Outdoor Fourth of July Speech and Language Fun!

The Fourth of July is just around the corner, but it's not too late to for last minute activities to tie in to your therapy sessions!  Here are a few of our favorites that require minimal prep time but are sure to be a hit with your kids!

Independence Day Ring Toss
This activity requires small flags and hula hoops or other rings that fit around the the flags.  Simply put the flags in the ground and have students toss the rings over the flags.  This activity would be so easy to incorporate with any speech sound or specific language skill such as naming categories, synonyms and antonyms, etc.

Fourth of July Balloon Game
I have done this activity before, and it was a HUGE success.  Attach a large popsicle stick to a paper plate using masking tape.  Your kids may want to decorate the stick and/or plate with patriotic colors using markers, paint, glitter, etc. Blow up a balloon, and have your kids volley it back and forth.  It is a great activity for teamwork, social referencing, and encouraging others.

Fourth of July Scavenger Hunt
The Military Wife and Mom has a free download for you to use.  It's a great way for kids to learn about the Fourth of July and target themed vocabulary at the same time!

Ice Chalk
Create ice chalk (click on link above for recipe) and use it to draw Fourth of July symbols and talk about their meaning.  You may want to create a game of Pictionary or write speech words with your kids' target sounds as they relate to the Fourth of July.

Red, White, and Blue Memory
This activity works best with a group of kids.  Sit in a circle and begin naming things that are red, white, and blue.  As each person adds an item, he or she needs to recall what the others have already named.  This is a great skill for working on auditory memory as well as categorization.

This is just a small sample of activities that are out there!  Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below!

Happy Fourth of July!

Our Five Favorite Games for Perspective Taking

This year, we have six social skills group, more than what we've ever had.  And of course, all groups have different skill levels.  It seems that no matter what bag of tricks we try, all students show needs with perspective taking at some level.  Some students need very structured scenarios in which to practice while others need to work on generalization.  Regardless of skill level, we (as in students AND staff) need a break.  A break with purpose, of course!  This is when we turn to some of our favorite perspective taking games, and in no particular order (drum roll please), here they are!

What's Yours Like
This game was a fantastic thrift store find at $2.99!  In this game, one player is in the Hot Seat, meaning the player tries to guess a word known by all other players.  Each player except for the person in the Hot Seat provides one word describing what theirs is like.  The player in the Hot Seat tries to guess what is being described.  We modify the game a bit for our fourth and fifth graders, but the end result is still the same!  (We also use this game with students in our articulation groups to facilitate carry-over!)

Whoonu

We love this game! A little competition with a lot of perspective taking is the key.  In each round, players try to guess the Whoozit's favorite thing.  All other players hold several cards in their hands and chose the card they think best represents the Woozit's favorites.  The Woozit mixes up the cards and ranks them from his/her favorite to least favorite, and the other players receive tokens with point values according to the card rankings.

Bubble Talk

This game is sure to to supply a fair share of giggles!  Students choose one player to be the judge, who in turn deals caption cards to each player, turns over a picture, and places it in the center of the players.  Next, the players look at their cards and select the funniest caption card that they think best matches the picture card and place it face down.  The judge mixes up the cards and picks the one that he/she feels is the funniest.  The player of that card is the winner of the round.

Password

Whatever version of the game you have, it's definitely an oldie but a goodie.  (We typically play using the rules for three players even if we have more students than that.)   One player, the giving player, gives one clue to the other players, receiving players.  The receiving players make one guess for each clue given.  When a guess has been made, the giving players determines if the word is the "password."  The first receiving player to guess the word correctly receives the point for the word.

Apples to Apples

It seems as if this game is in almost everyone's game closest, and why shouldn't it be?  For those of you who haven't played this game, you'll notice it's played similarly to Whoonu. A judge is picked; he or she deals five red apple cars to every player.  (Apple cards are nouns such as ice, zippers, and the President.) Then the judge places a green apple card, face up, on the table.  (Green apple cards are descriptive words such as dreamy, arrogant, and speedy.)  The players chose one red apple card that he or she thinks is most like the green card.  The judge mixes up the red apple cards, turns them over, reads them, and chooses the card he or she thinks is most like the green apple card.

We would love to hear what games you use to target perspective taking!  We are always looking to expand the "funness" and engagement factors in our room!

Pop-up Pirate Pragmatic Skills

This summer in while thrifting I discovered Pop-up Pirate. by Tomy. My hope was to use it as a reinforcer, but found it to be a great visual way for my students to think about conversational turns and staying on topic. This is how to play:

1. The pirate is placed into a spring-loaded barrel and rotated to randomize the unlucky slot.

2. Players must take it in turns to insert plastic swords into slots in the side of the barrel.

3. If a player inserts the sword into a specific slot (which changes randomly every time the game is played), the pirate is launched out of the barrel.

This is how I modify it:

There are four colors and each color has six swords, making it perfect for a group of up to 4 students to take up to six conversational turns (each with a different color). Every time they add to the conversation they place a sword in the barrel. It can also be played by designating the colors as questions or comments to encourage a mix of both comments and questions if a student only makes comments or only asks questions. When the pirate pops up we end a conversation topic. Students take turns picking a topics.

I am finding that this game also motivating to students as they like to pick topics, watch the pirate pop-up and think of questions and comments. Overall very fun for Summer Social Skills.

Top Ten Therapy: Board Games.

Games are a great way to spend time with friends and family. For us they are also a fun way to teach  speech, language, thinking and conversational skills. Some games we incorporate into therapy are great reinforcement to for students to work as well. Here are ten we love:

1. Hedbanz- This is amazing for problem-solving, expressive language and conversational interactions. Players have a minute to ask questions in a yes or no format (Such as,"Am I furniture?"). Kids then figure out what the object on their headband is by piecing the clues together. It comes with 74 cards, 6 headbands, and 24 chips. Who is able to guess what they are first wins the round.

2.  Pass the Pigs-This is a great game for a reinforcer or conversation and for 8-12 year olds is very entertaining. It is also portable as the game comes in a pocket travel case containing 2 pig dice, two pencils and scoring booklet. The pigs used are actually minitures with a dot over their right flanks. The way to win is to be the first to reach 100. Using the pigs like dice you throw them in hopes of scoring points. Each roll you can score 1-60 points. Depending on where they land you can score a snouter, trotter, or leaning jowler but watch out for the "oinker" or you lose all of your points and have to start again.

3. Pictionary- This a classic drawing game where players are divided in teams. One designated artist draws a card and team members take turns guessing what the artist drew. Teams compete against each other to have the most guessed words. We use this a lot with students at the conversation level for articulation. When rapidly saying their guesses it is a trick to remember their speech sounds.

4. Apples to Apples Junior- Apples to Apples is a card game that works great for vocabulary, decision making and as a reinforcer. In speech it is great when students are working on vocabulary as it has nouns which are the red cards and adjectives which are the green cards. It can only be played when you have 3 or more players. There are a few different versions and age groups but we like the junior edition as the adult version has some adjectives and nouns that are not as appropriate for kids.

5. There's a Moose in the House- This game is great for kids from 3 all the way up to teens. It is a game that is quick and easy to pick up and is great when working in between practice for articulation/fluency or at the end of a session as a reward. With continuous turns, it only takes a few minutes to play but is fun and is a great conversation piece. In this silly game the goal is to keep moose out of your house while at the same time trying to give moose to your opponents. With the use of doors and moose traps players try to keep moose out. At the end of the game the player with the fewest moose wins.

 6. Rory's Story Cubes- Play it as a game for one or more players, or as a way to generate discussion with students. Full instructions include several other ways to use the cubes to solve problems, break up writer's block, enhance your imagination and heighten your ability to find unifying themes among the diverse images.

 

7. Sandwich Stacking  Games- There are several games that you can play with this set and directions for 10 games are listed in the set. It helps kids to work on memory and matching skills and can be used for asking/answering questions. It is for ages four and older. 

 

8. What's in Cat's Hat?-Great game for prediction and inferencing in preschool and early elementary.  We play this a little differently than the instructions to get students to work on describing skills. Here is how we play - One player places an object in the Cat's Hat and then gives clues to his opponents while they ask questions. The person to guess the mystery object wins the round. The person who wins the most rounds wins the game.

9. Crocodile Dentist- Press the teeth down until the Crocodile's Jaw snaps down. Great for preschool age as a reinforcer. They love to play this. At times as well we have students feed the crocodile articulation cards.

10.  Whoonu?   We use this one with social skills groups to try to work on perspective taking…what would someone else choose?

What are your favorite board games?