Speech Therapy Games

It's no secret that we play a lot of games in speech therapy.  Games offer great opportunities for using language and they make practicing skills that may be hard for students to do more fun.  I have put together a list of my most played games in therapy.  Sometimes we play them to increase overall language or social skills while other times we play to target a specific skill. I have also created some open-ended templates to use with the games to help us stay on track with practicing our goals while also playing.  If you are interested in the game companions, I have linked them to the pictures. The games themselves offer a lot of unstructured language and pragmatic skill opportunities!

Pop the Pig

This is the #1 most requested game.  It is great for taking turns and making requests.  I usually don't use the dice but instead, have the student's request which color they want.  

Connect 4

This game is great when I only have two students in the group or if it's a one-on-one session.  The concept of this game is a little harder for my younger students to understand so I usually play with 2nd grade and up. 

Kerplunk

I like games that build suspense and this one definitely does that.  Only downside to this game is that it tends to be over relatively quickly and the marbles can get away from us.

Zingo

This game is great for pre-K, kindergarten and 1st grade.  My kids that work on language skills get lots of opportunities to match and name simple pictures of objects. It also has a good variety of simple words to work on articulation skills too. 

Candy Land

Another pre-K, kindergarten and 1st-grade favorite game.  I do get some who are discouraged when they have to move backward if they get a "specialty" card so sometimes I will just take those out of the deck to avoid it. This one also offers good opportunities for counting too. 

Spot It

My 1st-5th graders love this one and I do too because it's quick and easy! It doesn't involve any set-up.  We usually play and search for words that contain our articulation sound. Sometimes we'll play for fun at the end of a session to monitor carryover skills. 

Tumbling Monkeys

Another game that my kids ask for a lot is Tumbling Monkeys.  This one takes a little longer to set up but it takes a while to play so it can usually last the entire session. 

Don't Spill the Beans

This game is great for little ones but it is another game that is over quickly so we usually play 3-4 times and then move on to something else during a session. 

Let's Go Fishing!

The noise of this game can get a little unnerving but it is another good game for pre-K and kindergarten.  This one doesn't require much turn-taking or requesting but you can work on counting and naming/identifying colors with this game.  It's also super quick to set-up. It's also a great reinforcer game for the end of a session or if a student needs breaks throughout a session.

Ants in the Pants

This game is so fun because ants are usually just flying everywhere when we play. My kindergarten-2nd graders usually like to play this game but I've been surprised that my older kids will ask to play it too.

Pop Up Pirate

This game is definitely suspenseful and similar to Pop the Pig because you put in swords until the pirate pops up.  The downside is that this one is usually over pretty quickly too so we will usually play several rounds during a session.

Jenga

This game is best for 3rd grade and up as my little ones usually just like knocking it over. My older kids really get that you DON'T want it to fall and play with more purpose.  

Uno

I think my 4th and 5th graders would play Uno every session if I let them.  They love this game and really understand the concept. The companion helps us to focus on speech goals while playing too.

I always find it funny that even my oldest students (4th and 5th grade) still love to play many of these games and ask for them often!  I hope this has given you some new ideas for games to play during therapy!