I love using boardgames to add a little variety to my therapy sessions. Games are motivating, promote good social language skills (turn taking, following directions, being a good sport), and can be tweaked to fit speech and language goals if needed. This year I bought a few more additions for my boardgame closet and I thought I would share my new favorites with you. A list of some basic boardgames that I like for speech and langauge can be found HERE. I linked each of these games to Amazon but you can get them at other places.
I Can Do That
Ages: 4-8 ish
Why I love it:
-Great for following multi-step directions
-Teaches prepositions
-Teaches verbs (can be modified for present progressive and past tense)
-Gets the kids moving while they are talking!
-Great extender for the book "The Cat in the Hat"
-Kids love it!
*tips to make it better: take out the STOP cards, they are pointless if you are working multi-step drections, also this game is not great for kids with gross motor delays unless you modify it, plus it does have a lot of manipulatives that can be tricky for kids under 3.
I Can Do That
Ages: 4-8 ish
Why I love it:
-Great for following multi-step directions
-Teaches prepositions
-Teaches verbs (can be modified for present progressive and past tense)
-Gets the kids moving while they are talking!
-Great extender for the book "The Cat in the Hat"
-Kids love it!
*tips to make it better: take out the STOP cards, they are pointless if you are working multi-step drections, also this game is not great for kids with gross motor delays unless you modify it, plus it does have a lot of manipulatives that can be tricky for kids under 3.
Suspend
Ages: 6+
Why I love it:
-Great way to help target easy onsets (fluency)
-Good for generic drill (say __ 10x and take a turn)
-Slows kids down, makes them think
-Problems solving and critical thinking
-Interactive play, work together, talk cause and effect
-Targets fine motor skills
Ages: 6+
Why I love it:
-Great way to help target easy onsets (fluency)
-Good for generic drill (say __ 10x and take a turn)
-Slows kids down, makes them think
-Problems solving and critical thinking
-Interactive play, work together, talk cause and effect
-Targets fine motor skills
Busy, Busy Airport
Ages: 3-7 ish
Why I love it:
-Fantastic for pretend play
-Great for categories (weather, clothes, ect.)
-Makeing basic inferences
-Gets kids moving
-Uses reasoning and problem solving
-Good for basic math
-Fun pieces and game board
*tips to make it better: I took out the little slots at the bottom of the gameboard that are supposed to hold the passengers...it takes FOREVER to put each passenger in a slot at the airport, now we just dump them all in and pick 1 or 2. Also be gentle with the planes, they are just thick cardboard, not plastic...I wish they were a little more sturdy.
Ages: 3-7 ish
Why I love it:
-Fantastic for pretend play
-Great for categories (weather, clothes, ect.)
-Makeing basic inferences
-Gets kids moving
-Uses reasoning and problem solving
-Good for basic math
-Fun pieces and game board
*tips to make it better: I took out the little slots at the bottom of the gameboard that are supposed to hold the passengers...it takes FOREVER to put each passenger in a slot at the airport, now we just dump them all in and pick 1 or 2. Also be gentle with the planes, they are just thick cardboard, not plastic...I wish they were a little more sturdy.
Busytown, Eye Found It
Ages: 3-7 ish
Why I love it:
-The gameboard is super big!
-Builds cooperative play skills
-Great to extend into language goals
-Find categories, functions, ect.
-Good for basic vocabulary and counting
-Describing and adding detail
*tips to make it better: you can use the timer or not depending on your child's needs
Ages: 3-7 ish
Why I love it:
-The gameboard is super big!
-Builds cooperative play skills
-Great to extend into language goals
-Find categories, functions, ect.
-Good for basic vocabulary and counting
-Describing and adding detail
*tips to make it better: you can use the timer or not depending on your child's needs
Snap Circuits Jr.
Ages: 7+
Why I love it:
-Cause and Effect
-Integrages science with language
-Problem Solving
-Good for /r/ and /s/ target practice
-Following directions
-Predicting
*this comes in bigger sets but for the sake of a therapy session the Jr. version is perfect.
Con: the motor for the fan eats up batteries faster than I like
Ages: 7+
Why I love it:
-Cause and Effect
-Integrages science with language
-Problem Solving
-Good for /r/ and /s/ target practice
-Following directions
-Predicting
*this comes in bigger sets but for the sake of a therapy session the Jr. version is perfect.
Con: the motor for the fan eats up batteries faster than I like
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