More school carnivals with Discovery Toys!

Elia and I had a fantastic time at another carnival put on by one of the schools in my district!! We met some great kids and chatted with other community members.

What product were people most interested in? Zingo!!


I LOVE Zingo!! Yeah, it's kinda like another game that rhymes with Zingo but starts with a B, so you pretty much get the idea!

Zingo comes with 8 double sided cards so many people can play at once. It also comes with a nifty-neato tile dispenser that makes this game FUN! Instead of just flipping cards over, kids get to work this cool contraption to get thier pictures--they slide the dispenser and, presto! 2 picture tiles come out!! Inside the dispenser are 72 heavy duty tiles that have pictures. As the kids take turns, they see if the tiles match pictures they have on their card.

How can I use this to enhance my child's speech and language skills? Excellent question!!

Vocabulary Development- Make sure your child labels the items as they come out the dispenser. If they aren't sure what the word is, give them a clue. For example, if they don't know "clock," make the "C" sound to see if that helps them find the word.

Increase descriptive language- Have your child tell you 2 or things about each picture tile. If they pick "dog," have them say "a dog has four legs and barks." Encourage them to use full sentences and help them if they need it. "what else" or "tell me more" are great ways to get him to say more!

Using grammatically correct sentences- As the tiles come out, have your child tell you a sentence using both words. For example, if they get "bird" and "tree," encourage them to tell you about them. They could say "the bird lives in a tree" or "the bird is flying to the tree." If they miss a word or use the wrong word, simply model for them the correct sentence by emphasizing the missing word. For example, if he says "cat running," you can say "yes! the cat IS running! He IS! He IS running." You feel like you're repeating yourself? That's a GOOD thing! The more we hear something said correctly, the faster we will learn!

Articulation-Ok, I admit, this takes a bit of planning. And, you need to be very aware of the sound your child is working on and if they are able to produce it at all. Ok, so, let's pretend you know that he's working on the "k" and "g" sounds and he can say it in words. Great! Now, go through the tiles and find words with "k" and "g" in them... cat, clock, frog, dog, etc, etc. and put them on the bottom of the piles so you are sure they will get them. Sneaky artic practice! I love it!

Oh, and here's a bonus-- all of the pictures include printed words! Hooray for literacy practice!!

Have a great time playing Zingo with your whole family! If you would like more information about Zingo or other games and products, contact me or visit my website.

Happy playing!

~Marcy