Games & Activities for Articulation Cards

• HIDE & SEEK: Clinician hides the cards and the client finds them, says them each using good sounds.
• MYSTERY PICK: Clinician chooses a winning card, places the card back in the deck, shuffles and fans the cards out. Clients take turns selecting cards, saying the word on the card. The one who picks the winning card gets a sticker.
• BEAN BAG TOSS: Place the cards in a row on the floor. Select a winning card. Have client stand a few feet back and try to toss the bag on the winning card. The client must say the word on the card that the bag lands on.
• FISHING FOR WORDS OR NUMBERS: You can do this two ways. Either use a fishing pole with a magnet to pick up cards with paper clips attached, or use the pole to pick up fish with numbers on them. The number indicates how many words they have to say.
• RACE FOR CANDIES: Turn artic cards upside down in 1 row per player. The clients have to turn over a card, say the word correctly and move to the next card. If they misarticulate they have to stop and repeat the word until they get it right. At the end of the rows of cards is a prize, such as candy or a sticker.
• GUESS WHAT!: Cover an artic card with a plain index card and slowly unveil it. The client has to guess (and correctly articulate the word) before the picture is totally revealed.
• PICK 2: The client selects 2 cards from the deck at random and has to put both in 1 sentence that makes sense and with correct articulation.
• ARTICU-BOWL: Attach cards to bowling pins and have the client bowl over the pins. As s/he picks the pins up, s/he must correctly articulate each word attached to the pins.
• MEMORY LINE-UP: Place 3, 4, 5 cards in a row, have the client say the words, then close his/her eyes while you switch the order. S/he must put them back in order and say them again.
• ARTIC AIM: Use a gun that shoots spinners (plastic ones are about a dollar at major discount stores) to try and hit a card. The client has to correctly articulate the one s/he is aiming for and then hits.
• TWISTER ARTIC: Toss several artic cards in the air. Instruct the client to place as many body parts (elbows, hands, fingers, nose, etc) on as many cards as s/he can. S/he must say each one that s/he touches.
• PICTURE GUESS: Two teams take turns selecting a card from the deck and then drawing the picture. The other team must try to guess what the target word is and correctly articulate it.
• PSYCHIC ARTIC: Show clients 2 or 3 cards, shuffle these and pass them out. They each must each take turns trying to guess which card you or the other players have. (this can be a good language-naming game too)

• PASS A BALL:Take turns rolling a ball back and forth, each person has to think of a new target word and articulate that correctly.
• BALLOON BOUNCE: Bounce a balloon and try to keep it in the air. Each time the client hits the balloon s/he has to articulate the target sound or word correctly.
• BOARD GAMES: These are so simple to make. Just pick a theme and draw a game board on poster board. For example, one game board I have is a mouse and a sleeping cat. A cheese trail goes around the cat to the mouse hole. The kids simply role the dice and go that many cheese pieces towards the mouse hole. The number they role is the number of words or phrases that the child has to articulate correctly.
• ARTIC WORD SEARCH: Use the following link to make word searches and crossword puzzles. Click me!!

Other ideas I have tried and found to be successful!!

• SOUND COLLAGE: I do this in the first few days of therapy, when I am trying to get my kids to know their target sounds and be able to identify words that contain their sound. We search through old magazines looking for pictures of things that have their target sound. We talk about whether the sound is in the beginning, end or middle of the word, etc. The children then glue all the pictures on a large piece of construction paper to make a collage that is displayed in the therapy room for several weeks.
• DISPLAY FOR ARTIC LEVEL: I like to have a bulletin board with a theme that displays the level of articulation (isolation, words, sentences, etc.) that each child is on. For example, one year I used a rainbow with clouds. Above the rainbow, in a banner, was a sign that said "I can say my sounds . . ." Then on each cloud I wrote a speech level: "in isolation, in words, in sentences, while reading, in the therapy room, all the time!" Each child has his or her name on a rain drop which can be moved from cloud to cloud as s/he achieves a level.