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Speedeebee! consists of 50 cards containing 150 challenges and 4 alphabet dice. On each of the cards there are three challenges to choose from. Some examples of the many challenges are:
**Name something you love to do, starting with one of these letters (throw all four dice)
**Name something you love to eat, containing one of these letters (throw all four dice)
**Find a word containing two of these letters (throw the red and green dice)
I think the questions are great and make kids think, but aren't all so challenging that they won't be successful. And I think it is nice that they have a choice of 3 so they can find a question that they are comfortable with. There is a lot about the game that sets the kids up to not only have a good time but to be successful. The fact that a child gets to pick out a question means less stress for them during game play and unfortunately, playing games can be something that produces a lot of stress in the kids I work with.
There are two different ways to play the game (although with my kids I don't always play by their rules)
Challenge Mode: Place 20 cards in the middle of the playing area face down. The remaining 30 cards are not used for the rest of the game and are returned to the storage tin. The first player holds all 4 dice (great for fine motor skills and improving in-hand manipulation skills), picks the top card from the deck and picks one of the 3 challenges on the card and reads it out loud to the group. Once all players understand the challenge, the person who selected the challenge will roll the dice and as quickly as possible, all players attempt to complete the challenge using the letters rolled. Whoever answers first takes the card and a new turn is started. This continues until there are no cards left in the draw pile and at the end, the person who gets the most cards is the winner.
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Here are a few occupational therapy goals that can be addressed when playing Speedeebee!:
Improve Handwriting Skills-while the game is meant to be a language game, I have adapted it to be able to work on improving graphomotor skills. Instead of having the kids shout out their answers, I have them write their answers down on paper. Whether they are working on print or cursive, I find this to be a motivating way to work on a skill that is typically challenging for them. I actually did this with a 9 year old girl I work with who needs to work on handwriting and endurance; she was totally engaged for much longer than she would have been if I had just had her practice words or other random sentences. She actually asked to play longer when I said it was time to put the game away! I encourage the children to write whole sentences and use proper grammar. Depending on their handwriting goals, you can work on grasping skills, building up writing endurance,
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Improve Executive Functioning/Organizational Skills-many of my older kids are also coming to me to work on improving their executive functioning skills. The most common aspect of executive functioning I work on is improving organization skills for improved performance in school or at home with homework. For my older kids who are fluent readers, the first thing I make them do is read the directions to themselves. Once they have read them, I ask them to repeat the directions back to me...I will interrupt them if they forget something or mess them up. I also make them set the game up and if they do something incorrectly, they have to read the directions again and fix their error.
I love games that can be adapted to be appropriate for a variety of children and their varying needs. Speedeebee! is one of those and while I intend on adapting it when necessary, it is also a great game the way it was created. I have a feeling that my speech therapy friends will love this game and am definitely interested in hearing their thoughts and opinions. One thing I would like to figure out is a way to make this game work for my preschool population, particularly the social skills groups I run with my colleagues. Any thoughts or suggestions from you my readers on how to do that? I love hearing from you and am always a click away.