Summer vacation is here!!! While vacation is great, some parts can be boring at times. It can be hard to keep children occupied and happy in a car, train, or plane (or even at home on rainy days!). Here are some FUN games to pass the time and build language skills. No materials needed except your mouth, ears, and brain (though books can be helpful for jokes and Would You Rather). Enjoy!
20 Questions
Take turns thinking of a common noun. Guide your child to ask you yes/no questions and then guess from clues that narrow down categories and sub-categories. This helps to build language organization and specific vocabulary. Examples:
* Is it a… Food - Fruit - Red - Apple!
* Is it a… Vehicle - Air - Helicopter!
* Is it a… Animal - Farm - Cow!
I Spy
Take the opportunity to observe your new surroundings. "I spy with my little eye, I spy something (color) that (give category and important clues)." This builds on expanding category and word knowledge.
Visual Scavenger Hunt
Tell your child two things to look for (red car, purple flower). Help them look around. Gradually expand the number of items the child is finding. This helps to strengthen working memory skills.
Jokes
Jokes often rely on figurative language, multiple meaning words, and homonyms. Find a good joke book and share some laughs with your child. Explain to each other WHY each joke is funny, and see if you can come up with jokes of your own!
Story Chains
Give your child two or three story themes to pick (space, friends arguing, beach, etc). One person starts the story and says a few sentences. Then, the next person has to pick up and continue the story, adding his/her own twist and elements. This activity can be silly and fun, but it also requires cognitive-linguistic flexibility and social awareness to work as a team.
Charades
Practice non-verbal communication using gestures and specific actions to help others guess your idea! Pick simple animals or actions as the easiest level. It's also good practice with adapting gestures/movements when your team can't guess the first time around.
Would You Rather
Ask questions ranging from silly to serious and practice making a choice that is supported with 2-3 good reasons. This builds expressive organization and reasoning skills. Follow up with conversations comparing people’s choices for additional social fun.
ABC Themes
Take turns listing items in alphabetical order around a theme or category. Each person names one item for one letter, and the next person gets the next letter. You could pick animals (Alligator, Bear, Cat, etc.), vehicles (Ambulance, Bronco, Car, etc.), foods (Apple, Bread, Carrot, etc.), names (Ali, Bailey, Chris, etc.), places/countries/states (Algeria, Bolivia, Columbia, etc.), space (Astronaut, Black Hole, Comet, etc.), or explore endless other themes. For vacation fun, choose themes related to your destination and activities! This helps to build semantic connections and word retrieval.