Oral Motor Exercises for Children: Free Expert Guide

Introduction 

Oral motor exercises are exercises for the mouth, lips, jaw and tongue. There are plenty of reasons to make oral motor exercises and taste sensory activities a part of your child’s therapy plan. This is especially true for children with autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or sensory processing disorders. 

In this article, you’ll learn about the importance of oral motor and taste exercises for children with specific developmental needs. We’ll also cover some fun and practical ways to encourage your child to engage with these exercises, making them effective and enjoyable.

Additionally, we will discuss the Soundsory® program and how it complements oral motor exercises for holistic child development. Soundsory® is a 40-day program that can boost kids’ neurodevelopment. The program pairs enhanced rhythmic music with holistic, whole-body exercises. 

Key Take-Away Messages

Why use oral motor exercises and taste sensory activities for children?

Oral motor and oral sensory impairments can: 1. Hinder a child’s ability to communicate 2. Hinder a child’s ability to complete self-care tasks such as eating and teeth brushing Oral motor exercises and oral sensory activities can: 1. Improve a child’s communication  2. Improve a child’s ability to complete self-care skills 3. Be coupled with other skill-building activities 4. Be fun 5. Be done at home

Try Soundsory®, a unique blend of music and movement therapy, to enhance your child’s neurodevelopment. 

What are oral motor exercises?

Oral motor exercises are intended to improve the strength, coordination, and mobility of the tongue, jaw, lips, and mouth. They help your child develop the coordination needed to properly form words and sounds (articulation).

Oral motor activities can also help to increase a child’s ability to complete self-care activities such as teeth brushing and eating. Strong oral motor skills are needed for chewing food, drinking liquids, managing saliva, and moving food and liquids within the mouth.

Eight expert-approved oral motor exercises for toddlers and kids

We’ve gathered eight of the best expert-approved oral motor exercises to help improve your child’s oral motor skills. No special equipment is required, but you can use the expert tips and your imagination to make these oral motor exercises interactive and engaging.

We’ve included three versions of each exercise:

• Original: instructions for you to give to your child
• Modified: instructions for you, the parent, to assist your child
• Simplified: instructions for you to assist your child further

1. Open and close the mouth 

• Original: Ask your child to open and close your mouth. Repeat this five times, pausing in between each one. 
• Modified:  Use your fingers as gentle tactile cues to guide your child’s jaw open and closed.
• Simplified: Use a mirror, tactile cues, and parent modeling to encourage your child to open and close their mouth. You can use a puppet made of a sock to demonstrate the motion.

Expert Tip: To help your child stay engaged, turn this exercise into a game by asking them to open and close their mouth like a puppet.

2. Puff cheeks out 

• Original: Ask your child to fill their mouth with air and puff their cheeks out.
• Modified: Use your fingers as gentle tactile cues to encourage your child to puff their cheeks out.
• Simplified: Use a mirror, tactile cues, and parent modeling to encourage your child to puff their cheeks out.

Expert Tip: Blowing up balloons will naturally encourage your child to puff their cheeks and out and will provide an incentive to complete this exercise multiple times.

3. Kiss lips

• Original: Ask your child to bring their lips into a kissing shape.
• Modified: Use your fingers as tactile cues to encourage your child to purse their lips into a kissing shape.
• Simplified: Use a mirror, tactile cues, and parent modeling to encourage your child to purse their lips into a kissing shape.

Expert Tip: For younger children, have them practice kissing their stuffed animals. For older children, putting on chapstick or lipstick and then “kissing” paper or the mirror can be a fun activity.

4. Fish lips

• Original: Ask your child to make their lips look like big fish lips (you can show your child a picture of a fish with big lips).
• Modified: Use your fingers as tactile cues to encourage your child to make the fish lips.
• Simplified: Use a mirror, tactile cues and parent modeling to encourage your child to do fish lips.

Expert Tip: Pretend you are in a large fish tank, turn yourselves into fish by making fish lips and “swimming” around the room.

5. Lick lips

• Original: Ask your child to run their tongue along their top and bottom lips
• Modified: Use tactile cues to encourage your child to lick along their top and bottom lips.
• Simplified: Use a mirror, tactile cues, and parent modeling to encourage your child to lick along their top and bottom lips.

Expert Tip: Make this a taste guessing game. Place different foods on your child’s lips and have them guess what the food is. This is a great way to experiment with new flavors.

6. Stick tongue out 

• Original: Ask your child to stick their tongue out.
• Modified: Use your fingers, toothbrush, or eating utensil to gently press on the tongue to encourage your child to stick their tongue out.
• Simplified: Use a mirror, tactile cues, and parent modeling to encourage your child to stick their tongue out.

Expert Tip: Turn this exercise (and others) into a game using dice or a deck of cards. Assign each die number or card with an exercise. When the number is rolled or the card is drawn, your child can complete the corresponding exercise.

7. Stick tongue out, move side to side

• Original: Ask your child to stick their tongue out and move it side to side. You can use a mouth-safe object, such as food, an eating utensil, or a toothbrush, as a target for the tongue.
• Modified: Use your fingers as tactile cues to encourage your child to stick their tongue out and move it side to side. You can use a mouth-safe object, such as food, an eating utensil, or a toothbrush, as a target for the tongue.
• Simplified: Use a mirror, tactile cues, and parent modeling to encourage your child to stick their tongue out and move it side to side.

Expert Tip: Place peanut butter or another sticky food on each side of the mouth and ask your child to lick it off, going left to right and then right to left.

8. Stick tongue out move up and down

• Original: Ask your child to stick their tongue out and move it up and down. You can use a mouth-safe object, such as food, an eating utensil, or a toothbrush, as a target for the tongue.
• Modified: Use your fingers, a toothbrush, or an eating utensil to gently press on the tongue to encourage your child to stick their tongue out and move it up and down. You can use a mouth-safe object, such as food, an eating utensil, or a toothbrush, as a target for the tongue.
• Simplified: Use a mirror, tactile cue,s and parent modeling to encourage your child to stick their tongue out and move it up and down. 

Expert Tip: Sandwich cookies with cream stuffing inside are a good incentive to stick the tongue out and move up and down to remove the cream stuffing. If the cream stuffing provides too much resistance, use applesauce or whipped cream on a plate. 

Expert Tips on How to Make These Sensory Activities Fun and Engaging

Oral motor exercises are most effective when completed consistently. Your child is more likely to engage in oral motor activities if they are fun.

Fun oral motor activities can include:

• Blowing bubbles in water with a straw
• Blowing bubbles with a bubble wand
• Blowing up a balloon
• Blowing a balloon or ping pong ball across a table.
• Making silly faces in a mirror.
• Drawing shapes in yogurt, applesauce, or whipped cream with their tongue.

• Blowing Bubbles in Water with a Straw

1. Fill a cup or bowl with water and soap (if you are sure your child won’t drink the soapy water).
2. Give your child a straw and demonstrate how to place the straw just below the water’s surface.
3. Have them take a deep breath and gently blow through the straw, making small bubbles in the water.
4. Encourage your child to blow slowly..
   

• Blowing Bubbles with a Bubble Wand

1. Fill a small bubble container with bubble solution.
2. Show your child how to dip the wand into the solution and gently blow through the wand to make bubbles.

• Blowing Up a Balloon

1. Give your child a small, uninflated balloon.
2. Demonstrate how to blow up the balloon by taking a big breath and blowing through the opening.
3. Encourage them to blow as hard as they can, but remind them to take breaks if they get light-headed.
   

• Blowing a Balloon or Ping Pong Ball Across a Table

1. Place a balloon or a ping pong ball on one side of a flat surface.
2. Have your child blow the balloon or ping pong ball to the other side of the surface.
   

• Making Silly Faces in a Mirror

1. Find pictures or videos of different facial expressions.
2. Take turns imitating the faces in a mirror.
   

• Drawing Shapes in Yogurt, Applesauce, or Whipped Cream with Their Tongue

1. Spread a thin layer of yogurt, applesauce, or whipped cream on a plate or tray.
2. Demonstrate how to use the tip of your tongue to draw simple shapes or letters in the substance.
3. Encourage your child to try drawing circles, lines, or even their initials with their tongue.

To increase the fun factor and to use other parts of the body, oral motor activities can be paired with fine motor games, texture exploration, eye exercises (link to sister page), or within a daily program such as  Soundsory®.  

How often should your child practice oral motor exercises?

Kara Tavolacci, SIPT certified Occupational Therapist, answered this question.

“How long and how often to do any exercise is often a question that gets asked.  As with all exercises, the more intense and frequently you do them, the quicker you are to see changes.  That being said, everyone is different, everyone has different capacities and different goals they may be working on.”

“Younger children will have shorter attention spans, so you might do less repetitions but more frequently throughout the day or week.  Older kids may be able to handle more repetitions and for longer periods of time. There are really many ways to introduce oral motor exercises.  They can be easily introduced and incorporated into daily routines by completing them prior to meal time.” 

Kara also gave a couple of signs that it may be time to stop an exercise:

1. If your child has mastered the exercises or improved in the skill you were targeting. 
2. Fatigue or burnout; if your child complains about the exercise and avoids doing it.  With any exercise, you can always take a break and then circle back to it. That’s the great thing about the flexibility of exercises.

Conclusion

Oral motor exercises and taste sensory activities are a great way to help your child’s development. Speech and eating skills are closely linked, and as one improves, the other often does too. For a holistic approach to improving your child’s development, try Soundsory®; the 40-day program that pairs whole-body movement exercises with enhanced rhythmic music.

FAQs | Oral Motor Exercises

Do oral motor exercises actually work?

Research says they do. One study gave young children a four-week oral motor therapy program. The program was targeted towards age-appropriate feeding and swallowing. They found that the children’s speech and articulation improved after the program, indicating a link between eating skills and speech. [1]

Another study tested oral motor exercises with children who had cerebral palsy and moderate eating difficulties. After 10 weeks, the kids’ eating, spoon feeding, chewing and swallowing skills improved. [2]

What is the difference between oral motor exercises and oral sensory activities?

Oral motor exercises focus on improving the coordination and strength of the muscles of the jaw, lips, and tongue. Oral sensory activities focus on helping a child process sensations such as textures and temperatures in the and around the mouth. 

How can oral sensory activities help with my child’s sensory processing difficulties?

Oral sensory activities can increase your child’s ability to have various textures and temperatures of food in and around their mouth which is important for eating a variety of texture of foods.

How can oral motor exercises and oral sensory activities help with mealtimes?

Oral motor exercises can strengthen the muscles needed to safely manage food in the mouth. Research shows oral sensory activities, such as tactile play, help children become desensitized to sensations they avoid. This desensitization carries over to foods of similar consistency. Therefore, playing with a non-food item can increase the oral acceptance of non-preferred, wet food items with similar consistency. [3] For example, oral sensory activities such as drawing in shaving cream or pudding can assist with the tolerance of creamy food textures such as yogurt.

How can I support my child who wants to be more independent with practicing their oral motor exercises and engaging in oral sensory activities?

Providing your child with more independence can help increase their willingness to complete their oral motor and oral sensory activities. Here are some ways to support independence such as:

• Providing pictures or easy to access videos of the oral motor activities and oral sensory activities.
• Setting an alarm to indicate when your child should practice.
• Allowing your child to choose the order of the activities.

How can I incorporate oral motor exercises and oral sensory activities into a daily routine?

Oral motor exercises and oral sensory activities can be incorporated into a daily routine by 

• Doing them at the same time everyday,
• Incorporating them into playtime, or 
• Completing them during other daily tasks such as the daily commute or before a mealtime.

References

1. Kollia, B., Tsiamtsiouris, J., & Korik, P. (2019). Oral motor treatment: Effects of therapeutic feeding on articulatory skills. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 47(1), 14–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852352.2018.1547305
2. Gisel, E. G., Applegate-Ferrante, T., Benson, J., & Bosma, J. F. (1996). Oral-motor skills following sensorimotor therapy in two groups of moderately dysphagic children with cerebral palsy: Aspiration vs nonaspiration. Dysphagia, 11(1), 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00385801
3. Julia M. Hawkins, Julia Ferringer, Emily Grambo, Hannah Murkens, Jillian Smith, Emily Scifo; Tactile Play and Oral Acceptance of Wet Food Items. Am J Occup Ther August 2021, Vol. 75(Supplement_2), 7512505127p1. doi: https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2021.75S2-PO127