No, we aren't just playing games in speech therapy! We're LEARNING! As SLPs, one of our unique superpowers is that we can pull out ANY game and turn it into therapy! But, there are soo many games out there to choose from that it can be overwhelming to know which ones to get! Check out my list of recommended 15 games every SLP should know about, and how they serve a variety of our students' goals!

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(1) Jenga

Jenga is a perfect, classic game to have in your collection. It's suspense delights many! Students can work on their target skill for each tile pulled from the bottom and placed on the top. Great for extra fine motor practice, too!

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(2) Pop The Pig

I bet you guessed this SLP staple would be on the list! Pop The Pig involves feeding the pig burgers until he's too full and pops! Each burger has a number on the bottom to indicate how many times to push his head. These numbers can be the amount of speech sound trials or language targets (ex: The number is 3. Name 3 shapes.)

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(3) Shark Bite

Shark Bite includes each player using a fishing rod to pull out a sea animal at a time. If you pull out the wrong one, he snaps! Perfect for an ocean theme or pair with any artic/phono cards!

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(4) Ned's Head

Ned's Head is a goofy game where you stick your hand into Ned's ear or mouth to pull out funny objects! Each object has a corresponding card. In the beginning you choose cards and reach inside to try to find the matching object on your card. You can't look inside, you can only feel your way around! Perfect for labeling, describing, adjectives, sizes, and much more!

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(5) Crocodile Dentist

This adorable croc needs to see the dentist! (It even has braces!) Find out which tooth is bothering him by pressing down on a tooth inside his mouth. If the croc chomps down on you, you're out, and the last person left wins! This is a great game for learning about occupations such as dentists or during a jungle theme. Feed him pictures during the game with target words! Use core boards to model "give" and "eat." Because of the chomping action of the game, I love to play this with my students who require lots of movement! It pairs perfectly with There Was a Crocodile Song by The Learning Station video where they replace each animal name with its associated movement.

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(6) Sneaky Snacky Squirrel

The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel is hungry for acorns! Spin the spinner to see if you'll take, steal, or lose an acorn. The person to fill their log with all of their acorns is the winner. The best part is that there are squirrel tongs to pick up the acorns! (Hello fine motor practice!) Use with a fall or a forest theme. Can be paired with any target per turn! I love to use it as a companion activity to go along with my squirrel-themed books, such as Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt. 

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(7) Rattlesnake Jake

Rattlesnake Jake is protecting a bunch of gold nuggets. Each player takes a turn taking a gold nugget. Whoever has the most gold at the end wins! But watch out, he may lunge at you, forcing you to put back half of the gold nuggets you have. If you get a gold nugget, you get to flip a coin for a chance at it again - great for multiple trials! Use the gold nuggets to cover target words. If your student has to put half of them back, they have to say all of the target words those nuggets were covering. 

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(8) Burping Bobby

Burping Bobby is a silly game where you feed stinky food to the hippo until he burps! Each game piece has a number on the back which is great for multiple trials of target words. When Bobby burps, his throat turns green and a vapor comes out. (Don't worry, he doesn't actually stink like a burp- YUCK!) Highly engaging and fun!

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(9) Candy Land

Candy Land is a sweet, classic board game! Spin to reach the next color on the game board. First one to reach King Candy's Castle wins! Count the number of spaces it takes to get to the color you spun to determine the amount of trials for your students! Describe, compare, and contrast the different candies and sweets you see in the game. Find speech sound targets using items on the game board - /s/: sweet, ice cream, house, castle, etc. Great alongside a food theme or even a holiday theme with the gingerbread game pieces!

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(10) Jumping Jack

Collect as many carrots as you can from Jack by pulling them out of the garden. The right carrot will make him jump up. Catch him to win this fun game! Use the carrot pieces to cover target words or to use as pointers when making sentences. Great alongside an animal, bunny, spring, or Easter theme! I like to play this game after reading a spring or bunny book, such as Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson.

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(11) Pop Up Pirate

Ahoy mateys! Place swords inside the barrel until the pirate pops out! Whoever has the most swords wins. Use with ANY speech/language target. Play this swashbuckling game any time during the year or alongside a pirate theme! (FYI: Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19th!)

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(12) Banana Blast

Banana Blast involves pulling banana's out from the tree until the monkey jumps up! Use the bananas to cover target words on cards or symbol boards.  Use alongside a jungle or food/fruit theme! The person with the most bananas wins!

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(13) Hi Ho! Cherry-O

Another classic staple for your speech therapy game collection! You want to be the first person to pick off all the fruit from your tree and fill your basket! This is perfect for multiple trials of target words and is a great game to start the school year off with since it resembles apple picking!

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(14) Cootie Bugs

Create your own cootie bug before the other players create theirs! I love this game because it there are no time constraints, it can last you the whole session! To start the game, you have to roll a 1 to get the body of the bug. Then you have to roll a 2 to get the head of the bug, and so on as you add more body parts to your bug. In order to roll the desired number, this may take many turns, which means MANY trials!! You can target describing and sequencing as you design your cootie bug!

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(15) Operation

Rounding out the list with another classic - Operation! Great for adding fine motor practice!! Collect money every time you successfully remove an object from the patient with a pair of tongs. The player with the most money wins! Be careful, if the tongs hit the side of the game board, a buzzer will go off and the next player will have a chance to remove the item. Removing items without the buzzer going off is often challenging, making this game last longer and quite possibly filling your session! Describe the removed items, add artic/phono targets, or use with a community helper theme!

There are SO many games than an SLP can use for therapy but these are my favorite!!!

Every single game in this post is featured in my Toy and Game Companion Worksheets in my TPT shop! 

🎲 Use these NO PREP game companion worksheets alongside ANY of your favorite games, toys, and Learning Resources toys!

🎲 They will take you through your entire school year and align with every goal on your caseload!

🎲 Perfect to send home for carryover and for mixed groups!

🎲 Your students will LOVE these quick, simple activities that go along with all of their favorite therapy games!

Want a link to EVERY game every SLP should know about and MORE?!

👉 Check out my Amazon Storefront (affiliate) for links to all of my fave speech therapy games!

Chat soon!

Abby