Here are 10 of my favorite games for fostering speech and language development. (This article contains Amazon affiliate links)
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1: Pop the Pig
Ages : Preschool-1st grade
How to Play : Roll the colored dice. Choose a burger that matches the color you rolled. Look at the number under the burger. Put the burger in the pig's mouth and push his head down X number of times based on the number under the burger. You can decide as a group if popping the pig means that you win or lose.
Skills : Colors, numbers, social skills, requesting, commenting, and negation (e.g. the pig did NOT pop)
Ages : Preschool-1st grade
How to Play : Each player starts with a raccoon or koala. When it's your turn, roll the dice to see what color/pattern and type of clothing you will need to choose (e.g. shirt, pants). Then choose an outfit that matches your dice and talk about who you are dressed up as (e.g. surfer, cowboy).
Skills : Colors, patterns, clothing vocabulary, social skills, requesting, commenting, and people
3: Educational Insights
Ages : Preschool-1st grade
How to Play : Take turns spinning the spinner. Use the squeezers or spatula to pick up objects, but be careful, because you could also lose objects too!
Skills : Colors, counting, shapes, social skills, fine motor skills, requesting, commenting
Ages : Preschool-1st grade
How to Play : Try to get the cupcakes back from Grumpy Toad! Spin the spinner and sing songs, act out physical activities, and say your favorites (e.g. food, animals) to get the cupcakes!
Skills : fine motor skills, gross motor skills, vocabulary, social skills
5: Peaceable Kingdom Games
Ages : Preschool-1st grade
How to Play : These are cooperative games in which all players work together to complete the game.
Skills : cooperations, social skills, strategy, planning, organization, conversation skills, vocabulary
6: Zingo
Ages : Preschool-1st grade
How to Play : Get a zingo card. When it's your turn, use the zingo device to pop out 2 tiles. See if any of the tiles match the ones on your card. From here, you can tailor the game to meet your needs (e.g. share the tiles with someone else who needs it).
Skills : vocabulary, sentence formulation, wh questions, matching
7: HedBanz
Ages : K-4th grade
How to Play : This is a game of guess what I am. You can have the player ask 20 questions style to guess their card, or you can have each player give a clue.
Skills : vocabulary, describing, categories, inferencing, deduction, formulating sentences, question formulation, social skills, cognitive skills
8: Guess Who
Ages : K-3rd grade
How to Play : Ask the other player questions to try and figure out who they are.
Skills : reasoning, strategy, deduction, describing, vocabulary, question formulation
9: Apples to Apples
Ages : K-high school (depending on the version you get)
How to Play : One player (the judge) chooses a card. The rest of the players choose a card that they think best describes the card played by the judge. The judge then picks one card as the winner. This game can be funny, silly, and/or educational!
Skills : vocabulary, describing, synonyms, antonyms, comprehension, social skills
10: Guess in 10
Ages : Preschool-4th
How to Play : Tailor this game to meet your need! Ask 10 questions to guess the animal, one person gives clues to see which player can guess the animal first, or everyone gives a clue to help one player guess the animal.
Skills : vocabulary, describing, reasoning, inferencing, deduction, asking questions, formulating sentences
Happy playing!
-Sarah (: