National Day Themes in January – Week 1: Fresh Speech Therapy Themes for the New Year
- shannon | speech hamster
- 1 day ago
- 14 min read
January 1-7
January shows up each year with its usual “new year, new goals” energy, which actually works in our favor in the therapy room. The first week offers a lineup of playful, hands-on themes that naturally invite conversation and support a wide range of speech and language skills.
Welcome to National Days in January Week 1! Even though most schools don’t start back until after the first, New Year’s Day (January 1) still earns a place on the calendar with simple goal-setting activities that ease everyone into January without requiring grand resolutions. National Drinking Straw Day (January 3) brings low-prep tasks students enjoy far more than expected, while National Bird Day (January 5) opens the door for describing, categorizing, and the occasional unsolicited bird impression. And National Bobblehead Day (January 7) adds a bit of wobble and silliness – just enough to keep things fun without completely throwing off your routine.
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Use the table below to explore some of the national days celebrated the first week in January. To avoid scrolling fatigue, use the quick links to view activity ideas and book suggestions for each theme.
View other weeks in June:
January National Days Week 2 (January 8 - 14): coming soon
January National Days Week 3 (January 15 - 21): coming soon
January National Days Week 4+ (January 22 - 31): coming soon
To view themes for all 12 months head over to 10 Reasons to Use National Day Themes for Easy Speech Therapy Planning.
*Free resource links listed here may change over time. Please check the original source for current availability and terms.
January National Days Week 1
Date | National Day Quick Links |
January 1 | |
January 2 | |
January 3 | |
January 4 | |
January 5 | |
January 6 | |
January 7 |
January 1:
🎉 New Year’s Day (January 1)
About: New Year’s Day marks the start of a new calendar year and is celebrated around the world with traditions that symbolize hope and renewal. It’s a perfect time for reflection, fresh starts, and simple goal setting with students.
Fun Facts:
The first recorded New Year celebration dates back over 4,000 years to ancient Babylon.
In some cultures, eating 12 grapes at midnight brings luck for the 12 months ahead.
Sydney, Australia, is one of the first major cities to celebrate the new year due to its time zone.
Articulation: Complete an articulation “countdown” activity. Using 10 articulation cards/words, students practice the first word 10x, the second word 9x, the third word 8x and so on. When the countdown is complete, they will have practiced 55 words!
Phonological Awareness: Create rhymes for “happy,” “new,” and “year.” Formulate sentences using these rhyming words. Clap syllables in words like “fireworks,” “countdown,” and “celebrate.”
Vocabulary: Discuss words like “resolution,” “goal,” “countdown,” and “celebrate.”
Listening: Follow directions to create a “fireworks collage” with tissue paper and glue.
Following Directions: Practice two-step directions with party items (e.g., “Put the hat on the table, then blow the horn”).
Sequencing: Using an everyday activity (e.g., brushing teeth), challenge your students to break the activity down into 10 sequenced steps.
Narratives: Tell a short story about staying up until midnight after students have brainstormed what details could be included in the story.
Crafts: Make a “Goal Garland.” Each student writes or draws one speech goal on a paper circle and strings them together to hang in the classroom.
Popular Children's Books:
Shante Keys and the New Year’s Peas – Written by Gail Piernas-Davenport, illustrated by Marion Eldridge: A young girl learns about her grandmother’s New Year’s tradition of eating black-eyed peas and explores how others celebrate. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
The Night Before New Year’s – Written by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Amy Wummer: A family excitedly prepares for midnight, only to discover the kids might not make it that far. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution – Written by Pat Miller, illustrated by Kathi Ember: Squirrel learns what a resolution is and helps her friends make their own 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
P. Bear’s New Year’s Party – Written and illustrated by Paul Owen Lewis: A clever counting story about polar bears celebrating the new year with style.📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
January 2:
🚀 National Science Fiction Day (January 2)
About: Celebrated on Isaac Asimov’s birthday, National Science Fiction Day honors imaginative stories that explore space, technology, and the unknown. It’s an easy way to bring pretend play, curiosity, and creative thinking into speech sessions.
Fun Facts:
Isaac Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books in his lifetime.
The first known sci-fi film, A Trip to the Moon, was made in 1902.
Some real inventions, like submarines and cell phones, were inspired by science fiction stories.
Articulation Asteroid Catch: Crumple small pieces of paper into “asteroids.” Write a target word on each.Student catches one (or grabs one from a bowl), says the word multiple times, then tosses it into a bin labeled "black hole".
Phonological Awareness: Segment target words into syllables. Write out each syllable. Mix and blend the syllables to make fun new alien words (e.g., sun-ny, se-cret = suncret, seny).
Vocabulary /Space Pre-fix Play: Introduce astro-, tele-, micro-, auto- and name real word examples like astronaut, telescope, microphone, autopilot. Then have students make up nonsense sci-fi words using these prefixes: astropet, telebug, microrocket.
Have them illustrate their new words.
Describing: Create and describe an “Alien of the Day” by choosing 3 attributes: color, size, number of eyes, method of moving, type of planet they live on, etc. Students choose vocabulary from word banks like: tiny, enormous, glowing, spiky, stretchy, metallic, hovering.
Following Directions: Follow one-step or two-step directions to draw your own robot using shape clues (e.g., “Draw a square body, then add triangle arms”).
Narratives: Create a story about visiting another planet or discovering a new underwater civilization. Use transition words to help organize events.
Open Ended Activities: Play “Would You Rather?” with space choices (e.g., “Would you rather live on the moon or underwater?”).
Crafts: Make a paper “UFO” by gluing foil onto a plate and decorating it with stickers or googly eyes.
Popular Children's Books:
Aliens Love Underpants – Written by Claire Freedman, illustrated by Ben Cort: Silly aliens visit Earth for one hilarious reason—to steal underpants. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resources on TpT]
Interstellar Cinderella – Written by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Meg Hunt: A futuristic twist on a classic fairy tale where Cinderella repairs rockets instead of wearing glass slippers. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resource on TpT]
The Way Back Home – Written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers: A young boy accidentally flies to the moon and finds friendship with a stranded alien. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resource on TpT]
There Was an Old Martian Who Swallowed the Moon – Written by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Steve Gray: A spacey spin on the classic “Old Lady” tale with rhymes and humor. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
January 3:
🥤 National Drinking Straw Day (January 3)
About: National Drinking Straw Day celebrates the invention of the paper drinking straw by Marvin C. Stone in 1888. It’s a fun theme to explore blowing, sucking, and breath control—perfect for oral-motor warmups and playful speech practice.
Fun Facts:
Early straws were made from natural rye grass, which gave drinks an odd flavor.
The first paper straw was wrapped around a pencil to form its shape.
Plastic straws became popular in the 1960s but are now being replaced by eco-friendly options.
Straw-ticulation: place picture cards inside small cups and have students use a straw to “suck and move” the card from one place to another, practicing the target word each time they transfer it.
Phonological Awareness: Explore the sounds in words like straw, sip, suck, bubble, or soda. Clap syllables, identify beginning and ending sounds, or change one sound to make a new word (sip → sit → pit).
Vocabulary: • Introduce straw-related words such as bendy, flexible, reusable, biodegradable, and paper. • Sort different types of straws (pictures or real ones) into categories like color, texture, material, or purpose. • Discuss where straws are used, who uses them, and why some places encourage alternatives such as metal or paper.
Following Directions: Set up a “straw obstacle course” on the table and give directions like “Blow the cotton ball past the cup, then around the pencil.” Students follow multi-step or conditional directions as they complete the path.
Sequencing: Order steps for making chocolate milk. Talk through the steps of how to drink through a straw.
Open Ended Activities: Use a sensory bin with straws of various sizes and colors. Students choose a straw, say a target word or complete a task, then sort, build, or create patterns.
Crafts:
Create a straw sculpture by cutting and connecting pieces with string or pipe cleaners.
Make a simple straw painting by blowing paint across paper through a straw.
Check out these free straw rocket resources on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Popular Children's Books:
Straw – Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon
Straw loves being the fastest at everything until an unexpected moment helps him realize the value of slowing down. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
Straws in Order – Written by Katie Kable: This story follows a group of animals who learn how organizing their straws helps them work together and solve everyday problems. As they sort, stack, and categorize the straws, they discover that order makes their world easier to navigate and a lot more fun.. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
The Last Straw – Written and illustrated by Zoe Matthiessen: a polar bear and her cub travel through an ocean filled with plastic waste, including discarded straws that threaten their Arctic home. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
January 4:
🍝 National Spaghetti Day (January 4)
About: National Spaghetti Day celebrates everyone’s favorite long, swirly pasta dish. It’s a great day to work on sequencing, describing, and food-related vocabulary through sensory-rich play.
Fun Facts:
Spaghetti comes from the Italian word spaghetto, meaning “thin string.”
Tomato sauce didn’t become common with pasta until the late 1700s.
The longest spaghetti noodle ever made measured over 2.8 miles.
Articulation: Use strips of paper as “noodles.” Each strip gets a target word, Students gather noodles to build a full plate.
Phonological Awareness: Pretend that the spaghetti is magically sticky — it only sticks to certain words: words with 2 syllables, words with /s/, words that rhyme with “noodle.” Students sort picture cards or word cards depending on your goal.
Vocabulary: Play a "spaghetti or not spaghetti" comparison game. Show pictures of objects that look like spaghetti but aren’t: yarn, shoelaces, worms, rope, noodles, string cheese. Students decide whether each item is “spaghetti” or “not spaghetti” and explain why.
Describing: Spaghetti Tower Challenge – Give students dry spaghetti and mini marshmallows. They work together to build a tower. Ask them to describe their process; prompting them to use: first, next, then, finally… tall, longer, shorter, stronger…collaborative language like “Let’s try,” “What if…?”
Inferencing: Write clues on pieces of paper then crumple them up and place these "meatballs" a bowl full of yarn noodles. Students pull a meatball, read or hear the clue, and guess the mystery item (food, animal, object).
Narratives: Use imaginative prompts such as "The spaghetti that tried to escape" or "A noodle that wouldn’t stop growing".
Open Ended Activities:
This is a great time to pull out an SLP favorite, Yeti in My Spaghetti game.
Set up a sensory bin full of yarn noodles, pom-pom meatballs, and utensils for spontaneous describing, sorting, and target-practice opportunities.
Crafts: Create spaghetti faces using yarn noodles for hair, eyebrows, and mouths. Students build an emotion, describe it, then explain what made the noodle feel that way.
Popular Children's Books:
Strega Nona – Written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola: A magical pasta pot overflows when a curious helper forgets how to stop it. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resources on TpT]
Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun – Written by Maria Dismondy, illustrated by Kimberly Shaw-Peterson: A story about being true to yourself, even when your lunch looks different from everyone else’s. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resources on TpT]
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – Written by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett: A tall tale of a town where food falls from the sky. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resources on TpT]
January 5:
🐦 National Bird Day (January 5)
About: National Bird Day encourages appreciation for birds and the importance of conservation. It’s perfect for descriptive language, categories, and nature-based conversation starters.
Fun Facts:
There are over 10,000 species of birds around the world.
Some parrots can mimic human speech and sounds.
The Arctic tern migrates more than 25,000 miles each year.
Articulation:
Feed a bird picture “seeds” with target words written on them or use strips of paper with words written on them as "worms". See Brainiac Education's free Feeding the Birds fine motor activity on TpT. It could work well as an open ended activity.
Place target words inside plastic eggs.
Use clothespins as "beaks" to pick up articulation cards (placed half on/half off a table).
Phonological Awareness:
Identify beginning sounds in bird names like “r” for robin and “p” for parrot.
Clap out syllables in words like "egg", "feather", "hummingbird"
Vocabulary:
Teach bird-related words such as beak, feather, nest, wing, glide, swoop, and perch. Check out A to Zebra's free Bird Anatomy Worksheet on TpT.
Sort birds into categories such as water birds, flightless birds, or backyard birds.
Discuss habitats using words like forest, desert, jungle, and Arctic.
Following Directions/Listening:
Follow directions to draw or color a bird with simple prompts such as Give your bird two blue wings or Add three feathers to its tail.
Have students listen for details in short facts or descriptions and identify which bird is being described.
Describing:
Describe birds using size, color, shape, movement, and sounds.
Compare two birds using sentence frames such as This one is…, but this one…
Sequencing: Use the pictures from Simply Science's free Life Cycle Mobile for a Bird (TpT) to sequence the life cycle of a duck. Or browse other free bird life cycle resources on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Narratives:
Tell a story using a starter such as "A little bird got lost in the forest…"
Create a character profile for a bird and tell a short story about its day.
Open Ended Activities: Grab Mrs. Learning Bee's free Pete Cromer Inspired Bird Templates on TpT to create a color-by-number open ended activity OR The Passionate and Fun Classroom has a free color the bird by number worksheet already created (TpT).
Crafts:
Search free Bird Crafts on Teachers Pay Teachers for inspiration.
Students design and build a birdhouse by choosing from sets of options: shape, number of windows, color, perch style. They describe their design or follow your description to build one with shapes.
Popular Children's Books:
Owl Moon – Written by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr: A father and daughter venture into the snowy woods to find an owl. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resources on TpT]
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! – Written and illustrated by Mo Willems: A determined pigeon tries to convince readers to let him drive a bus, using persuasive language and expressive reactions. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resource on TpT]
Feathers for Lunch – Written and illustrated by Lois Ehlert: A cat sneaks outside for a feathered snack but finds only trouble. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
January 6:
🫘 National Bean Day (January 6)
About: National Bean Day recognizes the variety of beans grown and eaten worldwide. It’s an easy food theme that ties into colors, counting, and sorting—all great for speech and language goals.
Fun Facts:
Beans are one of the oldest cultivated foods in the world.
They’re high in protein, fiber, and vitamins.
There are thousands of bean varieties, including kidney, pinto, black, chickpea, and lima beans.
Articulation: Play a bean bag toss game with target words. Add point values to add a bit of competition!
Vocabulary / Describing:
Sort beans by size, shape, or color using vocabulary such as bigger, smaller, smooth, speckled, round, oval, or shiny.
Discuss how beans grow and introduce words like plant, sprout, harvest, soil, soak, boil, and dry.
Following Directions / Listening:
Give students simple or multi-step directions such as Put three beans in the cup, then stir or Scoop once, then move two beans to the plate.
Read short bean facts and have students identify key details or answer who, what, or where questions.
Create a bean pattern and have students copy it while following positional language such as "put the red bean next to the yellow bean" or "place two beans under the spoon".
Sequencing: Grab LWR by Mint's free Life Cycle of a Bean Craft on TpT to use as a sequencing activity.
Narratives: Brainstorm and map out a story about a “magic bean” that grows into something silly.
Open Ended Activities: Use beans as manipulatives for counting, graphing or sentence building.
Crafts: Make a “bean mosaic” picture on cardstock with glue.
Popular Children's Books:
Jack and the Beanstalk – Mara Alperin, illustrated by Mark Chambers: AThis retelling follows Jack as he climbs a towering beanstalk into a giant’s world, where he must use bravery and quick thinking to make it back home. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resources on TpT]
One Bean – Written by Anne Rockwell, illustrated by Megan Halsey: A step-by-step story of planting and growing a bean. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud]
The Cool Bean – Written by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald: A once-popular bean feels left out when his old friends become “the cool beans,” but he soon discovers that kindness matters more than image. 📖 [Amazon Link] 🎥 [YouTube Read Aloud] 🛒 [Free Resources on TpT]
January 7:
🤪 National Bobblehead Day (January 7)
About: National Bobblehead Day honors the wobbly collectibles with oversized heads that nod and bounce. It’s a lighthearted way to talk about movement, balance, and emotions in speech sessions.
Fun Facts:
The first modern bobblehead appeared in the 1960s as a sports collectible.
Some bobbleheads are handmade and considered works of art.
Collectors’ bobbleheads can be worth hundreds of dollars.
Crafts: Use bobblehead craft activities to target following directions, sequencing or as an open ended activity.
Make mini paper bobbleheads with drawn faces attached to folded paper strips for necks.
Here is a YouTube link to Easy Kids Craft's channel filtered to bobblehead crafts.
Search these (paid) bobblehead resources on TpT for inspiration.
You can also search paper bobblehead Pinterest boards for inspiration.
Toys: Littlest Pet Shop Pets (or similar) can be used to demonstrate the concept of bobbleheads and incorporated easily into therapy sessions as well.
It's a limited selection of activities, but it's such a fun National Day that it shouldn't be missed. Let your creativity flow and feel free to share any other ideas you have in the comments below.
How These National Days Add to Your Therapy Routine
Between National Science Fiction Day (January 2), National Spaghetti Day (January 4), and National Bean Day (January 6) and more, there’s no shortage of quirky opportunities for practicing language without reinventing your entire therapy plan after winter break. These themes help keep sessions light, predictable, and just interesting enough to hold attention again. Week 2 shifts into an equally welcoming mix, with Bubble Bath Day, Word Nerd Day, and Sticker Day ready to keep things playful and low-prep as January unfolds.
See More National Day Themes for January:
January National Days Week 2 (January 8 - 14): coming soon
January National Days Week 3 (January 15 - 21): coming soon
January National Days Week 4+ (January 22 - 31): coming soon
Quick Link to View All 12 Months: 10 Reasons to Use National Day Themes for Easy Speech Therapy Planning (each month's themes are noted at the end).
Hi! I'm Shannon, creator of Speech Hamster. If you have found the information in this blog post useful, there's more where that came from! Subscribe to the Speech Hamster Newsletter to gain access to the Free Resource Library; a hub containing a host of National Days downloadable resources and so much more!
Portions of this blog post were drafted with AI prompt assistance then reviewed and edited by me.
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