Multisensory Monday: Sound Charades

Anyone ready to laugh a little? Get in some exercise? Today’s Multisensory Monday requires participants to act out (yup, act!) the basic sounds of English!

If your kid is working towards mastering basic sounds, learning using a multisensory approach will make all the difference. When we learn using multiple senses, information “sticks” much more effectively.

We use Key Words as visual reminders. For example, if your child is stuck on recalling the sound letter P makes, they can look at their Key Word (Pizza), say their Key Word out loud, and hear that the first sound is /p/. When we add in the Key Word Gesture and pretend to toss pizza dough in the air, their automatic sound recall strengthens.

Below are two different ways to play Sound Charades, everyone ready?

This game is appropriate for anyone over the age of 4!

First, make sure all players are familiar with the following Key Words (click here for the list). If one player isn’t familiar with certain sounds, make a list of sounds they are comfortable with and focus on learning the sounds and gestures for those. Add new sounds to the game as they become more comfortable.

Version 1:

Write all known sounds on slips of paper and put them in a bowl. Player 1 will pull a slip out of the bowl and call it out. Player 2 will then act out the Key Word Gesture for that sound. For example, Player 1 says /o/ and Player 2 will act like an octopus. See how many sounds Player 2 can correctly act out in 30 seconds then switch players!

Version 2:

Player 1 acts out a Key Word Gesture while Player 2 tries to guess the sound their actions are representing. For example, Player 1 mimics a shark and Player 2 says (/sh/). See how many sounds Player 1 can correctly act out in 30 seconds then switch players!

You can choose either (or both!) options, or make up your own version! Have fun!

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Written by Angelina Spiteri-Bender, CDP

Angelina is an Instructor with Brainspring Educator Academy

Brainspring has proudly supported the educational community for more than 25 years.

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