Tongue exercises for speech: fun warm-ups for kids

What tongue exercises can and can’t do

Tongue and lip exercises – sometimes called oral motor exercises or oral motor play – help a child notice their tongue, move it on purpose and get ready to talk. They’re fun, and they make a good warm-up.

But it’s worth being realistic: on their own, they don’t teach a new sound. Children learn sounds by hearing them, trying them and practising them in words. So treat these exercises as a two-minute warm-up before you work on the R sound, the L sound or S and SH – not as the main event, and not as a cure.

How to do them

• Use a mirror. Sit side by side so your child can see you both. You go first; they copy.
• 5–7 minutes a day. Short and regular beats long and rare.
• Slow and steady. Repeat each movement about 5 times, or hold it for about 5 seconds.
• Stop while it’s fun. If your child is tired or cross, call it a day.
• Never force. Don’t move your child’s tongue with fingers or spoons. If something is too hard, skip it.
• Make it a story. “The tongue wakes up, makes a pancake, then goes for a ride on a horse…”

12 classic tongue and lip exercises

1. Smile and kiss: a wide smile (hold for 5 seconds), then push the lips forward into a kiss (5 seconds). Swap 5 times.
2. Pancake: open the mouth and rest a wide, relaxed, flat tongue on the bottom lip. Hold for 5 seconds, 3–5 times.
3. Snake: make the tongue narrow and pointy, poke it out, then pull it back in. 5 times.
4. Clock: mouth open, the tongue tip touches one corner of the mouth, then the other: tick, tock. 10 times, slowly.
5. Lick the jam: lick round the lips in a slow circle, one way and then the other. 3 circles each way.
6. Up and down: mouth open, the tongue tip reaches up to the top lip, then down to the bottom lip. 5 times.
7. Paint the ceiling: mouth open, the tongue tip “paints” the roof of the mouth from just behind the top teeth backwards. 5–8 strokes.
8. Horse: click the tongue against the roof of the mouth: clip-clop, clip-clop. 10 clicks.
9. Brush the teeth: lips closed, the tongue tip runs along the front of the top teeth, then the bottom teeth, behind the lips. 3 times each.
10. Sticky tongue: press the whole tongue up against the roof of the mouth, then open the mouth wide without letting go. Hold for 3–5 seconds. It’s tricky, and fine if it doesn’t work yet.
11. Balloon cheeks: puff up both cheeks, hold for 3 seconds, then gently pop them. Then puff one cheek at a time.
12. Fish face: suck the cheeks in to make a fish face, hold for 3 seconds, relax. 5 times.

Breathing games

A long, steady stream of air helps with sounds like S and SH. Try:

• Bubbles: a slow, gentle blow makes the biggest bubble.
• Cotton-wool football: blow a cotton-wool ball across the table into a goal, with or without a straw.
• Feather float: keep a feather in the air for as long as you can.
• Smell the flower, blow out the candle: breathe in through the nose, then out slowly through the mouth at a pretend candle.

Keep breathing games short – a few blows, then a rest – so nobody gets dizzy.

A sample 5-minute routine

1. Smile and kiss – 5 times.
2. Pancake and snake – 3 of each.
3. Clock – 10 ticks.
4. Paint the ceiling – 5 strokes.
5. Horse – 10 clicks.
6. Cotton-wool football – one goal.
7. Then 2–3 minutes on the sound your child is learning.

When to ask a professional

Talk to a speech and language therapist (SLT) if your child finds most of these movements very hard, still dribbles a lot after about 4, has trouble chewing or swallowing, or can’t lift the tongue or poke it out past the lips – sometimes a sign of tongue-tie, which your GP or health visitor can check. And if a sound isn’t coming along despite regular practice, an SLT can work out why.

How Chatterbox helps

In Chatterbox, the Speech lessons include tongue exercises with pictures that show the tongue position, breathing exercises, tongue twisters and chants, and games for the R, L, S, Z and SH sounds. A friendly animal says each task aloud, so your child can follow along while you keep them company.