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Board Games for Speech & Language!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

A popular question, any time of year….”What can I buy my kid for that will help with his speech?”  This post is going to answer that question!  I always think that board games are a good choice (next to books!)  for gifts because they are interactive, will incorporate basic communication skills, like turn taking, and can provide a child with a language model.
For the past week I have been polling my kids on their favorite games in my room, so I can gauge what they actually like.  This, they loved.  Although some had trouble narrowing it down and I only let them have one vote.  I have two categories of games, open-ended games that can be used to target anything and language based games.  First let’s do open-ended games…ready?  Let’s go!
So, of course, the most popular game for my littles is Cariboo by Cranium.  Which is available on Amazon for a shocking $145.  Why?  For some reason that I just can’t figure out, Cranium stopped making this game.  The kids love it.  You can target shapes, colors, and letters with this one, but it also has many multisyllabic words and early phonemes that can be good for reinforcing articulation skills.  If you keep your eyes peeled at thrift stores and garage sales, I bet you could find it!
Apples to Apples is the next most popular game that is great for language!  I have posted about this one before, which you can read here.  I love using this game to work on describing, word relationships, comparing/contrasting, vocabulary, parts of speech, and even carryover for articulation or fluency.  There are a ton of different versions available!
Blurt is next, and this is probably my favorite game.  This is great for vocabulary, listening comprehension, and word retrieval!!  You can read my full post on it here.
Hedbanz is the next most popular choice, and it should be!  This game can target a whole gaggle of speech & language goals like describing, asking/answering questions, vocabulary, carryover skills, etc. The kids just love it and it is always a lot of fun.  There are also a couple of versions of this one available, even a Disney themed one!
Guess Who? is a classic choice for language that I remember playing when I was a kid!  This game is good for asking/answering questions, describing, vocabulary and strategic thinking.  I have the version pictured above, but there are a whole bunch of different kinds you can find, including a Star Wars Edition!
I was totally shocked that none of the kids I polled voted for Ned’s Head as their fave, but I know they really like it!  This game has a huge head and you have to pull the correct object out of his head to win. The objects are pretty goofy.  We have used this to target describing, vocabulary, and categories with the included objects, but it is also fun to put other stuff inside (artic words, your own objects, flash cards, anything!)
Another one that no one voted as a favorite is Rory’s Story Cubes.  This game is fantastic for expressive language…you can target narratives and syntax, plus the kids can use their amazing little imaginations.  You can use this for just about any age….definitely a must have!
In A Pickle is a great language game that can target critical thinking, word relationships, vocabulary, and concepts of size.  I don’t take this one out a whole lot, but it’s pretty fun when we do.  It is definitely for your middle & high school kids.

Ok, Round 2 features games that you can use to target just about anything if you have a stimulus or something to practice…just have the student do one before taking each turn.

  • This is a great activity for articulation drill practice.  Have the child produce a word with their target 5 times or say a target word in a sentence!
  • Have fun with their vocabulary & Spelling lists for class…ask them to give you the definition or spell a word from their list.
  • Work on following directions by giving the student a simple command to complete, like “Raise your hand and touch your nose.”
  • Practice syntax by giving them a word to put in a complete sentence.
  • Build word knowledge by having them name objects in a category, synonyms, or antonyms.

That list could go on forever, but you get my drift.  Basic board games are also good for working on social skills like turn taking and basic communication.  You can also model good language by describing what is happening in the game and engaging the child in conversation.  The possibilities are endless!  Here are some of my students’ favorites:
CandyLand.  Duhhhhhh.  This is a favorite that I don’t think is EVER going to go away.  This one is also great for working on colors!
Jenga.  I have three different Jenga games in my room (all of which are knock-off versions, but we still call them all Jenga).  You can also write words on the blocks if you wanted to target something specific…I have one for synonyms and one for antonyms!
Another classic, Uno is pretty popular in my room.  You can also target numbers/colors with this one!
Are we on a roll with the classics?  Apparently there aren’t many new games that I own!  Lol.  Checkers is another good one, which can also be used for strategy and higher level thinking for older kids.
Ok, this is a funny story.  I bought Poppin Hoppies this summer on clearance at Target…and I had pretty low expectations.  So needless to say, this is the new most popular game in my room.  I have one 4th grader who asks to play every time he comes to speech.  Every.  Single.  Time.  Basically, all the little hoppies pop up and you have to catch them.  It is super fun and I have found that kids from Kindergarten, all the way to 5th grade like it.  Crazy, huh?
Pass The Pigs is another new one for this year and it is a hit!  Who doesn’t want to roll pigs around and score points???  My kids also like learning the names for all of the positions that the pigs can land in!

Those are all of our favorites!  Some other games on the chart that got no votes at all were:

  • Chutes & Ladders
  • Don’t Spill The Beans
  • Cootie
  • Ants In The Pants

They don’t get a ton of play time, but I still like them!

What a list!  Are any of your favorites here?  What other games do you love for your speech & language students?

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Filed Under: Articulation, Language, Randoms

Comments

  1. Sharon Schackmann says

    at

    My kids love Jumping Monkeys! I had never heard of it, but I have kids who ask for it every time they come to speech.

    -Speech with Sharon

  2. Rhonda Ryder says

    at

    Don’t forget Don’t Break the Ice, for an open-ended game! I also found a great, inexpensive card game, Déjà Moo, that has loads of great cow characters-great for describing, as you play it like Go Fish! Another cool game I found at Big Lots many years ago- Buster’s Bugs! Buster is a cute dog that you place in a fence. I have kids practice targeted skill 3-5 times, then they place a Velcro bug on his back. When all the bugs are placed, Buster starts “itching”- turn him on, he wiggles, and kids use Velcro “bug-catchers” to remove the bugs! Even 5th graders like this one!

    • SLP Gone Wild says

      at

      Confession: I hate Don’t Break The Ice. Lol. It’s so loud! I will have to look for the others!

  3. Katie says

    at

    There is also a Guess Where? game that is great.
    It’s a lot harder to find than Guess Who, but for kids working on answering where questions, it’s great!

  4. Sher says

    at

    My students love to play Go Fish – and I can use any cards that have matching pairs. That means we can play with artic cards, Thomas the Tank Engine cards, I Spy cards, any kind that have pairs. Because I work on pragmatics and game skills alot, plus maintaining focus, this game is my fave.

  5. Ally says

    at

    Thank you for the list! It saved me some searching!

  6. Karon says

    at

    I love “Spot It Junior” — it’s a small tin that I can easily fit in my bag for taking from location to location, and it’s quick and easy to play. The kids love to try to beat me. 🙂 “Pop the Pig” is another favorite at our office.

  7. Cristina Avena says

    at

    Two of my favorites ar Take the Cake and Feed the Kitty. Great for this time of year, Take the Cake has the students shake out sprinkles to decorate cakes based on matching shapes. Feed the Kitty is basically like the children’s version of Left, Right, Center. If you don’t know LRC it is basically a game of luck in which you roll three dice to see what way. Your chips or I. This game mice will go, but watch out your mouse may go into the kitty’s bowl. You might be able to save him, but if you loose all your mice don’t worry, if your neighbors still have them they may pass them to you.

My goal is simple. I want to provide you with helpful resources to engage your students in quality & creative therapy sessions

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  • Using open ended activities and games in speech therapy can make planning sessions so much easier! Here are a few suggestions that worked well for me. Do you remember the first time you were faced with a mixed group and were realllllllllly unsure about what to do? I do… picture it, St. Augustine 2007 😅 I was […]
  • Using open ended activities and games in speech therapy can make planning sessions so much easier! Here are a few suggestions that worked well for me. Do you remember the first time you were faced with a mixed group and were realllllllllly unsure about what to do? I do… picture it, St. Augustine 2007 😅 I was […]
  • Using open ended activities and games in speech therapy can make planning sessions so much easier! Here are a few suggestions that worked well for me. Do you remember the first time you were faced with a mixed group and were realllllllllly unsure about what to do? I do… picture it, St. Augustine 2007 😅 I was […]
  • Using open ended activities and games in speech therapy can make planning sessions so much easier! Here are a few suggestions that worked well for me. Do you remember the first time you were faced with a mixed group and were realllllllllly unsure about what to do? I do… picture it, St. Augustine 2007 😅 I was […]
  • Using open ended activities and games in speech therapy can make planning sessions so much easier! Here are a few suggestions that worked well for me. Do you remember the first time you were faced with a mixed group and were realllllllllly unsure about what to do? I do… picture it, St. Augustine 2007 😅 I was […]
  • Using open ended activities and games in speech therapy can make planning sessions so much easier! Here are a few suggestions that worked well for me. Do you remember the first time you were faced with a mixed group and were realllllllllly unsure about what to do? I do… picture it, St. Augustine 2007 😅 I was […]
  • Using open ended activities and games in speech therapy can make planning sessions so much easier! Here are a few suggestions that worked well for me. Do you remember the first time you were faced with a mixed group and were realllllllllly unsure about what to do? I do… picture it, St. Augustine 2007 😅 I was […]
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Meet Blob (NOT Bob)… and I’m here to tell you Meet Blob (NOT Bob)… and I’m here to tell you that you need this one in your therapy sessions.
Blob is a creature that can morph into anything and he does!  But someone keeps calling him Bob instead of by his name, which is frustrating for him. Finally he decides to just be himself, and he also stands up for himself to be called the correct name.
This one has all kinds of important lessons, and I think the name piece is super important for kids. Every child deserves to be called by their name and correctly. It’s a perfect beginning of the year book!
This book would also be great for: 
⚪️perspective taking
⚪️Targeting /b/ or /l/ clusters
⚪️Describing the different things Blob turns into
⚪️Compare and contrast
⚪️Discussing children’s interests and what they can be
⚪️Making decisions
Amazon Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3LbZDi7
What Will You Be? by Yamile Saied Medez and Kate A What Will You Be? by Yamile Saied Medez and Kate Alizadeh is such a wonderful story about a young girl and her abuela, dreaming about what she will be when she grows up.... Perfect for Grandparents Day 🫶🏻

Here's what I love about it for therapy:
👉🏼Themes of self awareness, being yourself, and interacting with the world around you
👉🏼Some figurative language that allows for deeper discussions with older students on your caseload
👉🏼Present tense verbs, including present progressive
👉🏼Lots of rich Tier 2 vocabulary with strong verbs and nouns (i.e. warrior, march, destined)
👉🏼Whimsical pictures that will engage your kids​
Have you picked this one up yet?
🎓THEY MASTERED IT!! It’s graduation day, so i 🎓THEY MASTERED IT!! It’s graduation day, so it’s the perfect day to break my social media summer break and shout out these amazing new SLPs!!!!

I started this job two years ago, and this cohort started this journey with me. To say I’m proud of them is the biggest understatement of the year. My heart is so full of love for this group of young women and they are going to be AMAZING world changers through their work as SLPs. 

I’ve learned that being a supervisor means a lot more than imparting my wisdom about being an SLP.  Teaching how to navigate life and deal with loss, and how to manage stress and work boundaries are just as important as how to do therapy or write a SOAP note. 

And for Allison… thank you for all that you taught us and continuing to look down on all of us from heaven 🤍

Happy graduation, Class of 24!! I love you all and I can’t wait to see what you do! Go Noles!!
I read 13 books last month and enjoyed every singl I read 13 books last month and enjoyed every single one!! I don’t usually share these in feed but it seems like summer is a good time to share good books 😂 My top 5 for May were…

1.  Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler was my absolute favorite. So, so good I couldn’t put it down! 5⭐️

2. When You Left Me Speecless by @authorjesschristine was delicious!! SLP romance that is SO spicy and a fun read by one of our very own. 5⭐️

3.  Idea of You by Robinne Lee was another adorable, spicy read that I tore through in one day. Followed up with the movie featuring Anne Hathaway and *chef’s kiss* 4.5⭐️

4.  The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah was intense and beautiful and made me feel all the things. Kristin Hannah could write a grocery list and I would read it. She is so consistently amazing! 5⭐️

5. Hidden Potential by Adam Grant was a fantastic nonfiction book that I read with some of my coworkers and we all agreed it was a must!  4.5 ⭐️

What have you been reading and loving lately?! Tell me in the comments so I can add it to my list 😍
Happy SLP Day, friends 🩷 YOU deserve all the ce Happy SLP Day, friends 🩷 YOU deserve all the celebration!!
I have the perfect new book for your speech therap I have the perfect new book for your speech therapy sessions::: Meet Floof 🐱 

Floof by Heidi McKinnon is an adorable new book that follows a silly cat that is doing what most cats do… getting into everything and taking naps!

What I love most about this story is the minimal words on each page, with fantastic illustrations that tell a bit of a different story. This is absolutely perfect to get your kids engaged and chatting about all the things they see Floof doing (and target verbs, prepositions, expanding utterances, and about a hundred other skills)

So many speech and language opportunities with this one, it’s a MUST read!  Want the link? Comment “Floof” and I’ll send you right over to Amazon so you can grab your own copy. 

I was provided with a copy of Floof in exchange for a review, but opinions and recommendations are all mine 🤍
Another semester done, another group of amazing wo Another semester done, another group of amazing women steal my heart ❤️ So dang lucky to get to do this work, SO proud of these future SLPs 🫶

Something that has been heavy on my heart lately::: I wish SLPs stop demonizing grad school, it’s such a problem especially on social. There are tons of people, me included, working really hard to make sure these young people have great experiences. Is it hard?  Hell yes. But can it also be amazing? Hell yes.

And if you had a terrible experience, what are you doing to change it for others?  Complaining about it on social is only doing harm to our field… and that’s fresh from the mouths of my students. It makes them anxious and scared and is such a negative influence. 

How about instead, we talk about boundaries and balancing it all, how to have difficult conversations and self advocacy, growth mindsets and overcoming challenges. How about we help prepare them instead of scare them? 

Just a thought 🌸 

Signed a tired clinical supervisor who pours her heart and soul into her grad students 🩷
For 13 years I worked as an SLP in the schools. I For 13 years I worked as an SLP in the schools. I was so happy there, I never thought I would leave… I imagined having a whole happy career in an elementary school and retiring and that would be that. 

But it wasn’t. 

The pandemic hit and I started to drown in that life that I used to love so much. So I left. And everyone said how brave I was, but I was so scared and sad and confused. Without being a school SLP, I didn’t know who I was anymore. How was my identity as a human so wrapped up in my job?  I started questioning whether or not I even wanted to be an SLP anymore. 

But I did. 

I found my way back through opportunity after opportunity. These doors that opened, led me back to my passion for a field I love. And it looks a whole lot different now than I ever imagined.

And that’s good.

We are so lucky to work in a field filled with possibilities. I tell my grad students all the time, you don’t have to pick a path and walk it forever. What works now, may not work for you in 5 years. Hell, it may not work next year. 

Stop putting pressure on yourselves and each other to be something specific. Med SLP, school SLP, peds, adults… we can do it ALL.

We grow, we change, we keep going. THAT Is where the beauty is 🩵 create the life you love and screw what you’re “supposed” to do.
Unbelievable. That’s all I got. Unbelievable. That’s all I got.
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It’s officially fall...and even thought it’s still in the 90s here in Florida, it’s time for fall themed activities! These clip categories are a fun activity for your students because it’s hands on and interactive 😍 bit.ly/2RhKYFB ... See MoreSee Less

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Speech stamps give your students the opportunity to work on speech and phonological awareness skills at the same time! Comes with digital and paper versions to fit all your therapy needs! bit.ly/CSWstamps ... See MoreSee Less

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Meet Blob (NOT Bob)… and I’m here to tell you that you need this one in your therapy sessions.Blob is a creature that can morph into anything and he does! But someone keeps calling him Bob instead of by his name, which is frustrating for him. Finally he decides to just be himself, and he also stands up for himself to be called the correct name.This one has all kinds of important lessons, and I think the name piece is super important for kids. Every child deserves to be called by their name and correctly. It’s a perfect beginning of the year book!This book would also be great for: ⚪️perspective taking⚪️Targeting /b/ or /l/ clusters⚪️Describing the different things Blob turns into⚪️Compare and contrast⚪️Discussing children’s interests and what they can be⚪️Making decisionsAmazon Affiliate link: amzn.to/3LbZDi7 ... See MoreSee Less

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