prepositions Activities for Speech Therapy – Spatial Concepts

Pirate Prepositions Activities for Speech Therapy – Spatial Concepts

Ahoy! Make learning spatial concepts engaging with these Pirate Prepositions Activities for Speech Therapy!

This printable pirate-themed resource includes a variety of hands-on activities designed to support children’s understanding and use of eight prepositions and spatial concepts.

With picture cards, an interactive book, clip cards, foldable books, dough mats and worksheets, children have repeated opportunities to hear, understand and use positional language during structured speech and language therapy activities.

Perfect for year-round speech therapy sessions, pirate-themed language activities and Talk Like a Pirate Day on 19 September.

Which Prepositions Are Targeted?

These activities focus on eight spatial concepts:

• In
• On
• Under
• Behind
• In front of
• Next to
• Above
• Between

The activities can be adapted to support both receptive and expressive language development according to each child’s individual needs.

What’s Included?

• Sentence strip and visuals to support sentence formulation.
• 10 activity ideas for using the preposition stimulus cards.
• 64 preposition stimulus cards – eight cards for each target preposition.
• ‘Where Is the Pirate?’ interactive book, with instructions.
• 32 preposition clip cards – four cards per preposition, with instructions and activity ideas.
• 8 repetitive foldable books – one for each target preposition.
• 9 preposition dough mats – eight individual preposition mats and one mixed mat, with instructions and ideas for use.
• 6 printable worksheets for additional spatial concepts practice.
• Hands-on activity instructions, ideas and six pirate visuals.
• Caregiver-friendly home practice handout with suggestions for supporting spatial language beyond therapy sessions.

Designed to Support Repeated Language Practice

These pirate-themed prepositions activities have been intentionally designed to give children multiple opportunities to hear and use the target spatial concepts.

The activities use consistent imagery, with a pirate as the main character and a limited selection of other objects.

This helps keep the focus on understanding spatial relationships rather than processing lots of changing vocabulary.

The resource draws on research exploring how variability in language input can influence preposition learning. You can also reduce the number of objects presented in selected activities to suit individual learning needs.

Research reference: Nicholas, K., Alt, M., & Hauwiller, E. (2019). Variability of input in preposition learning by preschoolers with developmental language disorder and typically-developing language. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 35(1), 55–74.

Ways to Use These Pirate Prepositions Activities

Use the stimulus cards to model and practise positional language, the interactive book for repeated sentence practice, and the clip cards for identifying spatial relationships.

The foldable books, dough mats and printable worksheets offer further opportunities to practise target prepositions through different activity formats.

The included home practice handout provides caregivers with ideas for reinforcing spatial language during everyday routines.

Perfect For

• Speech therapy targeting prepositions and spatial concepts
• Receptive and expressive language intervention
• Early language development activities
• Pirate-themed speech therapy sessions
• Talk Like a Pirate Day activities
• Individual and small-group language therapy
• Supported home practice and caregiver coaching

US and UK/Australian Versions Included

Your download includes both US and UK/Australian English versions to accommodate different spelling and terminology preferences.

Please note: This product is supplied as a ZIP file containing both versions.

Save with the Themed Prepositions Activities Bundle

This Pirate Prepositions resource is also included in our Themed Prepositions Activities Bundle, which brings together themed activities for teaching spatial concepts throughout the year.

If you regularly work with children developing their understanding and use of prepositions, the bundle offers a more cost-effective way to access multiple resources.

Already own the bundle? You do not need to purchase this Pirate Prepositions resource separately, as it is already included.