Coming from the English "barrier games," barrier games are essential resources for supporting children's language skills. They can be used at home, as well as at school or in speech therapy practices. In addition, they make it easy to implement physical distancing during a session. !

What is a barrier game? ?

Barrier games are oral communication games that can be adapted to written form if needed. Two people sit opposite each other and each receives the same objects. A barrier is placed between them so that they cannot see each other's objects. Depending on the objective of the game, one player gives instructions to the other or both players give each other instructions, as in the Battleship game, for example. In the case of one player giving instructions to the other to reproduce a scene or a drawing, the goal is that once the barrier is removed, the child and the adult have the same result! To do this, the child must listen carefully and/or give clear and precise instructions to the adult.

Skills that can be developed through barrier games

Barrier games are great tools for developing many language skills, but not only that! Here are some tips and a selection of skills that can be worked on through these games.

Auditory memory is the child's ability to remember spoken (rather than written) information. To develop listening and memory skills, you should start with an instruction that your child can follow easily. If they can follow it easily, you can gradually increase the length of the instructions. It may be helpful for the child to repeat instructions to support their memory and check if they are listening.

To develop vocabulary For young children, start with games where they know most of the words and add a few more each time. For example, you can use figurines of familiar and unfamiliar animals, fruit and vegetable figurines, etc.

Barrier games are also great for introducing preschoolers to a new vocabulary. If your child is going to study at schoolocean or the insects, why not make a barrier game about these themes? This way, your child can practice understanding and using this specific vocabulary. Ask your child's teacher for a list of words and use Google Images to find pictures to use. If your child is more kinesthetic, use figurines instead of pictures so they can manipulate them (and later, play with them). Once your child has mastered how barrier games work and can follow simple instructions with at least three keywords and form simple sentences, you can start adding some concepts to your games. These might include, for example, size, shape, position, and colors.

A fun game to support the development of a descriptive language is to establish a rule that you cannot say the names of the pictures. Therefore, to "put the dog on the boat," you might have to say "put the brown barking animal on the blue vehicle that goes in the water."This is a fun way to develop descriptive vocabulary !

The learning or reinforcement of specific grammatical concepts or structures, such as pronouns (him, her, them, etc.) can also be targeted using barrier games.

Work on pronunciation of certain sounds is very easy with barrier games! You just have to carefully choose the material used to focus on the sound. For example, the barrier game of the sounds "ch", which could be on the theme of princes and princesses, with words such as castle, forest, knights, path, etc.

Barrier games are great for children who mumble or speak too quickly or quietly. These games give listeners the opportunity to provide immediate and honest feedback on communication skills and the clarity of the child's speech. For example: "When you speak so quickly, I don't really know what to do."

Theory of Mind is about understanding other people's perspectives. Developing a theory of mind through barrier games works in the same way as developing clear speech. That is, by giving your child clear and specific feedback about how well you can understand their instructions. Children with a poor theory of mind will often say things like "put that one over there" because they don't realize that you can't see what they can see.

Children who are often reluctant to do writing tasks may be motivated to write through barrier games. One idea might be to take turns writing instructions and carrying them out.

Barrier games can also be effective in small groups and in classThe children sit in a circle. One child sits with their back to the rest of the group and gives the instructions. Alternatively, the children can take turns giving one instruction each. You can do barrier games as a whole-class activity using photocopied background boards and instructions that involve drawing, gluing, or coloring on the sheets.

How to Create a Barrier Game ?

Go take a look at the activity " Barrier games to develop language skills » to easily set up a variety of games!