Playroom Entertainment Games Review #1: Barnyard Buddies

Barnyard Buddies - get it here!

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

I received some generous game donations over the summer and need to catch up on writing product reviews! One publisher who contributed is Playroom Entertainment, a company that offers several preschool and family games that help develop logical and critical thinking skills.

The first game I will be reviewing is "Barnyard Buddies", a card game that capitalizes on quick cognitive skills. This game can be played with 2-8 players and is deemed appropriate for children ages 5 and up.

The game consists of 50 cards - 25 animal cards and 25 herd cards. Each animal card has a picture of one of five farm animals in a different color. The herd cards contain four of the five different animals in different colors. It is the players' job to determine which color animal is missing on a herd card -- the winner is the person who figures out the most missing animals.


Example of game play.

To play, all of the herd cards are placed upside down in the middle of the table, while the animal cards are spread face up around the herd card stack. One player turns over a herd card and everyone tries to identify the animal that is missing as well as the color. Whoever manages to find the animal first, receives the herd card as a point. In the example to the right, the face-up herd card shows a yellow horse, purple cow, green cat, and red goat. The missing animal is therefore the blue dog, since that color and animal are missing from the herd card.

A nice variation to make the game more challenging is to play it "reversed": place the animal cards in the middle and scatter the herd cards around. Players then need to find a matching herd card for each animal card.

The quality of these cards is very sturdy, which makes it a great game for little hands! I like this game because it is a great way to work on colors as well as promote logical thinking skills. You can use this game for students who are working on exclusion and turn-taking as well. It would also make a great activity for a farm theme!

Stay tuned for more great game reviews for this and other companies!

~Viola

SLP Nightmare: Scheduling

Truth.

While I generally like the first few weeks of the new school year (meeting new kids, feeling refreshed after summer, opportunities to start anew, etc.), there is one thing that is a struggle without fail every single year: Scheduling.

Trying to fit 50/+ students into your week while having to work around PE schedules, computer lab, library, OT, resource schedules, lunch, recess, AND trying to avoid pulling struggling students out of core academics is the stuff nightmares are made out of. And when you think you have successfully figured it out, you realize that somewhere there is a conflict that will make pulling the student out during that time impossible. Over the years I developed a system that makes it easier (although not simple, by any means). I figured I would write about it to help those of you who are still working on coming up with a scheduling strategy that (sort of) works.


Post-its with student names
and a poster board schedule

I start by making post-its with all of my students' names, one for each weekly session (so if a student has Speech twice a week, there will be two post-its with their name). I also color code their names based on their needs (language vs. articulation vs. social skills). I begin grouping the post-its based on which students I want to see together.

Distributing students
onto the schedule

Next, I draw a weekly schedule onto poster board, sectioning off the different time slots for Speech sessions. I then write different teachers' availability onto the sections of the poster board, so that I know which students can be pulled when. Last, I distribute the post-its onto the times that work for a student. Having the names on post-its works great, since you can easily re-arrange them if needed (and trust me, you need to). I usually try to have some flexibility on Mondays for testing, make-up sessions, consult, writing IEPs, and social groups, since we have so many Monday holidays.

I'm always glad when it's over. If you've discovered an easier way to schedule, please let me know! I still have a headache from this year's efforts!

~Viola

Back-to-School Night Activity

Guess Who - Speech Kids edition

We had our Back-To-School Night this week and I chose to participate for the first time (I was unable to do this in the past because I couldn't accommodate more than three adults in my Speech room). I had a great time meeting parents old and new, and wanted to share a fun activity that I had prepared for this event with my fellow SLPs: Guess Who - Speech Kids edition!

This was a fun guessing game that challenged my Speech students' parents who dropped by to identify their child based on their smiles. To create this activity, I took pictures of all of my speech students, cropped out their mouths, and placed the pictures inside a digital frame. I then printed and laminated the pictures and stuck them onto poster board with Velcro (this will allow me to re-use this activity with different students in the future). On the back of each mouth I placed a picture of the student, so that parents could check their answers. Yes, it was a time-consuming project, but so worth the effort. I'm still missing a few kids who come from off-campus, so I left some room on the bottom and will add them later.

I was surprised at how well these parents did! Most of them used the patterns of missing teeth to guide them. This was a fun activity that really set the tone for this year. I think we will have a lot of fun! I spent a large chunk of my summer on Pinterest and have all kinds of ideas of what to do in Speech this year!

Next week I will have to show this to my students and see if they can identify themselves.

~Viola

Best find so far this school year: Magnetic tape!

We started our new school year last Monday, and even though I am already completely swamped with all of the exciting back-to-school activities, I am super thrilled about this year: I was fortunate enough to move into a bigger room! (No more having to move furniture around just to open the door all the way!)

I have been spending this past week moving my belongings and have started to decorate in order to create a cozy and inviting learning environment for my kiddos. I promise to post more updates on my amazing new Speech room when it is finished. But I had to take a moment to share an awesome discovery that is going to make my life a lot easier: Magnetic tape! Yes, it's like tape, but it's magnetic! Because I finally have access to a magnetic whiteboard, this find is a treasure! I have started to "magnetize" the visuals that I use on a consistent basis. Here is an example of how I have used the tape on my structure word visuals (I made these to go with the Visualizing & Verbalizing program by Lindamood-Bell):

Just stick the tape onto the back of your visual...                           ...and it will stick to any magnetic surface!

By the way, the tape on the whiteboard itself is vinyl electrical tape. I have used it to section off parts of the board. I will have more posts soon!

~Viola

Key Chain Rules

I briefly wanted to spread the word about a great tool for behavior / social skills management that I think may be underused: key chain rules!
I had heard about key chain rules from a number of sources over the last few years, but didn't actually make them myself until last school year. Key chain rules are little slips of paper, each of which contains a social rule or behavior strategy that a target student is working on. These cards are attached to a keychain (or book ring) so that the student can carry them around and quickly reference them.

Last year, a student with High Functioning Autism transferred to our school and he had tons of behaviors that we wrote oodles of social stories for. Those social stories all ended up in a binder, which made it somewhat difficult for him to quickly find and reference. This is what prompted me to try out key chain rules -- I began condensing the social stories into 2-3 sentences (we started with 5 - didn't want to overwhelm the poor guy!). He ended up really liking them. This tool was easy to make and can be quickly implemented. It might work best after the student has been exposed to the rules through a social story, but after repeated exposure, you can briefly remind them to "Remember Rule #4" if they forget. Just a quick idea before we return to school (can you believe this summer is almost over?)!

~Viola

Educational Insights Game Review #5: Pancake Pile-Up

Get it here!

The last one of my new Educational Insights games that I will be reviewing is "Pancake Pile-Up," a fun movement game that is also great for working on sequencing skills.

The object of this game is to replicate stacks of different-flavored pancakes shown on a card by putting the pancake on a spatula and racing it from the imaginary griddle to the plate. Whoever can do so the fastest without making a mistake is declared the winner (or the server who will earn the greatest tip).

What is great about this game is that it can be played with larger groups (2-12 players, ages 4 and up), making it a great choice for a social skills group or birthday party. Players are divided into two teams of servers. The pancakes on the griddle are placed next to the order cards approximately 15 feet away from the plates, or the customer's table. 


Go from this...                              ...to this!


The game starts by an order card being turned over - servers need to replicate the pattern by finding and stacking matching pancakes. They take turns racing the correct pancake from the griddle to the customer's table. The race concludes when a team manages to complete the pancake and places the butter patty on top. The other team will check to ensure no errors were made.


Serving pancakes!

I am aware that many of us SLPs lack the space to do an activity that spans over any distance because our speech rooms are often the size of broom closets -- you can easily modify this game by just doing it all in one spot. The way we did it was simply by placing the plate next to the griddle. When a student was done with their turn, the next student had to figure out which pancake would have to be next in the line-up. This worked really well and my 3rd grade SDC students still had fun! If you do have the space, this game is especially great for very active students who respond well to gross motor activities. Students really have to pay attention to what the other members on your team are doing and be vigilant in regards to which step they are on. This game lends a wonderful opportunity for working on sequencing skills as well!

The pancake fell off the stack.

We also practiced some basic social skills / problem-solving: if the pancake falls off the spatula, should you use your hands to pick it up and spread your germs on it? Or should you get a new pancake? What might happen if you touch someone else's food? Would you want to eat food that has fallen onto the ground or was touched by someone else's germy hands? Why not? etc.

This game can be used in a multitude of ways to promote language and other developmental skills. Here are some ideas:

• Sequencing: You can work on sequential vocabulary with this game -- "First we put the blueberry pancake on the plate. Which pancake is next?"
• Pretend Play: You can simply use the pancakes, plates, and spatula in play therapy! The pancakes and spatula are very durable and should hold up well.
• Counting: You can have students count how many strawberries / blueberries / chocolate chips are on each pancake or how many pancakes are in your stack.
• Social Skills / Teamwork: The relay race creates a wonderful opportunity for teamwork, as well as good sportsmanship.
• Vocabulary: This game is great for working on vocabulary terms such as stack, spatula, griddle, plain, flavor, etc.
• Basic Concepts: You can also work on basic concepts - "The banana pancake is between the plain pancake and the strawberry pancake."
• Memory: Memory skills are exercised as students have to remember which step they are on.
• Motor skills: Students will get a great exercise in balance and coordination in this game. It became especially challenging to balance the pancakes as stacks got taller!

I will definitely be using this game for my social skills group for team-building! This is another great speech room addition!

~Viola

Educational Insights Game Review #4: Laundry Jumble Game

Get it here.

Today I am reviewing one of my favorite Educational Insights products: "Laundry Jumble Game." The reason I like it so much is because it is extraordinarily versatile for use in Speech therapy. The game is recommended for ages 4 and up, although it could be used with younger populations if the rules are adapted (see some of my recommendations at the bottom of this post).

The game comes with a fabric dryer, game cards, and clothing items. The object of this game is to collect the most cards by matching correct clothing items to the picture on a card. On their turn, players pick a card and look at the clothing item. They then stick their hand into the dryer and feel around until they have found what they think is a matching item. If they get a match, they get to keep the card and return the clothing item to the dryer. If they do not get a match, they return the card and the clothing item. Players have to beware of the skunk's stinky polka-dotted underpants - if they accidentally pull them out, one of their game cards is returned to the draw pile.



My student is trying to find
the pink shirt

This game banks on students' tactile sense and their ability to feel for and identify small details with their sense of touch. This game is very similar in nature to "What's in Ned's Head," although smaller and easier to unpack / set up. It is also more difficult to peek into the dryer when compared to Ned's Head.

The quality of the game components is also excellent - the dryer seems very durable and the clothes are lovingly crafted with lots of details. The fabric dryer is very soft and pliable, keeping you unharmed if your student decides to whack you over the head with it. 

       The skunk...    ...and his stinky
                                  underpants!

I knew that my students would want to play this game as soon as I pointed out the picture of the skunk and its stinky underwear on the box - this was immediately followed by laughter and shouts of, "Can we play this?" Students had a lot of fun trying to feel for the correct clothing items, although many of them needed prompts and reminders to feel for small details, such as buttons, bows, sleeves, etc. Of course this game also provided a fantastic opportunity to work on playing honestly and not trying to cheat.

This game may be difficult for young players, but you can easily modify the difficulty level by removing some of the clothes from the dryer and playing only with a limited number of pieces (make sure you remove the corresponding cards from the deck, as well).





"Reverse" Laundry Jumble

I was also able to modify the game rules for our middle school students in the functional skills class (this population has very low cognitive abilities; most of the students are non-verbal): first, I spread out all of the clothes on the table for them to see. On their turn, students picked up a card and had to find the matching item to put it in the dryer. It was like playing the game in reverse and allowed this group of students to practice their matching skills.

Because this game is so easily modifiable, it is a valuable addition to any speech room, and you can use it to target a ton of skills! Please see the list below for some ideas I came up with:

• Basic Concepts: Because the dryer has a clear front and back (and an inside!), you can use it to work on following directions. e.g., "Where are the skunk's underpants?" - "Next to the dryer").
• Following Directions: This game would make a great tool for working on following directions. You could have students complete directives, such as, "Before putting the yellow shirt into the dryer, put in the green shorts."
• Matching: This game is great for working on matching skills! You can play "reverse" Laundry Jumble as described above.
• Describing: You can use the clothing to work on describing - you can have the students describe words such as colors, textures, shape, number of sleeves, etc.
• Compare/Contrast: Similarly, you could ask students to compare and contrast two items of clothing.
• Functional Living Skills: For lower cognitive functioning students (or even adult TBI or stroke patients), you could work on daily living skills, such as sorting laundry - have clients separate all the light-colored clothing from the dark-colored clothing.
• Sensory diet: This game could be worked into a student's sensory diet - there are several different textures to explore.
• Impulsivity: Students will have to learn to carefully feel for details and not just pull out the first item they touch.
• Vocabulary: This game can be used to introduce a lot of great new vocabulary besides colors: e.g., sleeve, brim, seam, collar, buttons, strap, bow, etc.
• Grammar: This game lends itself well to grammar targets such as possessive pronouns ("Whose underpants are they?"-"They are his underpants."), subjective pronouns, and 3rd person singular conjugation ("He has green shorts."). Many of my students struggle with this!
• Fine Motor Skills: Students will have to be careful not to grab, but use a pincer grasp - otherwise, all of the clothes will come flying out of the dryer!
• Pretend Play: And, of course, the game would make a great tool for pretend play in play therapy, since the clothes are very realistic!
• Guessing game: Because the dryer nicely obscures anything inside, you can play a guessing game by placing a random item inside, having students touch it, and guess what it is.
• Social Skills: We used this game to work on fair play and not attempting to peek into the dryer!

If you only have money to purchase one of the Educational Insights games that I am reviewing here, I would recommend you get this one, since you will get the biggest bang out of your buck with this choice!

~Viola