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The upcoming holiday may mean your children miss some of their speech therapy appointments. If you’re looking for the best speech therapy games to keep them on their toes, look no further. We’ve put together a thorough list of the best games for speech therapy you can do from home.
1. I Spy
Ah, I Spy, a classic that every child loves. It’s not only fun, but it’s one of the best games to practice speech.
I Spy is great because it can be played anywhere, and it encourages family participation. If you’re doing a lot of travelling over the holidays, play it in the car or aeroplane. Its rules are simple, making it one of the best speech therapy games for toddlers, too.
I Spy allows children to build stronger vocabularies while working on articulation and speech fluency. Try incorporating different categories into the game by spying:
- by colour (“I spy something orange“)
- by shape (“I spy something square“)
- by function (“I spy something you use to cut“)
2. Tongue Twisters
Tongue twisters are one of the best speech therapy games for children. Tongue twisters are phrases that are hard to say due to their combination of similar sounds. They need to be repeated to be learned, enforcing articulation and self-monitoring skills.
Tongue twisters, like I Spy, travel well. You don’t need any equipment or accessories to play. Print a list of tongue twisters to try as you travel over the holidays.
3. Simon or BopIt
Fired Up People say “Simon is a handheld memorization game that dates back to the 1970s. It’s still available in handheld versions but also as an app on most smartphones. This makes it one of the best online speech therapy games for kids of all ages.
BopIt is a very similar game to Simon. It encourages children to practice whole body listening and direction following.”
Both games help to increase sequential processing and encourages children to follow directions. Not to mention they’re both great for boosting working memory as well.
4. Playdough
Playdough is one of those indispensable speech therapy toys and games. It’s an inexpensive and versatile tool to add to your repertoire.
Playdough helps children with sensory and attention issues and motor skills, too. The dough allows children to explore their creativity in a safe and limitless way.
There are many ways to incorporate Playdough in your at-home therapy. Create a tongue out of the dough to help little ones learn different parts of the tongue and see its shape.
Shape dough into balls to act as syllables in multisyllabic words. Allow the child to squish each ball as they speak each syllable.
Play Speech Therapy Games for Fun and Learning
The best speech therapy games don’t feel like work for your child. They provide a fun way for them to learn without even realizing they’re doing it. The best part is that both you and your little one will have fun playing the games on our list!