5 Awesome Outdoor Games for Speech Therapy

When I was growing up-summers between 6-10 were for neighborhood games.  We’d play “Kick the Can”, “Ghosts in the Graveyard” or TV tag.  You’d play until it was dark and eventually your parents would call you home.  As I was reminiscing with friends, I started thinking about some fun games that you could adapt for speech therapy and use in your last few weeks of extended school year services.

STATUE MAKER

Statue maker was one of my favorite games.  I feel like we may have made up some of the elements of this game though.  

Works on: nonverbal language, role play, facial expressions, impulse control and inferencing.

You need at least 2 players to be statues and one player to be the buyer.  I recommend that you act as the statue maker.

Here’s how you play:

1.  Statue maker spins the player (back in the day, we had a choice for salt or pepper-one was fast/the other slow.) In the interest of safety, I spin students around slowly 2 times.  When they let go, they need to freeze into a position.

2.  You ask each “statue” what they are going to be (Most of my kids have difficulty figuring out what they want-so I have a list of items they could be-example airplane, rock star, cat, gorilla, pizza maker).  I adapted this game for a social skills group by having them act out an emotion or feeling.  (Pretend to by hyper, sad, disappointed, irritated, etc.)

4. The statue maker brings the buyer around and presses a “button” on the statue and the statue “acts out” what they are.

5.  The buyer has to guess what each statue is supposed to be.   I modify this by providing a list of possible options.  We can start with guessing and then I can pull out my statue “catalog” and ask the buyer which one they think it is.  

SPUD

Works on categorization and short term memory

This works well with at least three players.  You will need a soft ball-the ones used for dodge ball are great.

Game play:

1.  One person is chosen to be it.  They state a category.  I might adapt this by giving them a list of categories or having them pick categories out of a container.  

2.  Each player names an object from that category.

3.  The person who is it throws the ball up in the air and yells one of the items in the category (ex. banana).  Everyone runs away from the ball except the person’s who’s category item was chosen.

4.  The person who was called runs to get the ball.  Once they get it, they yell “SPUD” and everyone has to freeze.

5.  The person with the ball gets to take three big steps towards any other player.  I make them name more items from the initial category.

6.  The player with the ball throws the ball at the player.  If the other player gets hit, they get the letter S.  If the player catches the ball, the thrower gets the letter.

7.  Play continues until someone spells SPUD.

HOPSCOTCH

Works well within any drill activity, but especially well with articulation.

Write the names of the targets on the hopscotch field.

DUCK, DUCK, GRAY DUCK

Yes, I said gray duck, and I realize that the other 49 other states played duck duck goose.  But duck, duck gray duck incorporates attributes.

Works on attributes, active listening and attention.

Game play:

1.  Players sit in a circle.  One person is IT.

2.  The player who is IT, walks around the circle lightly tapping the other players and naming attributes.  (ex. smart duck, yellow duck, curly haired duck).

3.  When they say “gray duck” the person who was tapped has to chase them around the circle.  If they tag them, that person has to continue to be IT.  If the runner reaches their spot and sits down, the new player is IT.

The key is to make sure no one is bashing in their friends heads.  You can adapt for social skills group by having them state friend facts about each student (ex. duck who likes minecraft, duck who went to the beach last week, duck who is gray!).  It’s also fun when you are doing it to check listening skills (ex, graaaaate duck, graaaaavy duck etc.)  

SPEECH!  

Works great with any drill activity-just have your students say their drill targets before they shoot the ball.

Game Play

1.  Students take turns shooting a ball into the net.

2.  If the ball goes in the net, the other person has to shoot from that position.

3.  If the second player misses that shot, they get a letter (ex. S).  If they make the shot, the next player goes).

4.  The first player to spell “speech” loses.

Maybe we are not sending the write message when you write speech and lose.  Any idea about a better word?  Maybe you could have your students choose a word to use.  

Hope you are enjoying your summer!  Have you played group games in your speech room?  I can’t wait to hear about your favorite games.  Leave a comment below or contact me on social media by pressing the links below.