If you’re an SLP working with a
school-age population, I am almost positive you own at least one (if not
all) of the following games: Candy Land, Hedbanz, Memory, Chutes and Ladders,
etc… These are board games I started collecting in grad school because I was
sure I’d be working with the little ones. But here I am, two years out of grad
school, and working with a middle school population. I’ve learned over these
last two years that while they may often appear tough and/or “too cool for
school,” they’re still in fact, kids at heart. They love playing games,
coloring (sometimes on the desk ;), competing against one another, using (and
sometimes “ accidentally” taking) my colored pens, and so on. There are a ton of
board games for this age group that can be used as therapy tools to reinforce
skills learned in your sessions! I thought I’d introduce you to some of my
favorite games and how they can be used to target a variety of speech/language
goals for your middle and even high school students:
1.
Bafflegab
($20 on Amazon): This game is one of the BEST investments I've made. It is SO versatile.
The game comes with a deck of various adjectives, nouns, and
verbs. The words vary in difficulty, which is great because you can choose
words based on your students levels. The great part however, is that each card
has a word AND the definition. Here are three examples of cards I randomly
chose, just so you can get an idea of what they look like:
You can adapt this game anyway you like. I have students
choose at least 5 cards from the deck. I give them 3-5 minutes to generate a
one paragraph story using the words. Then, each student takes a turn sharing
their story. We vote on who has the funniest story, or which student used the most
words correctly in a sentence. Using the words correctly can DEFINITELY be a
challenge for my kiddos. Here are some areas of speech/language that this game
covers:
a)
Articulation:
Have students choose words that have to do with their target sounds. You can
have them write or say them in a phrase/sentence/paragraph/ etc…
b)
Vocabulary
skills: learning/using new vocabulary words. The possibilities for vocab activities are
endless. Students can even find sophisticated synonyms for the less complex
words.
c)
Written
language skills: Targets syntax and paragraph writing. You can also just
have students use the words in a sentence. I also make sure that they are
watching out for spelling errors/punctuation. You can choose a winner based on
who has the least amount of errors. You can make this silly (aka, students can
write about ANYTHING), or challenge them by sticking to a particular topic.
d)
Grammar
skills: PARTS OF SPEECH!!!
2.
Apples to
Apples (Junior): I’m sure most of you have this game in your closet! I
won’t spend time describing how to play it, since I assume that most of you are
familiar. When I first started in my school, the SLP who worked there before me
left behind a bunch of worksheets. I found a whole folder of worksheets that
went along with various games. When I found a worksheet for apples to apples, I
was SO excited.
Before students put down the card that they think most closely relates to
the red card, they need to explain (on paper, and then verbally) how the red
card and green card are related. They must do this in a complete sentence (see worksheet
in TPT store for example). While it might take more time to write this down,
you are targeting written language skills, and vocabulary! Apples to Apples can
be used for very similar skills as listed above for Baffle Gab.
3. Funglish:
I came across this game in an outlet store ($5) and was very interested
in it. I have never heard of it, but the
description looked PERFECT for my age group. You need to draw a card from a
deck (a noun such as ketchup, tsunami, flamingo, doctor, etc…) and then use a
variety of adjectives to describe the card that you are holding (majority of
the tiles are adjectives, but there are some nouns and verbs). Other players
have to guess what the word is that you’re describing based on the adjectives
you list. The tiles are categorized by color and include: positive/negative
traits, colors/patterns, sizes/shapes, materials, opposites, etc..
How PERFECT is this game to use for descriptive language skills?!
Students can learn how to use adjectives within their writing, add details, and
so on. You can also target vocabulary by discussing the meaning of any
unfamiliar words. Adapt this game in a variety of ways to target various goals/age
groups!
4. Rory’s Cubes:
I recently bought this on amazon when it was on sale. It’s a
tiny little box, so it doesn’t take up much space. Students roll all the cubes
at the same time and must come up with a story based on the picture that
landed. I use this game to target narrative language skills and story grammar!
I provide the students with a graphic organizer that I adapted from here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Graphic-Organizers-for-Rorys-Story-Cubes
We discuss the various story elements and why they’re
important. Students can share their stories with one another after they are
done! I’ve also used this game with a social skills group and we targeted turn
taking and staying on topic. You can also have students use particular
vocabulary words within their story, or descriptive language (carryover from the
games above, hehe ;). Challenge students to use complete, complex, and/or
compound sentences.
I can probably keep going and going, but this post is
already long enough! I hope you are able to find a game in here that can be
adapted to fit the needs of your students. My MS kids LOVE playing these games,
and I think yours will too. You can find
FREE adapted worksheets for these games on my TPT store. I uploaded them there
for easy accessJ.
If you have ANY questions, please feel free to e-mail me at gshakhnes@yahoo.com.
Visit Gabriella's Teachers Pay Teachers store here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gabriella-Shakhnes
Visit Gabriella's Teachers Pay Teachers store here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gabriella-Shakhnes
