Sound Bingo

Guest blogger Kari Hickman, M.A., CCC-SLP, here. Sometimes it just feels good to put all those letters after my name. I did earn them.

Granted I've been mostly out of the SLP loop since Hazel was born. But I pay my ASHA dues every year, keep in loose touch with former co-workers and co-grad-students, and even read up on current issues (sometimes.) Like when Hazel was going through a severe stuttering bout it was great to email my stuttering specialist friend Laura for some help. Once in awhile I even conjure up some visual phonics or phonemic awareness activities to do with the girls. Mostly I just love to watch their speech and language acquisition run its natural course, and marvel at both the structural and subtle linguistic complexities they are mastering.

I recently threw a Discovery Toys party, both because I love their products and to take advantage of the hostess perks towards Christmas gifts. When I got the new catalog I panicked when I couldn't find two games I remembered from last year at my friend Kelly's party, and wanted to get. Diane, the DT consultant, told me they no longer carried the games but they were available through Kindermusik. Not only available, but on sale at 1/2 price. I snatched them up.

They're both sound bingo games. Both come with 12 4x4 square bingo cards, a bag of plastic chips and a CD. Sound Bingo has pictures and sounds of musical instruments, animals and environmental noises like a fire engine and hammer. You put the CD on random and let the fun begin. It also helps develop auditory skills and focus, analytical skills, language (new vocabulary as you discuss the game), and the pre-reading skill of matching sounds to visual representation.

ABC Sound Bingo has 2-sided cards. One side has pictures of items like kite, butterfly, cherry, and the other side has photos of consonant letters like S, P, G, etc. For each phonic, the CD says the sound twice and two things that begin with it, like "/b/..../b/....balloon or banana" (never the name of the letter). I'm not even sure I can list all the good skills this game addresses; at least all of the above plus beginning phonemic awareness (a major reading success skill) and phonics.

Plus they're totally fun. I have made a million bingo games for SLP clients and primary lessons - you can make them for anything, from things tithing is used for to story comprehension to telling time, and almost any age can play. Kids especially love it when you use magnetic chips and wands to pick them up at the end. Good stuff. You could totally make your own ABC Bingo cards and instead of a CD just say the sounds or words yourself. The other one is harder to replicate all the sounds and probably worth having the CD. As soon as they arrived yesterday I played the first one with the girls and they loved it - Ginger had no problem finding the pictures on her card, and they both learned a few new sounds like cymbal and saw. They asked to play it again before bed.

For educational & fun wrapped up in one 1/2 price package, Sound Bingos get 4.5 disco balls:
And since I'm here anyway in my SLP persona, a little plug for other fun & age appropriate activities that support your child's speech and language development.