Dragons Love Tacos Activity and Lesson Plan Freebie
If your students love silly books in speech therapy, then you should check out this free Dragons Love Tacos activity bundle and lesson plans!
There’s so much you can do with tacos—coloring, crafting, sequencing, reading, and more. Best of all, I’ve got plenty of free tacos activities you can grab right now to keep your students laughing and learning. So get ready to open up your brown paper bag, dig for those hot peppers, and see who dares to handle the spicy salsa!
Tacos and Dragons Worksheets
Here are all the quick links to the resources included in this blog post!
What is Dragons Love Tacos About?
Dragons Love Tacos is a popular children's picture book written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri.
The story is about some friendly dragons who love tacos, as long as they don't have spicy toppings!
A little boy helps these taco-loving dragons throw the perfect taco party — until things go hilariously wrong!
The book’s simple language, humor, and playful tone make it a hit with kids—and a great tool for developing language skills, such as sequencing, vocabulary, and storytelling.
It’s a fun and easy way to keep students engaged while targeting speech-language goals.
Dragons Love Tacos Age Range
These Dragons Love Tacos Activity Worksheets are great for kids in 2nd grade through 5th grade, but older students might still laugh at its silly humor and fun characters. Younger children love the bright pictures and the idea of dragons having taco parties, while older elementary students can discuss cause-and-effect relationships or answer more complex comprehension questions. In speech therapy, it’s easy to adapt the book for different skill levels and goals. After all, who doesn’t enjoy a taco-themed adventure?
Dragons Love Tacos Video
If you don't have the book, then play a YouTube video of someone reading the book. I really like to use this version during teletherapy, too!
Dragons Love Tacos Game
Make a Taco Game
Try my Taco Writing Craft Worksheet, which you can find for free on Canva (click here). This black-and-white activity lets kids make tacos with real pieces. Print the worksheets on white paper so the kids can color in the ingredients, or you can print the ingredient pages on colored construction paper.
Your students can add mild salsa and any ingredient they want. Then, they will write about how they built their tacos.
For extra fun, turn the following activities into a game!
- Then, everyone colors the taco ingredients on separate pages, cut them out and toss them into a brown paper bag.
- Students take turns drawing an ingredient while answering wh- questions about the story.
- But if they pull the spicy salsa, they are in red-hot trouble, and they must return their ingredients! The person with the most ingredients at the end wins.
Sequencing
Have students put pictures in the right order to tell the story. Show dragons getting ready for a taco party, eating tacos, and then breathing fire when it’s too spicy. This helps kids learn how to sequence events.
Story Grammar
If you want to target story grammar, ask students to name the setting (where the story happens), the characters (the dragons and the person throwing the party), and the plot (the main events). This makes them practice telling a story in their own words.
Sample WH-Questions for the Taco Game
Here are some questions you could ask while students are drawing ingredients and building their tacos (that way you can target student goals in a fun way!):
- Who are the main characters in “Dragons Love Tacos?”
- What happens when the dragons accidentally eat spicy salsa?
- Where do you think the dragons like to throw their taco parties?
- When should the characters stop using spicy salsa?
- Which ingredient would be your favorite?
- How can the dragons avoid this problem next time?
- How did the characters feel in the beginning, middle, and end of the story?
- How can the characters solve the problem if they do eat spicy salsa?
- Why didn't the characters notice the pieces of jalapeno peppers?
- Why do you think tacos are the dragons’ favorite food?
Make sure you download all the free Dragons Love Taco Activity Worksheets today!
Dragons Love Tacos Art Activities
You can add art projects to your lessons. Let students draw or make paper dragons and create silly tacos with all kinds of toppings. While they work on their art, have them name shapes, colors, and textures.
You can even use free art templates from Canva for educators to make it simpler. Art is a great way for students to practice using new words and sentences.
Dragons Love Tacos 2 Activities
The second book, Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel, imagines a world with no tacos at all! When there are no tacos, that means big trouble for our taco-loving dragons. Let students search for the last taco in a pretend scavenger hunt.
You could also compare this book to the first one: what is the same, and what is different? This helps older students practice reading and thinking skills. You can also use AI speech therapy tools to keep track of how they do.
Will There Be a Dragons Love Tacos 3?
Sometimes kids wonder if there will be a third book. Since there isn’t one yet, students can make up their own story!
Maybe the dragons move on to burritos or have a taco party on the moon. Then, they can draw their ideas using Canva or write a short story. This creative activity helps them practice language skills while having fun.
Free Dragons Love Tacos Activity Worksheets
To add even more fun, I made some free Canva printable worksheets for taco-themed speech therapy.
Tacos Reading Comprehension
Taco Reading Comprehension Worksheet
- Explore the history of tacos (older students) and use context clues to understand new vocabulary words.
Tacos Reading Worksheet (ages 8-10)
- Fun facts about tacos (younger students)
Tacos or Burritos: Compare and Contrast
Compare beef tacos and burritos with a Venn diagram.
2 differentiated versions are included so that you can use this with all of the students in your caseload.
Tacos Writing Craft for Bulletin Boards
This worksheet is perfect for creating a fun bulletin board.
Cut out and write about your “ideal taco”.
Students can include all their favorite taco toppings in their taco shell.
Tacos Lesson Plan
Send home a taco-themed newsletter to let your parents know what you're doing in speech therapy.
This free and editable taco newsletter is fun and festive, so make sure you download it today!
How to Make a Taco Worksheet
Target sequencing and writing using this taco worksheet!
Learn how to write the steps for making tacos.
Use these writing prompts to target sequencing, using transition words, and procedural writing.
Tacos Google Classroom Header
SLPs help students taco 'bout it!
This fun “Lets Taco ‘Bout” it Google Classroom header would be a great addition to your Google Classroom when introducing a Dragons Love Tacos Activity to your students.
Dragon Worksheets and Activities
If you're looking for some dragon-themed worksheets, check out the links to these resources below!
Dragons Fact Sheet
Use these dragons fact sheet to target the following goals:
- Synonyms / Antonyms
- Context Clues
- Vocabulary
- Reading Comprehension
- Wh- Questions
Dragon Parts Worksheet
If you are working on describing, this differentiated worksheet is perfect for talking about parts of a dragon.
Two worksheets are included so you can use this with different age levels.
Describe the Mythical Creature – Dragons
Students will read a short paragraph about dragons and then complete the digital worksheet to describe and talk about the dragon.
Additionally, his digital worksheet is great for middle school students who are working on sentence structure and describing.
Dragons Fictional Reading Comprehension Worksheet
This set of dragon reading comprehension worksheets includes a reading passage about a dragon who lost her spark.
Then, students will work on reading comprehension skills such as:
- story retell
- context clues
- wh- questions
Why do Dragons Love Tacos?
These story book companions fit well with the silly world of Dragons Love Tacos. If you want to keep kids engaged, mix these fun activities in with your other games and art activities for a great big tacos adventure!
So, let’s taco 'bout why this works: it’s silly, fun, and packed with speech-language practice. Whether you're talking about ground beef or mild salsa, these dragons tacos will have your students smiling.
With free worksheets and book-inspired activities, it's never been easier to turn your favorite book into a speech therapy adventure – especially when you use Canva!
More Book Companions
If you love using books in therapy, make sure you check out these other blog posts with even more free Canva templates:
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