Following Directions: Auditory Memory Board Games

I love playing word memory board games to help my students learn strategies that can help them follow directions. When I play auditory memory board games with my students I get a chance to see how well they can remember words (super important when following directions!), if they have any strategies (e.g., do they repeat back the words before starting), and whether they can remember the words while doing a task (moving around a board).

If you haven’t played an auditory (word) memory board game before, this is what my version looks like. The board has a path with four different (usually theme-based) pictures repeated and a start space and a a finish space. Rather than moving around the board using a dice or spinner, a list of words (corresponding to the game board) is read (2-, 3-, or 4-words). Students can move around the board touching each of the pictures that was read (e.g., “dog – cat” –> move to the next dog space and then the next cat space).

I will often get students who struggle to follow directions in class to try to play an auditory memory board game with me. I usually start with two-word memory. If they can do that successfully, we move to three- and then four-word memory. If they can’t successfully do two-word memory, we either move down to one-word memory or work on strategies for two-word memory.

Some students haven’t had experience playing board games so we also work on organization (how to move around the board).

Some strategies we use to help build word memory skills:

• Stop and Listen – make sure your ears are tuned in before the words are read. If you didn’t listen in the first place, it is hard to know where to move to.
• Repetition – repeat back the words you hear. This allows you to hear the word more than once.
• Rehearsal – rehearse the words before starting. This helps keep brains focused on remembering the words.
• Think aloud – say the words as you go so your brain stays focused.
• Check back – listen to the words again, did you get where you were supposed to go? It’s easy to skip this part but so important to start building self-awareness and self-monitoring skills!

Have you tried Auditory Memory board games? What other ways do you work on auditory memory?