We all know kids love games. We use them all the time in therapy to motivate and engage; but what about our older students? Those kids who are too cool for Candyland and roll their eyes at Chutes and Ladders. Here are some games that yes, even those super cool 5th grades, and some middle schoolers, will play!
1. Jenga It’s a classic game that does not have a ‘little kid’ quality about it.
2. Apples to Apples Jr. Hide the cover of the box and they will have no idea it is the Jr. edition. This game offers lots of opportunities for language and social skills.
3. Slamwich Kids like card games and this one has a fun twist. The cards are shaped like sandwiches and kids can make gross combinations like a birthday cake and sardine sandwich…yum?
4. Pictionary It is a classic game, you can’t go wrong with drawing. I mean, kids are doodles in their notebooks in class. We might as well put that talent to use.
5. Head’s Up Party Game So yes, this is basically Headbandz but it looks more mature. Most 5th graders will wear the head band that comes with it but they can just as easily hold up the card. You know, so their hair won’t get messed up.
What games or activities do you like to use with older students?
8 Responses
How do you use Slamwich in Speech? I’ve played it a lot for fun, but I always thought it moved too fast to get any artic drills or language practice in while playing.
Hi Valerie 🙂 I use it as a barrier game to start. After a turn they can select a card to build their deck. When we have about 3 minutes left I let them play.
Adding a comment so I can get notification of a response.
I just found Heads Up at a thrift store! They also have an app that you can buy and play with your iphone. We played last christmas with the app.
That is great to know. An app would be great for traveling therapists!
These are all great games! My boys have loved them all:).
I play the Articulation Dual Game. I take 2 different decks of photo articulation cards and shuffle them together (ex. /r/ initial and /s/ blends or whatever targets you need for the group). I drop a card face up in front of the student and they say the word on the card then I move to the next student and they say the next card and so on. This goes around until someone in the group has a matching card with another student then there is a dual. The two students who have the matching cards each roll a die. The last person receiving the matching card will roll a dice first (this avoids arguments on who rolls first/use two different colored die). The person with the highest number on the die wins the dual/card pair. I usually have the student who won the pair to use the word in a sentence. This game is quick but get tons of practice in and the students love it. If a student gets a card that they already have, they keep the pair and no dual is needed. Have fun!