Pop the Pig (Pop Goes Pop) is a game I added to my collection a number of years ago.  It has been popular since day one.  The object is to feed the pig until he “pops”! One of my favourite things about Pop the Pig is that it’s a simple turn-taking game.  It’s not quite as basic as a Pop Up Pirate or Barnyard Bingo, but falls into the easy to play, quick-turn category.  I like games with quick turns when I want to focus on getting lots of speech practice in.  I also love that I can use the many pieces (hamburgers) to expand play, for example, hiding the pieces around the room to work on prepositions.  From getting to feed the pig (putting the burgers in the pig’s mouth) to pushing his head, to the anticipation that comes with waiting for the pig to pop, kids love just about everything about Pop the Pig.

Speech Activities:

Pop the Pig is a toy that can easily be played while practicing speech sounds.

• Use the word chart to find related practice words.
• Use the number on the bottom of the hamburger to tell how many times to practice a target word.
• Cover target words with the hamburgers.  Practice each word as the burger is chosen.

Language Activities:

Vocabulary

• Concepts –
  • Colours – Pop the Pig provides lots of repetition to help your child learn colours.  Shaking the dice tells you which colour burger to choose – red, green, yellow, or purple.
  • Numbers – The numbers 1-4 are also built into this game.  Each burger has a number on the bottom that tells you how many times you can push the pig’s head after you feed him.
• Categories – think of items that fall into the colour categories (the number on the bottom of the burger can tell you how many words to think of).  Rather than shaking the dice, give a word that matches one of the colours (e.g., sun = yellow).
• Comparing and contrasting – use comparatives and superlatives (big/bigger/biggest, hungry/hungrier/hungriest).
• Fancy words – expand your child’s vocabulary using fancy words:
  • disappointed – “You look disappointed you didn’t get to make the pig pop.”
  • enormous – “The pig’s belly is growing…it’s enormous!”
  • feast – “This pig has 12 burgers to feast on!”
  • gigantic – “His belly is gigantic!”
  • nervous – “I’m feeling nervous that the pig is going to pop!”
  • suddenly – “Suddenly I’m feeling very nervous!”
  • surprise – “That surprised me!  I didn’t think he was going to pop.”
  • wonder – “I wonder how many more burgers he needs before he will pop.”
  • worry – “Don’t worry you didn’t get to make him pop.  We can play again later.”

Grammar

• Question formation – “What colour did you get?” and “What number did you get?” can be repeated throughout this game.
• Plurals – Count how many burgers are left – 5 burgers? 2 red burgers? 3 purple burgers?
• Pronouns – give the pig a name (it could be either a boy or girl) and then talk about it using he or she.
• Prepositions – Before playing, set the burgers up around the room.  Each colour could go in a different location (on the table, under the chair, between 2 players).

Following Directions

• If if your child has a tricky time understanding directions, try pairing visuals with the auditory directions.  For example show “purple” and “in” when your child has to put in the the purple burger.
• Have your child teach you how to play, giving step-by-step directions (shake the dice, look at the colour, pick a ____ burger, check the number on the bottom of the burger, put the burger in the pig’s mouth, push the pig’s head ____ times).

Early Literacy Activities:

1. Phonological awareness – 
   1. Rather than using the dice, give the first sound of the colour (e.g., /r/ = red, ‘y’ = yellow, /p/ = purple, /g/ = green)
   2. Sing Willoughby Wallaby using the colour names (“Willoughby Wallaby wed, an elephant sat on….” red  “Willoughby Wallaby wurple, an elephant sat on…” purple)
2. Story telling –
   1. Tell a group story about the pig.  Each person gets to add an idea.

Printables:</p/>

Word Chart

Picture Cards

Where to buy:

amazon.com

amazon.ca

chapters.indigo.ca

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