Speech Therapy.... Think of a ......(game)

How to make Think of a ....2002

• All the image pages you need to make an A3 game board, oops cards and a set of instructions on how to play the game are available for you to download on our downloads page. The files are in a zipped folder and are all Adobe Acrobat pdf files.
  
  
• The four pages that make up the game board can simply be trimmed at the edges and fitted together and stuck onto a large piece of A3 card.
  
  
  

  thoag_page3	thoag_page4
  thoag_page1	thoag_page2

How to make the original game

• To make this game you can print the following diagram pages directly from the browser. You may need to print more than one copy of diagram 1. Images printed directly from the browser will be quite small. To get a larger image right click picture and save image then import the image into your word processing package e.g. Word and enlarge the image there..
  
  

  1	Letter squares
  2	Action squares
  3	go back /go ahead squares
  4	start and finish circles
  5	Oops cards

  
  
  
• You can download the zipped Adobe Acrobat .pdf  files that I created to make this game. This also includes letter squares for the whole alphabet plus 'sh', 'ch', and 'th'. Downloads page.
  
  
• Use the ideas here to create your own game in your word processing package or if you have it publisher package. Help with ideas on how to do this.

Instructions on how to build the game-board

• Cut out all the squares and the start and finish circles.
  
  
•  Arrange these on a piece of card ( For ideas on how to arrange your cards see the Picture of the finished board game ) Remember to spread out the activity squares, go back squares and go ahead squares between the letter squares.
  
  
•  Then stick the squares down.
  
  
• (Approximately 100 squares should fit on a piece of card  36 cm wide by 51 cm deep) 
  
  
• Make a set of oops  cards. One side says oops, the other says either go back 1, go back 2, go back 3, or go back to start.
  
  
• Find or buy two dice and a shaker pot.
  
  
• Find or buy small figures to use as player pieces. 

To play the game

You will need

• Game board
• Player pieces (1 for each player)
• Two dice and a shaker pot
• A set of Oops! cards

Instructions

• All players start on the start circle.
• Players take turns to shake the dice and move that number of squares
• If you land on a
  • Letter / sound square you have to think of a word beginning with that sound.
  • An action square you have to do the action (see list below)
  • A go ahead / go back square you move back or forward the number of squares shown.
    
    
• Action squares
  • smiley face - smile!
  • cat - meow like a cat
  • cow - moo like a cow
  • rabbit - hop like a bunny around the room
  • kangaroo - jump like a kangaroo (bird - flap and tweet like a bird in Think of a ...2002)
  • singer (Sheets of music in Think of a.... 2002)- sing part of a song
    
    
• If you CANNOT think of a word or do the action straight away you have to take an Oops card
• Oops! cards send a player back a number of squares or back to the start.
• The winner is the first to reach the finish circle.

Variations of the game

Use different starting sounds or use the whole alphabet, include starting sounds like 'sh', 'th' and 'ch'. A set of whole alphabet letter cards is available from our downloads page.

Play think of a word ending in the sound.

Make the game more difficult by adding a 'no repeats' rule. Write down each word as it is used in the game, a white board is good for this, so that you can keep track of which words have been used. As your child begins to read you can use this as an opportunity to practice simple spelling etc.

You could introduce a time element by using a stop watch, each player has 30 seconds to think of a word from landing on the square or they have to take an oops card. The shorter the thinking time the harder the game!

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