Page 165 - Literacy Based Speech Language Therapy Activities Digital Version

Creating Incredible Games that Match Story Content

This, folks, is also brain-based learning and engagement. Check out the book: Anna Banana: 101
Jump Rope Rhymes.

Bingo
Bingo is in a class of its own and is the black pepper of games. You can throw it into anything you

are cooking up. Reading Bear on a Bike? Transportation Bingo. Brown Bear? Animal Bingo. Hungry
Caterpillar? Food Bingo. If you do not know where to start or are short on time, start with Bingo.

Games are Stories – Stories are Games

My goal in this section is to blur the lines between games and stories. They are the same!
Narratives are powerful at linking together tons of details. Think about all the kids participating in

extremely complex online universes. There would be no way to remember all the places, characters,
powers, etc. without the story and its narrative glue. Now, we are going to reverse engineer the
process.

We are going to turn the paradigm on its head and use the game to teach the narrative.

Your job is to:

1. Choose a book you love

2. Identify what narrative structure it has

3. Map the story onto a game that has the same structure

(or keep reading)

How to Make Games

The bright people that make games don’t think like speech-language pathologists. This means we

have to make games from scratch. Here are some powerful time- and effort-saving tips:

 Always use manila folders for physical games. They are easy to carry and to store. They can
be laminated. The kids can make their own.
 Make it once for your favorite book and create a box/folder/binder of everything related to
that book. We have a library of binders in our office. Each binder has the blank templates
from the previous section, the books in a pouch, everything related to the book and a game
or two. We have a checkout system where we have a list of all of our literacy-kits and
everyone has a clothespin with their name on it to mark what kit they have out.
 Have your students make their own games! Now that’s learning.
 Have your older students make your games at the end of each book. They LOVE it and you
have incredible keepsakes.

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