Hide and seek
Appropriate Population:
- School-age (or slightly below)
(Check in with parents about boundaries of the game, ensure that the child understands this). It might be useful to play in a limited area so you can maximise communication opportunities, rather than spend time “seeking”.
Goal: Using prepositions. Under, behind and in.
Understanding prepositions Under, behind and in.
Steps:
- Introduce the game with the child. If the child is younger you might like to “scope out” areas of the room that are potential hiding places. Name these out loud as you go, try and repeat the preposition multiple times.. I.e “you could hide under the blanket, do you want to practice? Go under the blanket, I can’t see you under there!”
- See if the child can hide in the places you suggest, you can help them out if it is tricky for them. You might like to involve other family members.
Variation: Involve their favorite toy, hide it somewhere and then give the child clues using preposition words. I.e “it is behind something, it is behind something black. It is behind the tv”
Step up:
- See if the child can suggest places for you to hide.
- See if the child can hide the toy and then give you clues (using preposition words) to find it as quickly as possible.
Step down:
- Hide the toy together around the room. See if you can find the best hiding place. Use multiple repeats of preposition words as you go.
Resources:
- A toy the child is familiar with.
- A space the child is familiar with.
Nicole
Fora's Speech Pathology team