I never know where I am going to get a new idea for speech therapy. Yesterday, my cousin Martha came by with her two grandchildren, ages 7 and 5, who were enjoying a week at Camp G and G (Grandma and Grandpa). After the boys chased the dogs and climbed on the swing set, we played a rousing game of “Word Wave” calling out words as letter tiles shot out of the wave machine. Then Martha suggested they show me their new summer game and she pulled out her iPhone to start a round of “Heads Up.” Similar to the concept in Spinmaster’s “Headbanz” and HABA’s “Who Am I?” a player holds up his device that has a word on it for him to guess. Teammates shout out clues and the guesser starts to narrow down his search. We chose the category, “Animals” to begin our game and had to think of specific clues to describe platypus, chicken, goat (“mustache helped!) and otter. When an correct guess is made, the player tilts the device down to reveal a new word to describe. If the word is too hard and you want to pass, simply tilt the device up and move on.
This type of game has always provided a fun way to work on describing, vocabulary, word-finding and critical thinking skills. A fun reward is that after the time runs out and you’ve guessed as many words as you can in the allotted time, now turn the table s and watch a video of your teammates giving clues and enjoy a few laughs. I had no idea I was being videoed as I added a few gestures to explain a platypus’ bill or pantomimed a wheel of a car.
Heads Up is only $0.99 at the iTunes Store
