Build Your Child’s Communications Skills With This Fun Halloween Game

Here is a spooky Halloween-themed game to play with your child while extending their listening and communication skills.

Download the Bug Bingo handout here. 

How To Play Bug Bingo With Younger Children:

1. Print the pictures on lightweight card. Together with your child cut up the bug cards and the game boards, talking about and describing the bugs as you do.
2. Ask your child to hand out the game boards, one for each player.
3. Place the bug cards face down in a pile.
4. Take turns to take a bug card and – without showing the picture – talk about what it is. For example, ‘This is a bug that is very slow. It is a snail’, or ‘This is an insect with 8 legs. It’s a spider’.
5. Everybody who has that bug puts a token (you could use coins or paperclips instead) on top of the picture on their game board.
6. The first person to cover three pictures in a row wins the game and shouts “Bingo”.

While playing the game with your child

• Use Acoustic Highlighting on key words –  whether that be the names of insects or describing words – to help your child to understand your descriptions. Put key words at the end of your sentences, this will make it easier for your child to listen to and remember the insect they have to find. For example, ‘This one is a caterpillar’.
• Hiding the picture on the card encourages your child to listen to your words first, before focusing on the picture. If your child can easily find the bug, you might like to make the task more difficult by shifting the key word to the middle of the sentence. For example, ‘Who has a bee on their card’. If they can’t find it, repeat the name of the insect again ‘Who has a bee?’.
• Add more information while looking at each bug so your child begins to build associations between words and learn new describing and action words. For example, ‘This bug can fly. It emerges from a cocoon. It is a butterfly.’
• Use extension and expansion to extend your child’s phrases by adding another piece of information to their comments. This will model more complex language and concepts for them to learn.

How To Play Bug Bingo With Older Children:

1. Print the pictures on lightweight card. Together with your child cut up the bug cards and the game boards, talking about and describing the bugs as you do. Point out the similar bugs, e.g. green grasshopper and brown grasshopper. Talk about what the bug eats, where it lives or how it moves.
2. Ask your child to hand out the game boards, one for each player.
3. Place the bug cards face down in a pile.
4. Decide with your child who should go first.
5. Take turns to take a bug card and – without showing the picture – talk about what it is. For example, ‘I have an insect that makes honey. It is a bee’.
6. Everybody who has that bug puts a token on top of the picture on their game board.
7. The first person to cover 3 pictures in a row wins the game and shouts “Bingo”.
8. Model to your child what you can say and do when you win a game that is appropriate for them to use with their peers. For example, ‘I was lucky this time, but you might win the next game!’. Or when you lose a game, offer a handshake and say ‘Good game’.

While playing the game with your child

• Hiding the picture on the card encourages your child to listen to your words first, before focusing on the picture. If your child can easily find the bug, make the task more difficult by using descriptions instead. For example, ‘Who has an insect that is brown and has 6 legs. It can jump very high and has antenna’. If they can’t find it, say the name of the insect ‘Who has a brown grasshopper’ and repeat the description.
• Add more information while looking at each bug so your child begins to build associations between words and learn new describing and action words. For example, ‘This card shows an insect that makes a web to catch its food. It’s a spider’.
• Use extension and expansion to extend your child’s phrases by adding a new piece of information to their comments. This will model more complex language and concepts for them. If your child only says the name of the bug when it is their turn, model a complete phrase back to them for example ‘oh you have the green caterpillar on your card’.

Looking for more fun rehab activities? The Murat Reader Series and the MED-EL Lesson Kits are great resources to support your child’s listening skills at home. Download them now for free!