Reader:
Hope you can guide me in the right direction. I need to get birthday gifts for two pre-school aged boys who are both delayed in their speech and development. I was hoping to find a game or something that would interest them.
My answer:
Games are actually a GREAT way to get kids talking. Any games, when used properly, can really promote language development. The key is to always ask questions, give lots of language, and make it a POSITIVE experience. Games naturally teach turn taking on top of anything else that it will target (colors, matching, animal sounds, animal names, etc).
1. UNO Moo - it works on matching colors
2. Zingo - a matching game with simple line drawings and words. Works on labeling those objects and matching.
3. Memory (any version) is always a good one
4. Cooties - its a fun game that you make a cootie bug... it can help with learning body parts. Of course, it teaches body parts for bugs (i.e. antenna), but you can interact with the children and also teach human body parts!!
5. Boggle JR. helps with learning letters and spelling words
6. Puppy Pals Bingo - this one works on shapes and colors (my speech kids always love this game)
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