18 July 2013

Miss Speechie's Top 10 Favorite Games to use in Therapy!

Are you looking to add new games into your therapy rooms?!  Are you wondering how I use common, open-ended games?!  Keep reading!!

Below, is my top 10 list of games I love to use in my speech room!  I tried picking different games then I have featured in previous posts!!

10.  Connect Four: I love to use this game!  I use it when I work individually with students (student vs. myself) or when there are groups of two.  Students must drill or answer a question and then can take a turn.  It helps work on social skills and problem solving skills while practicing speech/language skills!



9. I Spy Go Fish Card Game: This game is great for those with little storage space or traveling SLPs.  It is exactly as it sounds, a card game!  But each card has pictures to be found!  Students must play "go fish" and ask for one of the items in each picture.  Can they guess the main picture in each card to ask the correct question?  I use this game to work on fluency, articulation, asking questions, social skills, and so much more!

8. Perfection:  Are your students competitive?  Are you looking for ways to bring in more competition into your speech rooms?!  Have students take turns competing in this game as a reward for working hard on their speech sounds!  Who can get the most pieces in before time runs out?
7. Honey Bee Tree: This game is just like the game Kerplunk but it is more child friendly and easier to use for those with OT difficulties.  After students answer questions or practice their various skills/strategies, they can take turns taking out leaves.  Who will make less bees drop?  Your students will be requesting to play this game over and over!

6. Simon:  Do you remember this game from YEARS back?!  It is a great way to work on following directions and memory skills.  It is also just fun!  Students must watch the colors light up and remember then in order to press the buttons in the correct order to imitate!  Can also work on prepositional and sequential concepts!

5. Cat In The Hat: I Can Do That Game!: Have fun practicing Dr. Seuss vocabulary while following multi-step directions!  The props are fun and engaging!  The cards provide tasks for students to complete with the props.  You can change the way the game is played based on the levels of your students.  There are up to three task cards students can pick for each turn such as "take four giant steps" and "with a cake" and "on your head."  Perfect for SLPs!!!
4. BopIt:  This is probably the most requested game in my therapy room!  Students must practice their "whole body listening" strategies such as ignoring background noise and no talking while another student is listening.  They must listen and follow the directions quickly and accurately.  We like to use the "pass it" mode where students are also given directions to pass it around to the next student.  It is a great way to reward students at the end of a session if free time while still working on auditory memory/comprehension strategies!
3. Zingo: This game is just like BINGO using common objects.  Practice matching, labeling, turn taking, prepositions, answering questions, and other social skills with this game.  The dispenser is just motivating in itself!

2. Crocodile Dentist:  Do you remember this game from a while back?  Who doesn't love alligators/crocodiles?  This game teaches cause/effect, turn taking, dentist vocabulary, prepositions, and is a great way to reward students for working on their skills!  Students must pull out a tooth without the crocodile closing it's mouth on them! Ah!
1. Stare Junior: This game is great for working on memory, visualization, answering questions, and higher level thinking.  It is great for working with older students.  You can even use this game with articulation/fluency students when working on carryover into the conversational level.  Students must "stare" at a picture (cute and motivating) until a timer runs out.  Then they must roll a dice to get a variety of question types that requires them to recall details in that picture.  LOVE THIS GAME!!!

What games would be on your list?  Have you tried any of these games?  Which ones are your favorites?  I would love to hear from you!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

6 comments:

  1. I'm checking out the lists from the Love It and List It linky party, and I can't believe I don't have one single game from your list. I kind of wondered if we would all have the same lists; guess not! Thanks for some fun new ideas!
    Julie
    Wide World of Speech Therapy

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your list! Crocodile Dentist is one of my favorite go-to games too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love using "Perfection" because the kids are under time constraints after they've earned all of the pieces. Sometimes games can just drag on too long, but not this one! I also use the "Honey Bee Tree" and
    "Connect 4" and my kids like both of these as well. I have a puzzle named "Izzy" and it has a million plus ways to go together and so my older kids like to earn those pieces to put together.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I totally remember having Perfection as a kid!!! Great list!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really love you game ideas! I, too, use the "Cat in the Hat I Can Do That Game", and love it! I have never played "Stare Junior", but it sounds like I need to check it out!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I used to have Stare Jr at an old job and kind of forgot about it. Will have to start looking for it at Goodwill...

    ReplyDelete