Child & Family Development Child & Family Development

December 4, 2013

Encouraging Communication Skills at Home with Games

As a Speech-Language Pathologist at Child and Family Development in Charlotte, I am always looking for new games to play in speech therapy sessions that are both fun and educational. Games are also a great way for parents and children to spend time together and practice good speech and language skills at home!
One of my favorite games is Make It! Farm by Learning Journey.

Learn more at www.tlji.com

Manufacturer’s description: “This fun construction game will challenge problem solving and develop fine motor skills of young children as they build their favorite farm animal. Make it farm is a multiplayer game that teaches children cooperation skills and animal recognition as they match the random cards chosen to their animal pieces. A great family game for all ages.”

Recommended ages: 3 and up
Make It! Farm encourages:
• Problem solving
• Following directions
• Part-to-whole (e.g. parts of the animals)
• Possessives (e.g., the pig’s body, the cow’s tail)
• Vocabulary
• Matching
• Memory
• Quantity concepts

In addition to targeting these language skills, games are great for motivating articulation practice.

Talk to your therapist about how you can use games at home to encourage communication skills.