Board games are a nostalgic way to play with your child in this digitally driven world.
There are many benefits to playing games with your child to enhance their current therapy goals. You can adapt the rules to meet your child at their current level of ability. Check out the following!
Attention to Task
Memory match– Traditionally Memory is played with all of the pairs of cards face down with each player taking turns to turn over two cards at a time. A beginning approach to this game is playing with all of the cards FACE UP. Have your child visually scan the cards until they find a matching pair. Take turns picking up the pairs.
Progress from playing with the cards face up, to playing with fewer pairs face down. Make sure that your child keeps the card in its location to help with creating a memory of where it is located. Label the picture, and state what picture it is in that location to assist their memory.
Guess Who?- This game is good for attending, focusing, memory, and visual scanning. The child needs to figure out who your “person” is while you are asking questions to figure out who their “person” is. The child needs to be able to look at all of the pictures in their tray to decide which ones to eliminate to solve the game and be the winner. This game can be adapted with the use of less pictures of people in both of the trays, yours and the child. Make sure that you are playing with the same pictures.
Fine Motor Skills
Pop Up Pirate/ Banana Blast– These two games address fine motor precision when you allow your child to help with setting up the game. Pieces are inserted into a slot on Pop Up Pirate and into a hole on Banana Blast. Watch that your child is using their non-dominant hand to hold the game base still as they push the pieces in. These games are played very simply by taking turns pulling pieces out, waiting for the Pirate or the Monkey in the center to pop when the connected piece is pulled out. This game has a fun element of surprise!
Hi Ho Cherry-O- This classic game requires fine motor graded control, body awareness, and it helps to develop a pincer grasp. This game can be frustrating when all of the apples shift off the trees when the game is bumped. Be sure to have the game set up on a stable surface. An adaptation to this game is to begin with fewer apples than the number of holes on each tree. Instead of using the spinner and having the potential of needing to put apples back on the tree, play by taking turns removing the apples one at a time.
Gross Motor Skills
Twister- Twister can be played with many variations. This game is great for upper extremity strengthening, motor planning and figuring out how to move into new positions, right and left understanding, and color recognition. It can be played one person at a time on the mat. As the adult with the spinner, spin without the child being able to see the spinner, and decide on your own which extremity you would like the child to move. This way you can manipulate your child into good, weight bearing positions. You can also play without using Right and Left in the directions to the child. Allow the child to decide which arm or leg they would be able to move to the new color.
Yogarrr!– The balancing game of pirates, parrots and yoga. In this fun game, you pick a card, and perform the action shown, balancing a small parrot bean bag on your body as shown. You can remove the competitiveness by not earning coins for correct imitation of the poses. The game can be played with everyone imitating the same body positions. Go through the deck of cards, pick the ones that your child will be able to complete and gradually add in more difficult poses.
All of these games can be found in various stores or online!