Games!
Being stuck at home is boring. Playing games is fun! Here are some games you might have at home. There are many games out there that are not only fun, but also have educational value. Here is a list of some of some great games to play at home and the skills that they target.
- Taboo Junior- describing skills
- Tri-Bond Kids- word relationships
- Blurt- vocabulary
- Hedbanz- questioning
- Password Junior- synonyms
- Outburst Junior- categories
- Say the Word- story/sentence creation, memory/recall
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Barrier Game
This is a game we frequently play in speech therapy. Barrier games are a great way to work on using and understanding vocabulary, listening skills, asking questions and much more. Not to mention…it’s fun! This game can be played with materials found around your home!
Listen to Music
Choose two of your child’s favorite songs and print out the lyrics (or view them on a tablet/computer). Students should listen carefully to each song and describe them. Which instruments are featured? What genre does the song belong to and what is the overall message? Where might this song be played? etc. Then compare and contrast the two songs to figure out how they are the same and how they are different. Look at the lyrics and identify any figurative language, including similes, metaphors, and idioms. Talk about the meaning behind each expression (e.x. Katy Perry sings, “baby you’re a firework!” What does this mean? Is the person actually a firework?). Students can also listen for any rhyming words in order to practice phonemic awareness.
Goals targeted: describing, compare and contrast, figurative language, phonemic awareness
Goals targeted: describing, compare and contrast, figurative language, phonemic awareness
Cooking or Baking
Choose a recipe to complete with your child and involve them in preparing daily meals. To practice inferencing, take out all of the ingredients that you will be using to make dinner and see if your child can guess what is being made. Then, have your child describe each step as it is being completed. Give directions using temporal (before, after) and conditional (if, then) terms, and ask ‘What would you do if…’ questions to practice problem-solving skills (i.e. ‘What would you do if you saw smoke coming from the oven?’). Once the food has been prepared, students can retell the steps using sequencing words and describe the taste of the food using adjectives. Need a recipe to try? Here’s one for a triple berry smoothie, and here’s another for English muffin pizzas.
Goals targeted: inferencing, describing, sequencing, following directions, problem-solving
Goals targeted: inferencing, describing, sequencing, following directions, problem-solving
What's in the bag
Find a small item from around the house (i.e. hair brush, whisk, battery, etc.) and put it inside a brown paper bag without letting your child see what it is. Then give clues about the item and see if you child can guess what it is (i.e. for whisk: it is found in the kitchen, it is used for mixing, it’s made of metal, etc.). Once your child guesses what’s inside the bag, you can switch roles – have your child find an item and give you clues!
Goals targeted: making inferences, describing, sentence formulation
Goals targeted: making inferences, describing, sentence formulation
Create a photo album
Using either family photos or photos taken by the student, create a digital or physical photo album. Using a word bank of either conjunctions, adjectives, irregular verbs, pronouns, or other parts of speech that the student is working on, write captions for each photo. Then share the album with family members and enjoy reminiscing on good memories!
Goals targeted: sentence formulation, expressive language, perspective-taking
Goals targeted: sentence formulation, expressive language, perspective-taking
This day in history
Head to the history channel’s website to read articles about what happened on This Day in History. These short passages describe significant events that have occurred on today’s date in a variety of different categories...art, politics, exploration, sports, wars, film, presidents, and more! Students can identify any unknown vocabulary words and practice using reading comprehension strategies such as paraphrasing, visualizing, asking questions, and making connections.
Goals targeted: inferencing, describing, sequencing, following directions, problem-solving
Goals targeted: inferencing, describing, sequencing, following directions, problem-solving
What's going on in this photo
Head to the New York Times ‘What’s Going on in this Picture’ website to view an entire library of images that have been stripped of their captions. Encourage your child to figure out what might be going on in the image by using what they see (clues) and what they know (background knowledge) to make an inference. Then, they can create their own caption for the photo.
Goals targeted: making inferences, perspective-taking, sentence formulation
Goals targeted: making inferences, perspective-taking, sentence formulation