Top 5 Games for Language
Believe it or not, you do not have to buy special games to work on your child’s speech and language! There are several games out there you may already play that work on these skills. Here is a list of my top 5 games to work on speech and language skills!
Zingo!
I love Zingo! It is a game that can target several different skills and can be played with a wide age range. I have played this with children as young as 2.
Skills:
Vocabulary - There are a wide array of pictures on the cards, and the cards contain the picture and the written word. So, if you have an older child, you can work on reading single words.
Matching - The point of the game is to look at the tiles that are revealed and see if you have a match on your card.
Following directions/taking turns - You can take turns sliding the tile dispenser, and you can only grab a tile that is on your card.
Attention - You have to maintain attention to task in order to play and win the game!
Articulation - The pictures offer a wide range of sounds and several CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) word shapes. CVC word shapes are great to work on for children who are leaving off the final consonant in words.
Candyland
Candyland is a classic! I know I played this as a kid, and I’m sure several of you reading this have as well. I know the original board game can be long and hard for younger children to attend to. There is a shorter version available that I use with younger children. You can find it HERE.
Skills:
Following multistep directions - You have to draw a card, look at it, and then move your piece according to what it shows.
Color naming/identification
Counting
Taking turns
Attention
Seeds for the Birds
This game is a collaborative game. No one “wins” or “loses.” You all are working together to achieve a common goal which is to help Mama Bird collect seeds for her baby birds and not let the squirrel get them!
Skills:
Working as a team
Following multistep directions - You flip over a card, it shows you who to give seeds to and how many, and then you place the seeds where they go.
Attention - This game requires attention to follow arrows that direct what seeds to place where.
Counting
Several opportunities to work on the /s/ and /z/ sounds.
I like several games from this company, Peaceable Kingdom. They make different types of collaborative games. It is important to teach the skill of winning and losing, but it is also important to acknowledge that there isn’t always a winner and a loser and teamwork is important. Click HERE to see more games.
Sneaky Snacky Squirrel
A fun game where you are trying to collect all of your acorns before other players, but watch out for the Sneaky Squirrel!
Skills:
Fine motor - There is a squirrel that is like big tweezers to pick up the acorns with.
Following multistep directions
Color matching, naming, identification
Attention
Taking turns
Matching Games
Any type of matching game is great! There are so many different varieties from specific characters (e.g., Minnie Mouse) to general items (e.g., animals). It doesn’t matter what type of matching game it is. Now, if you are wanting to work on building your child’s vocabulary in a certain area, then you would want to try to find a game that contains that vocabulary.
Skills:
Vocabulary
Matching
Memory - I know when you typically play a matching game you place the cards face down and take turns flipping them over. If your child is not ready for this step, that is okay! Work on matching the pictures while they are face up. I also recommend decreasing the number of matches. Matching games can come with a large number of cards. Most children are not ready to have all the cards out.
Taking turns
These are just a few games I like playing with children to work on developing their speech and language skills. There are all kinds of wonderful games out there! As you can see, there are some skills that are targeted across all games. Hopefully, this list will help you think about how certain games your family likes to play can help develop certain skills.