Hungry Hippos

 

Here’s another classic game that is easily adapted for articulation drills.

Materials:  Hungry Hungry Hippos game, word list or deck of artic cards

How to play: On each of the little balls write a number from 1-6.  This will be the number of trials that the child will say.  I only have one “1” and maybe two “6”, most fall in the middle.  The game accommodates up to four players.  At “go” you slap the little lever on the back of your hippo to open his mouth and get him to grab one of the balls (hippo kibble?).  Once all the balls are “swallowed” it’s time to get to work.  In my room the child does a different target word for each ball.  So, let’s say the word is “thin”.  He would pick up a ball from those he collected and say “thin” the number of times indicated on the ball.  Next word, next ball/number.

You can keep score either by counting up the number of balls each child has or by counting up the “points” (# of trials) that you’ve printed on each ball.  The advantage of counting up points is that it gives you a running tally of how many trials the child is at and also encourages players to go after the higher numbers.

The game is wonderfully boisterous, but only lasts for a minute or two so it’s like having a built-in break during standard drills.

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This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Deborah Collins

    Nice! I never thought about writing on the balls!

    1. admin

      Your mom did a good job instilling in you that “markers are for paper”, but it’s time to branch out!

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The views expressed in this blog are my own and are intended to inspire other speech-language pathologists in their own practice. If you are a parent, teacher or other educator, these ideas are not intended to take the place of treatment by a certified clinician. Read full disclaimer here.