Today I’m starting a new series of posts about different ways you can use decks of cards in speech and language therapy.
Yes, we ALL know how to play the traditional Go Fish, but did you know there are some variations for playing that game? This series of posts will feature quick, easy, productive games you can play in speech/language therapy with ONE deck of cards.
It’s WAR!
Cards: You can play this with a deck of articulation cards OR language cards. Select a deck with two concepts that can be
juxtaposed, such as initial and final R, medial and final K, etc. Choose one concept that you want your student to identify, such as final R. For language, I have used grammar targets including past tense vs. present tense, do vs. does, he vs. she, etc.
juxtaposed, such as initial and final R, medial and final K, etc. Choose one concept that you want your student to identify, such as final R. For language, I have used grammar targets including past tense vs. present tense, do vs. does, he vs. she, etc.
Directions: The game is for two players, although you could try it with three. That might be interesting! First, shuffle
the deck. After the deck is shuffled, deal out ALL of the cards. Each player keeps their cards face down in a stack. Play: Both players take the top card from their stack and place them face up side by side. The player who has the desired concept (such as initial R) wins both cards. If both players turn over a winning card, then the War begins! Those two cards are left in place and a second set is turned up placed beside those. The player who has a winning card can then take ALL of the cards used in the round. Sometimes, several “wars” can happen during one turn! Winning the game: The person with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Set a timer that will determine when the game is over. If you have a lot of time, you can play until one person runs out of cards.
the deck. After the deck is shuffled, deal out ALL of the cards. Each player keeps their cards face down in a stack. Play: Both players take the top card from their stack and place them face up side by side. The player who has the desired concept (such as initial R) wins both cards. If both players turn over a winning card, then the War begins! Those two cards are left in place and a second set is turned up placed beside those. The player who has a winning card can then take ALL of the cards used in the round. Sometimes, several “wars” can happen during one turn! Winning the game: The person with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Set a timer that will determine when the game is over. If you have a lot of time, you can play until one person runs out of cards.
Now, exactly how does this work for artic and language? Let’s talk about artic first. Choose a sound deck for your student. For some reason, R comes to mind! I like to choose two positions such as initial and final. Remove the medial R cards. Next, you have to choose which position will be the target. Final R, perhaps? Prepare the game as described above. When the cards are flipped face up, the player who has the final R wins the round. In the photo below, the player who flipped up the hammer wins this round.
Wait-you BOTH flipped up a final R? Now it is WAR! See the photo below. The player who flipped up the dinosaur wins this round. You can have your student say the words each time a card is flipped. As you can tell, this is a great way to help students practice productions AND identify where their sound is located in a word. The cards shown below are from Super Duper’s R deck. Note: I positioned these cards so all of them are facing you. When you play, the opponent’s pile and face up card face him/her.
For language concepts, you can target grammar, categories and more. Choose your deck. See below for the way I use pronouns as targets. Again, you need two concepts with one as your target. Let’s say you want to target identification and use of “she.” Use a pronoun deck that contains “she” and “he” targets. Don’t try to mix in other types of pronouns, unless your student is older and has attained proficiency with a variety of targets. Play as described above.
Please let me know if you try these ideas. I would love to hear from you!
Tired of your artic decks? Click on the photo below for a FREE alternative!
Lynda Whittington says
Love these ideas!! Thank you — I can't wait for Episode 2.