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We all have those games that we just love but that have nothing to do with speech therapy, or at least that is what we think.

Just about any game can be used to target some aspect of language or artic, though, which means that all games are speech games! It’s all about thinking outside of the box — or in this case, the lunch box.

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite non-speech speech games that I use in my therapy  🙂

They are all contained in these super cute metal lunch box tins.  Saying they are sturdy is an understatement.

Slamwich by Gamewright.

Slamwich has kids flip cards at the same time and watch for patterns. There are different ‘ingredients’ on the cards such as chicken legs, tuna salad, birthday cake, etc.  Doesn’t that just sound…yummy 😛   The pattern students look for as they flip the cards is a ‘sandwich’. A ‘sandwich’ occurs when there are two cards of the same ‘ingredient’ on either side of a different ‘ingredient’ card. Think an A B A pattern. The first kid to slap the pile of the cards and the pattern wins those cards.  The student with all the cards, or the most cards at the end, wins.  There are cards ( a cat, a dog, and an ant ) in there that can make you use loose a turn or all your cards, but I usually don’t use those because of time and sometimes my kids just can’t remember what card stands for what.  This is a fast paced game so we can usually get a few rounds in with our work.

How to use in Speech:
OK, so here’s how I use this in speech. It is a great reinforcement game, so after some work my kids get to play. It’s also very handy for work on following directions and sequencing.  First I lay a bunch of the cards out on the table then give the direction.

–  Put the ‘cake’ card between the ‘chicken leg’ and ‘mustard’ cards.
– Before you take the ‘meatball’ card take the ‘lettuce’ card.
– Line up the cards in this order: First the ‘cake’ card, then the ‘ketchup’ card.

This also leads us to some great describing, syntax, and writing activities. Describe the sandwich you made using good syntax.  How would you make your sandwich?  What ingredients would you put in your sandwich?

Peanut Butter and Jelly by Fundex.

This game has students making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.  Now that does sounds tasty. 🙂  Students take turns drawing from the pile and collecting the necessary cards: 2 bread cards, 1 peanut butter card, and 1 jelly card.  The first student to make 3 sandwiches wins.  There are also ant cards that allow you to take a card from another player and a fly card and chip that you can use to block another player from building a sandwich.

How to use in Speech:
This is a fun game to use for sequencing and pragmatics. After we play for a bit I will have students stop and then we will sequence the events of how to make a PB&J.  And if there are no allergies and we have parent permission we will actually make some.  I love snack time during speech 🙂
To target pragmatics review the game first and review how students can lose cards or have people block them. Discuss expected and unexpected reactions to these events and then let the games begin!

The Storybook Game by Fundex.

This game has cards with characters and objects on them.  Students take turns drawing the cards and using them to make up stories, building on the information that the student before them gave.  The person who can remember the most cards and their story parts, in order, wins.

How to use in Speech:
This game is great to use for memory, verbs, pronouns, sequencing, etc.  Students need to use their memory strategies to recall the information that was given about the cards as well as the order of events.  They need to make sure they are using the correct verb tense when they are creating their story event and then to retell it. Are they using the correct pronoun to talk about the princess?  I use this game with my kids who are bit higher and getting close to mastering their goals in those areas.

Cookin Cookies by Fundex.

I saved the best for last. I LOVE this game! My kids LOVE this game!  There are cookies involved, what is not to love? To play, each student chooses a recipe card. There are 5 to choose from: chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal, sugar, and ‘first ‘ cookies.  After students choose their recipe you may spread out the ingredient cards face down. They are shaped like cookies 🙂  Then you use the included spoons ( they have suctions cups on the back ) to pick up the cards and see if it is an ingredient that you need. If you don’t need it just put is back face down. The first to collect all their ingredients wins! But watch out for rotten egg cards that can ruin your batter and make you start over.

How to use in Speech.
This a great way to demonstrate sequencing in an applicable form. I will have my students collect the items on their recipe, but they have to do so in order, and they must tell me the sequence they need the items in after every turn but using different terms. So for one turn they may use ‘first, second, next, last’ for another turn ‘before and after.  I will also ask them questions during their turn as well, such as ” What ingredient do you need before butter?”.   We will also play the game for a bit then stop and do some describing about out favorite cookies us ing the EET.   We will also sequence the steps about how to bake cookies.  I have had students draw the steps to make cookies and they talk about their pictures using the correct very tenses.

One of the things my kids love the most about this game is that they get to you the spoons to pick up the cards.  I do let them use the spoons during other games to get the cards too.  To have more options and save my spoons a bit,  I made Sticky Sticks.  You check out the link to make your own here.

Disclosure: These are games I purchased on my own. No request or compensation was provided for this post.

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Meet Maureen

Hey there! I’m Maureen Wilson, a school-base SLP who is data driven and caffeine powered. My passion is supporting other pediatric SLPs by teaching them how to harness the power of literacy and data to help their students achieve their goals…without sacrificing time they don’t have.

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