Free Winter Flashcards Printable Vocabulary Cards

It's the winter season, and what better way to work on winter vocabulary than with winter flashcards printable vocabulary cards!

Winter Theme Flashcards

Flashcards can be used in so many ways to improve your students' vocabulary skills, attention, social skills, and more! So, keep reading below to find out how to use these free and editable winter flashcards in your speech room this year.

Here are the winter lesson plans and winter vocabulary flashcards that you'll find in this blog post:

• Winter Lesson Plans
• Winter Flashcards Printable
• Winter Memory Match
• Winter Clothes Flashcards Printable
• Winter Verbs Sensory Cards
• Christmas Flashcards
• Christmas Vocabulary Flashcards (Matching Activity)
• Penguin Flashcards
• Polar Animals Flashcards
• Valentine's Day Flashcards
• Valentine's Day Flashcards (Basic Concepts)
• St. Patrick's Day Words Flashcards
• St. Patrick's Day Flashcards (Identify the Word)

How Can Winter-Themed Flashcards Help Your Students?

Using thematic vocabulary in speech therapy is so important, especially when you have groups with mixed language goals.  Do you want to know how to use AI in speech therapy?  Then check out my new post:  Speech Therapy AI:  What SLPs need to know!. 

When you use thematic flashcards, you can help students:

• Expand their vocabulary
• Improve word retrieval skills
• Develop understanding of word relationships
• Build their ability to use language in context

Winter is a great time to focus on thematic vocabulary. 

Students love talking about winter words because they relate to their everyday lives. They may also be more motivated to learn winter words because they are already familiar with the concept of winter.

Winter Flashcards in Speech Therapy

These picture cards are a great way to help students learn and reinforce vocabulary during the winter months. They can be used in various ways, such as:

• Firstly, review winter words at the beginning or end of a therapy session.
• Then, practice word identification and recall with winter flashcards.
• Create a winter word wall using winter flash cards. In Canva, you can edit the flashcards by making them larger.
• Use winter flashcards to help students write a story or poem. (They can apply the words in context!).
• Play “I Spy”.
• Place the cards in a pocket chart and have students take turns reading them. 
• Change the flashcards to a small size so you can use them in sensory bins.

Winter Lesson Plans

You can also use this lesson plan this week with the suggestions in this blog post. Bookmark this page and come back to it for ideas during therapy sessions.

Winter Lesson Plans Objectives:

• Students will be able to identify common winter objects.
• Students will be able to match winter objects to their corresponding flashcards.
• Students will be able to name winter objects.

Day 1 & 2: Introduce the Winter Vocab

Initially, introduce the concept of winter. Talk about some of the things that happen in winter, such as snow, ice, and cold weather. 

• Watch some of the videos I mentioned here to introduce winter-related vocabulary words. 
• Go on a virtual field trip so your students can experience winter!
• Read winter books and point out all the winter vocabulary words.
• Show the students the winter flashcards, then point to each flashcard and name the object.

Day 3 & 4: Play a Winter Vocabulary Game

Play is also an important part of learning, too! It helps kids to learn new words and concepts in a fun and engaging way so it can be more beneficial. In addition, games help with problem-solving, following directions, turn-taking and more!  

Winter Memory Match Game:

In order to play this game, print out two copies of each set of winter themed vocabulary flashcards.

Then, place the cards facedown on the table. The students have to take turns lifting two cards, then try to find a match for each of the vocabulary cards. 

Most important, after the student has found a match, have them:

• Describe the winter vocabulary word using the Expanding Expression Toolkit (EET). In particular, the EET is a tool that can help students understand and use new vocabulary words.

• Then, figure out what part of speech the word belongs to and why. 

• Come up with synonyms of antonyms for each winter word. 

• Use the winter word in a sentence, such as “Icy hockey is a sport you play on frozen ice.”

Winter Charades:

You can also play charades with the cards. Once a student picks a winter flashcards, they have to describe the word (without saying it!). Of course, the other students have to guess what the word is. 

This helps in developing descriptive language skills so your students can increase their vocabulary.

Winter Word Categories: 

Use winter flashcards to play a word categorization game. 

For example, your students can sort the flashcards into categories, such as “things that snow on” or “things that you do in the snow.”

In brief, this is a great way to help kids learn new vocabulary and build their categorization skills.

Word Association with Winter Words

Show a flashcard to a student, who then has to say the first word that comes to mind. This can lead to interesting discussions about word meanings and relationships.

Day 5 & 6: Winter Writing Activity

If you have older students, then you can incorporate writing into this winter activity. 

Firstly, provide the students with the winter vocabulary flashcards.  Then ask them to write on a sheet of paper or in their notebooks.  Here are some winter writing activities you can try:

• Create a story using 2 or more of the flashcards. Specifically, students can flashcards to help them develop their story. This would be a great activity for a writing center.
• Compare and contrast 2 winter vocabulary words. How are the winter words related?
• Write a poem using the winter flashcards printable.  Then, students can write about the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of winter.

If you have younger students, they can create a simple or compound winter sentence using the winter words. 

Differentiation:

• For struggling students, provide them with more support by giving them a smaller set of flashcards to match (e.g., only have a few cards on the table).
• For older students, challenge them to create their own winter flashcards (in Canva!).

Winter Books for Speech Therapy

Winter themed books are important for kids because they can help them learn about the season, the words associated with it, and the different activities that can be enjoyed during winter.

This is a great way to help students understand the meaning of the words in the story.  

Here are some of my favorite winter books:

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehners

This story is all about the adventures of snowmen at night! Students will see what snowmen do at night – from sledding, to skating and sipping cocoa!

Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright

Sneezy the Snowman has a big problem! He's always cold and trying to warm up. The kids attempt to help him, but he just keeps melting! Such a fun story that teaches about problem solving and teamwork.

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

The bear is deep into hibernation, but as he sleeps, various woodland animals gather in his den to sleep. While they light a fire, brew tea, and share food, the bear continues to snore on…. What will happen when he wakes up?

What's your favorite winter book to read in speech therapy?

Winter Flashcards Bingo

If you want a fun and interactive way to review winter vocabulary, play bingo.

Specifically, the therapist can create a bingo board with pictures of winter-related objects. You can also use a bingo board that is no prep, like the ones from my blog post. Students can then take turns calling out words, and the first person to get five in a row wins.

If you need some winter bingo boards and calling cards that are low-prep and ready to use, check out this other blog post:  Winter Bingo Free Printable.

When you click this link, you'll get immediate access to 7 bingo games for Winter:

Best Winter Bingo Free Printable Games for Kids

Go on a Winter Field Trip

Since speech pathologists don’t usually take their students on field trips, we can take a virtual field trip to a winter-themed location! 

This is a great way for students to see winter in action and also learn new vocabulary words.

☃️ Getting Ready for Winter Field Trip

Watch and see how animals get read for the winter!

🏰 Ice Castle Virtual Field Trip

Check out all the fun ice sculptures in this virtual field trip!

🐻 Hibernating Mammals Virtual Field Trip

Learn all about hibernation and how animals hibernate!

If your students live in a warm climate, taking them on a virtual winter field trip is a great idea!

Watch Winter Videos

Watch videos about winter with your students. This is another great way to introduce them to new vocabulary words and learn about different aspects of winter.

😮 American Home Videos Winter Fails (Older Students)

Firstly, these winter fail videos are perfect for your speech room. Kids and teens love humor; nothing grabs their attention like a good, harmless fail video.

These clips show winter scenarios gone hilariously wrong, which helps keep students engaged, so check them out today!

Here's how you can use this video in your speech room (NOTE: just make sure the videos aren't blocked when showing them at school).

• Prediction Practice: Before playing a clip, pause and ask your students what they think might happen next. This encourages them to use clues from the video and their own experiences to make predictions.

• Understanding Non-Verbal Cues: Winter fails involve a lot of physical comedy, so use the videos to talk about body language and facial expressions. Then, ask your students what the people might be feeling or thinking in the video.

• Cause and Effect: After watching a clip, discuss the sequence of events. Ask your students to identify what caused the fail and the effect it had. This not only targets inferencing skills but also helps with sequencing and understanding logical outcomes.

• Social Skill Building: You can also use these videos to discuss expected and unexpected reactions to failures and mistakes. It’s a great opportunity to build empathy and understanding, as well as to discuss resilience and humor as coping mechanisms.

🥶 Winter Weather Video (younger students)

This video is all about winter weather. This would go great with my winter clothing flashcards so your students can learn what to wear in the winter!

Play winter-themed games

Play winter-themed games with the students. This is a fun way to learn new vocabulary words and have fun at the same time.  So, check out some ideas for winter themed games here.

Sing winter songs: 

Sing winter songs with the students. This is a great way to introduce them to new vocabulary words and learn about different aspects of winter.

Animals in Winter ( A song about animal adaptations)

Find out what animals do in the winter and how they adapt.

Winter Song (Fun in the Snow)

You can talk about all the fun activities that students can do in the snow with this video!

Winter Pokey (Kid Kaboomers)

This video is great for working on clothing and following directions.

Storytelling Winter Prompt

You can also use winter flashcards to give kids storytelling prompts.

For example, show them a picture of a snowman and ask them to tell you a story about him. This is a great way to help kids develop their creativity as well as their storytelling skills.

Create a Winter Words Book

You can also create a winter vocabulary book with your students. This is a great way for them to review the vocabulary they have learned about winter.

I have lots of adapted books for winter in my Canva library (for example, this one that targets Christmas words).

If you want more adapted book templates, then check out this blog post:

Adapted Books for Autism: The Ultimate Guide for Engagement!

With these templates, you can create your own adapted books for autism so you can target the exact words your students are struggling with. 

Target Winter Vocab with ESL Students

If you work with ESL students, you can easily translate the flashcards to a foreign language in Canva!

To translate your Canva templates into another language, just click “Resize” from your menu bar. Then, click on “Magic Switch.”

Then, put in the language you want to change your document into.

After that, choose which pages to apply the changes.

If you want to know more about all the Canva Magic Editor tools, then check out my blog post:

Winter Flashcards Art

After discussing the different winter vocabulary words, you can play a YouTube video where they can draw or create pictures.

Therefore, here are a couple of fun videos from Art Hub for Kids. 

How To Draw a Winter Landscape

How to Draw a Skiing Squirrel

How to Draw a Hot Chocolate Mug

This is a great way for students to express their creativity while learning new vocabulary words, such as skiing and hot chocolate.

Winter Cards DIY

Making your own flashcards is a great way to personalize the learning experience and make it more engaging, so go ahead and try it today.

✨Please remember that these winter flashcards are for personal use only. Therefore, these templates can not be used to create winter flashcards for commercial use. ✨

Firstly, choose a book (I listed some of my favorites above).  Then, grab your winter flashcards Canva template.  

Edit the template to include images of storybook characters, settings, or other winter vocabulary you want to target.  Download the file as a PDF and then print them out.

Suggestions for Making Your Winter Flashcards

I love pairing books with interactive activities. You can read a winter book with your students and then create flashcards that include images from the story.

You can also use a snowy or winter-themed background in your winter flashcards printable to make it more festive.

Depending on the book you use, you might want to include some of the following types of vocabulary words:

• Winter book characters (for example, include a sneezing snowman or an old lady eating snow).
• Winter settings (e.g., ski slope, winter wonderland, frozen lake, etc.)
• Vocabulary words directly from the book.  If you’re reading “There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!”, include images of all the things the cold lady swallows.

Additionally, using a variety of fonts and colors can help make your flashcards more visually appealing and easier to read.

These are just a few ideas for how speech therapists can use winter-related words in their activities. By using a variety of activities, therapists can help their students understand the vocabulary and have fun at the same time.

How to Download the Winter Flash Cards as a PDF File

Due to the digital nature of this product, you will have to access your flashcards through Canva.  All you have to do is click the link to the download page. 

If you want to find out more about how to use Canva for Education, then head to my blog post: How to Use Canva for Education

If you have trouble downloading these Canva templates, you can always visit Canva’s help center with any questions.

Still can’t find the answer?  Feel free to leave a comment below!

Describing Winter – Adjectives Galore

Winter is a season of contrasts (e.g., the days are short and the nights are long). The weather can be cold and snowy, or mild and rainy. But no matter what the weather, there are plenty of adjectives to describe winter.

Here are a few adjectives for winter flashcards printable:

In speech therapy, we use descriptive language to help kids build their vocabulary and communication skills. Kids who use descriptive language can better express themselves and understand the world around them.

Therefore, here are some example sentences you can use to target adjectives!

• Cold: The weather in winter is often cold, with temperatures ranging from the 20s to the 40s Fahrenheit.
• Snowy: Winter is a snowy season, and, therefore, many areas receive significant snowfall.
• Icy: The roads and sidewalks can be icy in winter, which also makes it dangerous to travel.
• Windy: The wind can be strong in winter, making it feel even colder on windy days.
• Dark: The days are shorter in winter (i.e., less sunlight) which means it is often dark outside.
• Quiet: The world can seem quiet in winter, because fewer people and animals are out and about.
• Peaceful: Winter can be a peaceful time of year, with the hustle and bustle of summer gone.
• Cozy: Winter is a time for cozying up inside especially when you have a warm fire and a cup of hot cocoa.

Winter Themes for Speech Therapy

Winter is a wonderful time of year to incorporate seasonal themes into articulation therapy sessions. So many fun and engaging activities can be used to target articulation, vocabulary, and language skills.

If you want more articulation resources, check out my other blog post “Free Vocalic R Worksheets for Articulation Therapy” to learn more!.

Snowball Toss:

This activity can target articulation of plosive sounds, such as /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, and /g/. Have the child stand far from you and then toss a fake snowball or cotton ball.

You can buy fake snowballs at Target or Walmart or crumple up a piece of paper.

As the child catches the snowball, have them say the sound that the snowball makes.

For example, if the child catches a snowball that makes a “plop” sound, have them say /p/.

Snowflake Sounds:

Create paper snowflakes, each with a different target sound written on it (e.g., /s/, /sh/, /th/). Then the child practices the sound each time they fold and cut to make a snowflake.

Winter Sound Stories

Create a short story about snow or winter, with frequent use of the target sounds. Then, the child reads the story aloud, focusing on the correct articulation of the specific sounds.

You can do this easily in ChatGPT!

Here is a simple prompt I use to create my snowy sound stories:

You can copy and paste the prompt below into ChatGPT, Bard, or Google Docs.

“You are a speech pathologist and you are creating a reading worksheet for a student who has difficulty with articulating sounds. Write the reading worksheet with the following specifications:

• The student is in the [XX] grade and is [XX] years old.
• Use simple language and make sure the story or passage makes sense.
• The student has difficulty saying these sounds correctly: [XX]
• Make sure to include other winter related words that include this sound [XX] in the initial, medial, and final positions of words.”

If you want more prompts for busy SLPs, check out my blog post below to get over 100 free prompts for ChatGPT!

Adapting Winter Activities for Different Skill Levels

The activities listed above can be used in individual therapy sessions, as well as small groups.

You can also adapt the activities for different skills and ages.

Younger students:

For example, for younger learners, you may want to use simpler activities that focus on one or two skills at a time.

Older students:

If you work with older students, use more challenging activities that require them to use multiple skills together.

Multiple Goals:

You can also adapt the activities to meet the specific needs of your students.

For example, if a student struggles with articulation, you may want to focus on activities that target specific sounds.

If a student has difficulty with vocabulary, then you can focus on activities that help them to learn new words.

Therefore, adapting activities to different age groups and skill levels can make speech therapy more effective for your students.

Winter Flashcards Printable

This set of winter flashcards includes 36 images that include a frosty blue border. The winter flashcards printable will be approximately 2×2 inch squares. ✨Please note that all these resources are for classroom use only. ✨

Here are the words included in this winter flashcards printable Canva template:

Settings

• Antarctica
• North Pole

Winter Animals

• Arctic wolf
• Orca whale
• Penguin
• Polar bear
• Reindeer
• Seal
• Walrus

Clothes

• Boots
• Coat
• Earmuffs
• Goggles
• Hat
• Mittens 
• Scarf
• Socks
• Sweater

Winter Activities

• Basketball
• Ice hockey
• Ice skates
• Ice skating
• Sledding
• Skis
• Snowboarding

Winter Vocabulary

• Blanket
• Cabin 
• Evergreen tree
• Fireplace
• Hot chocolate
• Iceberg
• Melting
• Snowflake
• Snow globe
• Snowman
• Thermometer
• Wind

If you want more winter activities, then go to my winter bingo boards blog post to get all the free templates. –> Winter Bingo Free Printable Sets

Winter Memory Match

If you need a fun game to play with your students, then grab these winter memory match vocabulary cards. There are 27 cards to print out and three blank cards (to write your own winter vocabulary words!)

Each card set includes a winter image inside of a festive snow globe.

The winter images include various animals (e.g. polar bear, penguin). They also include winter clothes, such as scarf, hat, and boots.

If you want to target just winter activities (e.g., sledding, basketball), then just print those images out.

Winter Verbs Sensory Bin

These winter verb flashcards are perfect for your winter sensory bin.

Add lots of fun winter related items into the sensory bins (e.g., fake snow, confetti, winter erasers, torn paper, and blue and white pom poms).

Here are the winter verbs targetted by these sensory bin cards:

• Building a snow fort
• Drinking hot chocolate
• Making a snow angel
• Throwing snowballs
• Sledding
• Shoveling
• Snowtubing
• Snowboarding

Winter Clothes Flashcards Printable

These winter clothes flashcards are a fun and interactive way to learn and practice the names of winter clothing items.

The flashcards include photos of young children outside in the winter weather.

They are actively engaging in winter activities, such as building a snowman, sledding, or having a snowball fight.

This makes the winter clothing flashcards more relatable and also engaging for young learners

The picture cards are repetitive, which also makes them great for word recognition and vocabulary skills

Christmas Flashcards

There are 36 photographic Christmas flashcards you can use with your autistic students to identify and express Christmas words. These cards come in both black and white and color. The words included are:

• bells
• bow
• candy cane
• carolers
• Christmas card
• Christmas lights
• Christmas tree
• cookies
• elf
• evergreen tree
• family
• garland
• gingerbread house
• gingerbread man
• hot chocolate
• milk
• mistletoe
• Mrs. Claus
• North Pole
• nutcracker
• ornament

• peppermint
• pinecone
• poinsettia
• present
• reindeer
• Santa Claus
• Santa's sack
• sleigh
• snowflake
• snowglobe
• stocking
• toybox
• toys
• tree topper
• wreath

If you need some free and editable templates for Christmas speech therapy activities, check out my blog post!

Download all the free templates featured in my blog post: Free Christmas Speech Therapy Activities in Canva –>

Matching Christmas Vocabulary Flashcards

This matching Christmas vocabulary flashcards set includes 32 illustrated Christmas images and matching definition flashcards.

Your students will enjoy matching the words with their definitions!

Moreover, this set of matching downloadable winter flashcards printable sets for Christmas can be differentiated for younger or older students.

All you have to do is add or remove some flashcard pairs.

Penguin Flashcards

Each penguin flashcard features a different penguin body part. This is helpful to your students who are working on describing winter vocabulary words – especially when you are working on “Pink Parts.”

These 6 large winter flashcards printable include the following penguin body parts (in color and b&w):

• beak
• blubber
• feathers
• flipper wing
• tail
• webbed feet

If you want more penguin parts activities, then you can check out these other templates in my freebie library!

Free Canva Educator Freebie Library

If you want more editable and free resources, click here now to grab all the free penguin resources –> www.speechzella.com/canva-educator

Winter Animals Flashcards

There are 16 lined and illustrated picture vocabulary cards that feature different polar animals. Each flashcard comes in both color and b&w.

Here are the polar animals that are included:

• arctic fox
• arctic wolf
• bald eagle
• elephant seal
• leopard seal
• marmot
• musk ox
• narwhal
• orca whale
• penguin
• polar bear
• reindeer
• sea otter
• snowshoe hare
• snowy owl
• walrus

If you need more resource types, then check out my winter speech therapy activities in Canva :

Valentine’s Day Flashcards

These colorful cards include 18 Valentine's day related words with a bright red border.

Here are the words that are included:

• balloons
• bouquet
• bow
• box of chocolates
• candy
• candy heart
• card
• cupcake
• envelope
• forget-me-nots
• heart
• hugging
• locket
• ribbon
• rose
• sharing
• teddy bear
• Valentine's Day

If you need more Valentine's Day speech therapy ideas, then check out my blog post below!

Valentine’s Day Basic Concepts Flashcards

You can also target basic concepts on Valentine's Day with these colorful flashcards. Each flashcard has a question, and then the student has to pick the correct picture from four choices.

You can then work on vocabulary and basic concepts with these cards. Here are the included cards:

• Who is holding a bouquet?
• Who is holding a teddy bear?
• Who is holding a present?
• Who is holding a rose?
• Which girl is holding a bear?
• Which boy is holding a bear?
• Which girl is holding a rose?
• Which boy is holding a rose?
• Which jar has many candies?
• Which jar has a few candies?
• Which jar has no candies?
• Which jar has 1 candy?
• Which one is empy?
• Why one is full?
• Which one is whole?
• Which one is half?

So, check out these Valentine's Day cards today to get ready for the special day.

If you need more Valentine's Day Speech Therapy ideas, then go to my Vday blog post:

St. Patrick’s Day Words Flashcards

There are 18 St. Patrick's Day words flashcards that you can download from Canva.

Here are the words also included in this winter flashcards printable set:

• 4 leaf clover
• bagpipes
• green
• gold coin
• harp
• horseshoe
• Ireland
• Irish flag
• Irish jig
• kilt
• leprechaun hat
• leprechaun shoes
• leprechaun
• potatoes
• pot of gold
• rainbow
• shamrock
• seventeenth

If you want more St. Patrick's Day speech therapy activities, then check this blog post:

To access these winter flashcards printable, then just download the free Canva template.

After that, you can customize the size, font, and colors to suit your needs.

St. Patrick’s Words Matching Flashcards

There are 8 total St. Patrick's Day words identification cards.

Each card includes 3 St. Patrick's Day images with a word above them, so the students have to identify the correct word that matches the image.

If you are looking for even more St. Patrick's Day worksheets and resources for speech therapy, check out this blog post —>

St. Patrick's Day Worksheets Blog Post

Conclusion

In conclusion, winter flashcards printable sets provide a rich and engaging context for language development and articulation practice. Moreover, by incorporating winter flashcards, games, storytelling, and creative writing, you can cater to a diverse range of learning styles and needs.

So, whether you're creating winter stories or going on virtual field trips, these winter resources are designed to bring a little bit of the season's magic into your speech therapy sessions. Don't forget all these materials are also conveniently available and customizable in Canva, which makes your prep easier. Lastly, always feel free to share your own winter therapy success stories or additional ideas in the comments below, as we all continue to learn and grow together in our quest to support our students' language development.