Arnie the Articulation Teddy: Explore Sounds and Articulation With A Puppet!
A puppet program that helps young children learn about speech sound production and develop oral awareness through play. Use Arnie, move his lips and tongue to make articulation therapy engaging and visual.
How Arnie works
Arnie turns articulation therapy into a tactile, visual experience. Three simple steps to help children learn speech sounds through play.
Meet Arnie
A soft, super-cute teddy puppet (30.5 cm) with teeth, a tongue and furry lips. Children instantly connect with Arnie. The adult uses the puppet in sessions.
Watch his mouth
Move Arnie's tongue or lips to show children exactly where to place their articulators for each speech sound. Visual modelling makes the invisible visible. It helps children become aware of their own mouthparts while referring to Arnie's.
Practise together
Children practise sounds alongside Arnie using colourful picture activities and games from the 82-page program. Tips for correct production are included.
Sounds Arnie covers
Arnie can demonstrate 16 speech sounds using his movable tongue. Activities and pictures are included for each one.
Arnie demonstrates sounds where tongue and lip placement can be clearly modelled. Some sounds that require lip rounding (such as /w/) are not included.
Who uses Arnie?
Designed for anyone who supports young children's speech sound development - in the clinic, the classroom or at home.
Speech Pathologists
Use Arnie as a hands-on articulation therapy tool in 1:1 sessions. The puppet makes oral placement modelling concrete and engaging, helping children visualise where their tongue, lips and teeth need to go for each sound.
Early Childhood Educators
Bring Arnie into small group sessions to build phonological awareness and first phoneme identification. The puppet is a natural fit for preschool classrooms and circle time.
Parents and Carers
Support speech practice at home with an approach children love. Arnie makes articulation practice feel like play.
Visual and tactile articulation support
Arnie uses tactile and visual modelling to build oral awareness and phonological awareness. By showing children exactly where to place their tongue, lips and teeth, the program makes the invisible mechanics of speech production visible and concrete.
It's also far less confronting when a cute teddy is modelling the sounds, rather than an adult!
The program targets first phoneme identification and correct sound production - foundational skills for clear speech. Activities are designed to work in both structured therapy sessions and play-based learning environments.
What's included
A physical teddy puppet posted to you plus an instant digital download of the full program. Print the resources or view them on a tablet, laptop or interactive whiteboard.
- The teddy is 30.5 cm tall.
- Movable tongue insert to show tongue placement. This is a felt tongue that is moved by the adult externally. A spare tongue is included in case of wear.
- The tongue can be moved forward to show /th/ sound and back behind the teeth for the other sounds.
- 82-page downloadable program (print or view on screen) including picture activities for all 16 speech sounds, tips for promoting correct sound production.
A peek inside the program
Arnie, his movable tongue, and the colourful activities designed to make articulation practice fun.
Created by a speech pathologist
Arnie the Articulation Teddy is designed by an experienced speech pathologist who works directly with children.
Lucia Smith
Speech Pathologist
Lucia is an Australian Certified Practising Speech Pathologist with over 30 years' experience.
She has been writing and illustrating for Pelican Talk Speech Therapy Resources since 2012, drawing on evidence-based practice and her extensive clinical work with children across a wide range of settings and age groups.
Lucia is also the developer of a specialist training program focused on using puppets to support social and emotional learning. This program has been listed on the Victorian School Readiness Funding Menu since 2021.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions from speech pathologists, educators and parents about Arnie the Articulation Teddy.
What age group is Arnie the Articulation Teddy suitable for?
Which speech sounds can Arnie demonstrate?
Can I use Arnie in a group setting?
Do I need to be a speech pathologist to use Arnie?
Is Arnie a physical product or a digital download?
How does the movable tongue work?
What does the 82-page program include?
Get Arnie the Articulation Teddy
The complete package includes the teddy puppet, movable tongue, spare tongue and the full 82-page downloadable program.
Puppet + Program Package
Teddy Puppet and 82 Page Downloadable Program and Resource Package
- Teddy puppet (30.5 cm)
- Movable tongue + spare tongue
- 82-page downloadable program
- Picture activities for 16 speech sounds
- Tips for correct sound production
All prices in Australian dollars. Instant digital download after purchase. Puppet posted via standard delivery.
Related resources
Other Pelican Talk resources that complement Arnie the Articulation Teddy.
Minimal Pairs to the Max
Minimal Pairs to the Max is a MUST for speech pathologists. Uses: Highligh the difference between a current (error) and the target (correct) wordUse in auditory discrimination tasks for speech , but also for spelling.Also useful for accent modification (particularly vowel pairs).This is the downloadable version. You will be sent a link for downloading on payment. 6 pairs per page arranged as...109 pages of consonant pairs (eg. bee vs. pea) including 25 pages of consonant vs. no consonant (eg. door vs. oar). 42 pages of blend/cluster pairs (eg. grass vs glass) and blend vs. single consonant (eg . cab vs. crab). 46 pages of vowel pairs (eg. warm vs worm)
The Singing Alphabet (Ants on the Apple) Package
Get young learners ready for reading and writing using these fun pictures, handwriting sheets and songsThis ever-popular resource is used in many preschools, homes and schools across Australia.It's the perfect resource for introducing young children to letters and sounds and how they relate to words.Created by three speech pathologists, the Singing Alphabet has a strong focus on sounds.No more Itchy Indian! We now have Itchy Insect! And just because we want more of an Australian feel, Kicking King has also been kicked out. We now have Kicking Kangaroo!YOU RECEIVE:Resources for 30 letters (and digraphs - digraphs being two letters that make one sound): A-Z plus CH, SH, TH (You get two options for TH; Thinking thumbs and Thirsty thylacine). Lowercase and capital letters are explored.30 high-quality colour pictures (PDF format) that can be printed as single cards, as a wall frieze or as a flipbook. The pictures can also be shown on a digital device such as an interactive whiteboard.30 blackline masters (PDF format) for colouring in and for letter-writing practice. Non-cursive and Victorian Cursive is also included.Audios of the song being sung as well as the music without the lyrics at two speeds - regular tempo and slow (MP3 format)An 8 page instruction manual.PRICE: $44This is the downloadable version. Upon payment, the files will be available to you.
Tap It Out - Syllables
Practise saying or segmenting 3 syllable words! If you are working in paediatric speech pathology or as an educator in the early years, you will use this resource over and over again. This resource is immediately downloadable on payment. It is perfect for children who are leaving off syllables in long words, (for example, saying "nana" for "banana" and "ephant" for "elephant"). This is a normal developmental error called "weak syllable deletion" that usually resolves by the age of 4 years. For some children, however, this error persists making their speech difficult to understand.The "tapping out" of syllables is called "syllable segmentation" and is also an important part of phonological awareness. We know that students who have severe reading impairment (dyslexia) find this activity particularly challenging.The learning goals of TAP IT OUT include:a child developing awareness of all syllables in a word a child saying three-syllable words correctly a child segmenting three-syllable words correctly and easily (an important phonological awareness skill)TAP IT OUT - SAYING 3 SYLLABLE WORDS is a downloadable resource available immediately as payment is processed at checkout.The resource is designed to be used in tele-sessions (via SCREEN SHARING) or on digital devices such as tablets, laptops, desktops or interactive whiteboards. Flashcards can also be printed out and cut up. What is included? Instructions for use. 37 large images - one per page (koala, magazine, astronaut etc...) 24 flashcards to be emailed home for further practice A line template - each line is tapped as each syllable is said (the template ties in with the lines used in The Billy Grasshopper Puppet and Syllables Progam and Spell Signs templates (both available from Pelican Talk). A record sheetTAP IT OUT is a great resource for: preschoolers students in their first year of formal schooling students who have persisting speech and literacy difficulties associated with multisyllabic words
Ready to make speech sounds visible?
Arnie the Articulation Teddy helps children see exactly where their tongue, lips and teeth need to go. A hands-on, engaging way to support speech sound production for preschoolers.
Get Arnie