by: Katrina Wasserman MA, CCC-SLP
It’s the gift-giving time of the year again! Do you need any last-minute gift ideas that will help reinforce language skills for your child? Board games are a great gift that not only encourage spending time together as a family, but also reinforce language and executive functioning skills.
Here is a list of great board games and the language skills they target:
Guess Who?
This is a great two person game for elementary-aged children. It focuses on answering questions and question formation. Some example questions are, “Does your person have ____?” or “Is your person a ______?” It also targets descriptors such as hair and eye color, deductive reasoning, and memory.
Zingo- Zingo
This is a two person game for preschool and elementary-aged children that focuses on turn-taking and vocabulary building. Having your child use the word in a sentence before placing it on your board is a great extension activity to incorporate into your play.
Hedbanz
Hedbanz is a multi-person game for elementary-aged children. This game works on describing, categories and question formation. Each player wears a headband and places a card in it. They must guess what is on their card by asking the other player questions. It also targets memory and sustained attention.
Taboo
Taboo is a great game for middle schoolers in which you need to describe a target word without using a certain list of “taboo” words. This targets naming and word finding skills, synonyms, and associations. To help reduce stress in this game, do not use the timer.
Apples to Apples Jr.
This is a multiplayer game for upper elementary to middle school-aged children. It targets vocabulary development, associations, and reasoning. This game is sure to end in a lot of laughter!
Clue
This classic multiplayer game is for upper elementary to middle school age children. It focuses on using deductive reasoning skills. This is usually a family favorite!
This is just a small list of games that could be used to reinforce language skills, turn taking, and social skills during play at home. We hope this list helps you while you are browsing the game aisle in the store this holiday season!
For more information about speech-language therapy or home activities that can reinforce language and other skills, contact us! We’re happy to answer your questions and concerns.
If you think your child may need speech-language therapy, find out here if an evaluation with us is a good idea.