Hide and Seek

Never underestimate the power of hide and seek.  This is one of my favorite games to encourage with children, especially when you have children over for play dates.  Last week, I was with a 6 year-old, a 4 year-old, a 3 year-old, and a 2 year-old and they had so much fun playing this classic game. Aside from observing, I was not involved.  Most of the time, the kids are going to find the same hidi...ng spot (under a table, behind a curtain, between furniture, behind a door), but when you have kids together, they laugh upon being "found."  This game encourages children to work together (you'll often have 2 of the children hiding together), turn-taking, and creating a game with a common set of rules (I count, you hide, and then I will find you).  If your child can count to 3, make that number they count to.  If your child can't yet count, you can be the counter.  Another idea-  you can turn on music and when the music goes off, the "finder" is on the way.  This game works at every person's house and does not require any materials.  Those are always the best speech-language activities. 
~Marena Mitchell, Speech-Language Pathologist