How to help my child’s speech clarity: Game Ideas

Note – if you are choosing a sound to practise without input from a speech therapist, be careful that you are choosing a sound that is ‘developmental’, not one that is too hard for him to say for his age.

For Toddlers – ages 2-3 years

Sounds we might focus on: M B P N D T H W Y

1. Sound Play

Sound play is – well, playing with sounds. Children (and adults!) do this natural – it’s the sound effects they might make when playing with a car, a toy ambulance, farm animals, or a lightsabre! It’s one of the best ways to build up speech sounds in young toddlers.

Make sure you:

• Are face to face when you play with these sounds or model them – encourage your child to look at your mouth, or to copy you while looking in a mirror.
• Exaggerate the sound – slow it down, emphasize it!
• Make it FUN and PLAYFUL
• Match up 1 playful sound with an action or activity if you are focussing on a specific sound

AVOID:

• Correcting your child or forcing them to copy you multiple times; instead, keep your interactions fun and meaningful
• Modelling ‘baby talk’ that involves changing or missing out sounds (e.g. calling a banana ‘nana’ because it sounds cute when your child says it)

2. Nursery Rhymes and Songs

These are not only FUN and great at grabbing your child’s attention, they are also great for building:

• Language – especially if you use the actions, or act out part of it with objects, or turn it into a game as you sing!
• Literacy skills via phonological awareness skills – (e.g. building awareness of rhyme, and learning to play with words)
• Speech – especially if you find songs that playfully repeat words with the sounds your child is learning

Some Nursery Rhymes / Songs:

• Old MacDonald Had a Farm
• Wheels on the Bus
• This Little Piggy
• Ring Around a Rosie
• Baa Black Sheep
• If You’re Happy and You Know It
• Humpty Dumpty
• Ring-A-Round a Rosie
• 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed
• Modern: Baby Shark!)

As with books, choose songs that use words with the sound you are focusing on multiple times

Make sure you:

• Make it FUN and PLAYFUL! The actions are what makes it better.
• Are face to face when you play with these sounds or model them – encourage your child to look at your mouth, or to copy you while looking in a mirror.
• Exaggerate the word – pause before it so your child can say it, show them how by getting them to watch your mouth.

For Preschool and School Aged Children

Sounds we might focus on: F K/G Sh L Ch/J S blends

Think of words you use everyday with the sound you’re practising, and try to bring those words into any games

• • Find objects or pictures of words containing the sound you’re practising
    • hide them around the room / in the grass / in some sort of obstacle course:
      1. Who can find the most? (label what you find)
      2. What was hiding behind …?
    • Label and post/feed them to a ‘monster’ (a toy or box made to look like a monster / character, with a slit to post things through)
    • Put them in a bag/box, and take turns ‘feeling’ inside and guessing what it is
  • In books, find words you can model that contain your practise sound and repeat them as you go through the pictures or read the story
  • If you can draw:
    • Get your child to tell you what to draw (e.g. blow up a balloon and draw on it with a vivid – your child can tell you what to draw, so if you’re practising k (or c): Cat head, cat eyes, cat ears…)
  • Turn taking games with parts, or activities where you assemble parts together – you can have pictures of words with the sound you’re working on underneath that your child has to say before taking their turn
    Ideas: Mr Potatohead, Pop Up Pirate, Shark Bite, Pie Face, Jenga, Connect 4
    Alternatively: card games like Memory, or boardgames like Guess Who or Snakes & Ladders

Tips:

• When reading a book with your child and modelling sounds, sit so that you and your toddler are facing each other. This lets your child can look at your face as you model!
• When you are labelling pictures or objects, hold them up to your face (as you are sitting or kneeling at your child’s level) to help your child naturally see your mouth.

AVOID:

• Correcting your child or forcing them to copy you multiple times; instead, keep your interactions fun and meaningful
• Modelling ‘baby talk’ that involves changing or missing out sounds (e.g. calling a banana ‘nana’ because it sounds cute when your child says it)

Play ideas for Specific Sounds

Toddler: 2-3 years of age

BOO!!! (Peek-a-BOO) Hiding + jumping BYE!!! Pretend play, cars, books, tidying up toys POP!! Bubbles, balloons, jack-in-the-box UP!!! Picking/going/thowing items up/down playfully   Songs / Rhymes: “This Little Piggy” “Baa baa black sheep” “Ring-a-round a Rosie” “Baby Shark”	Mmm… Sound effect: eating/yummy/hungry; motorbike; exaggerated thinking More – playful anticipation; stop swinging / bubbles/hold back blocks… wait… ‘more’ Mine / My turn – any turn-taking activity, such as with Pop Up Pirate Songs/Rhymes: 5 Little Monkeys; farm animals (books, songs: cow, cat); Little Miss Muffet
HAHA / HOHO / HEHE! exaggerated laughing – stories, characters Here I am/Here you are! Alternative to ‘boo’ HI!!! To people, characters/books, toys, cars Songs/Rhymes: “If you’re Happy and you know it” “Humpty Dumpty”	WOW / WHOA – lots of exclamations in play and through experiences WEE!!! having fun; slide, jumping from ledge Siren sound with cars

Preschoolers

COME! Hide and seek “Here I come” “Come out come out wherever you!” Cut! Take turns being ‘teacher’, instruct as creating paper doll/mask etc. Kick / Catch / Catch me! Kicking object, throwing object, jumping off something Song/rhyme ideas: “5 Little Ducks” “Pat-a-cake”, chant: “I’m king of the castle!”	FEE FI FO FUM! Make giant steps to destination / desired item, or threatening to tickle Feely bag! Hide funny items in a bag, take turns feeling and describing / guess: I feel a… Four! Five! any counting of pictures/objects, ‘Hi-5’ in daily activities Card games: “Go Fish”, memory “I found…” Songs/Rhymes ideas: “5 little ducks” “Little Miss Muffet” “Once I caught a fish alive”
LOOK: take turns pointing out pictures in a story, finding/spotting items in the room/ park, finding items in a box, labelling cards in memory game, pulling silly faces Like/Love: labelling as you look through book or pamphlet, during routines like dressing and mealtimes Songs / Rhymes: Twinkle Twinkle, 5 Little Speckled Frogs	S Blends I SPY! Giving clues – first sound / describing what you see S blend hunt! Find snakes, snails, spiders in the grass or around the room, in a box Books like: SPOT Games: Snakes and Ladders, Snap Songs / Rhymes: Incy Wincy Spider, Twinkle

Written by:

Ezmi Brits 
Speech and Language Therapist – BSLT, MNZSTA