May be May « uncommonkids

Spring is here, love is in the air, and in the HRM the unwavering attraction between rain and  the weekends proves it. Too damp? Too rainy? If the kids can't enjoy the great outdoors, take advantage of the time indoors. After all the best kind of rain is a cozy one spent with your loved ones. And with May being Speech and Hearing Awareness month  what better way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon then an exciting Board game with your kids encouraging speech and language Development. In addition to promoting cooperation and interaction skills, games are an incredible tool  for shaping a child's developing brain, including language. Plus they're a lot of fun! Here are some exciting suggestions for an afternoon or evening in with your kids.
Ages 2-4 Eggspressions by educo:

Humpty's cousins have been invited to a party but they need your help to get over the castle wall. By sharing their feelings and working with you they find a solution.This wooden game is a wonderful tool for the development of hand-eye co-ordination, language and speech, improved identification of shape, color, and size. Eggspressions gives kids the chance to role-play and a way to understand and express their feelings. Includes a storybook and a set of six expressive wooden eggs (Happy, Sad, Angry, Excited, Afraid, and Shy).

Ages 4+ Monkey Bingo by Popular Playthings: Monkey bingo just happens to be the cutest and best way you can play bingo. One glance at the amusing dispenser, bright animal tiles, two-sided bingo cards, and see-through monkey chips and you know you're in for some serious Saturday afternoon fun. Playing is easy, simply load the 16 animal tiles into the banana crate and have each player choose one of eight two-sided bingo cards and nine monkey chips. Now the fun begins! The designated caller pushes the little monkey towards the crate full of yummy bananas and out pops one animal tile with two colorful animals pictured on it. The name of each animal is called out and if a player has one of them on their card, they put a monkey chip over its picture. The first player to get three animals in a row or fill their card if they are playing Blackout wins! Perfect for taking turns announcing and listening, practicing speech and  matching.
Ages 6+ Bannangrams: Bananagrams is a fast and fun and easy to set up. This word game requires no pencil, paper or board just a table and eager competitors. One round can be played in as little as five minutes or as long as half an hour. It is great for family fun as well as being educational at any level. In this  word game, players use tiles  with letters to create words crossword-style. The first player to use all their given tiles is the winner after they shout "BANANAGRAMS"!!! With multiple ways to play, this game is perfect for beginning spellers to practice, as well as more advanced players. Here are some suggestions to practice speech while playing Bananagrams.

Rhyming. Play the game as usual, but each time a player lays a word they most announce a word that rhymes with it. It's okay to use 'nonsense' words, as long as they rhyme, e.g.airplane/schmairplane.

Sounds in words. Identify and announce the first and/or last sound in each word played- be sure to focus on the sounds rather then the letters. For example the first and last sounds in Knit are not K and T, but 'nnn' and 'tt'.

Syllables. Identify how many syllables are in each word played by clapping once the word has been placed.