Game Adaptations: Lucky Ducks

 I know Lucky Ducks (affiliate link) isn't everyone's cup of tea. And I'll be the first to admit that the sound it plays is AWFUL! But, it is loved by so many of my Early Intervention kiddos. We can target so many concepts with this game. Here are some of the ways I have adapted this game for my patients that use AAC or are minimally verbal. 

1.) Labeling shapes and colors - You can obviously play the game as intended and have the children label the colors and shapes. You can also expand this to commenting - "I got blue." Then you can build their MLU by including both the color and shape - "I got blue star." 

2.) My turn/Your turn - Take turns pulling ducks off the pond. Before each turn, have your student tell whose turn it is. 

3.) On/Off - I have my patients tell me where to put the duck - on the pond or off the pond. We also practice saying "duck on" as we put them on and "duck off" before we take them off.

4.) Stop/Go - My patients are highly motivated by hitting that big, red button in the middle. So I use it as a chance to target stop/go before allowing them to hit the button. Then we expand to "go ducks" and "stop ducks."

5.) Requesting - This one is pretty obvious, but I will often have patients request more before I give them a duck to put on the pond. 

6.) Uh oh/Ouch & Help - While the pond is moving, I will discreetly knock over a duck. Then I point it out while modeling "uh oh" or "ouch" for my patient. They will instinctively try to fix it, which can be hard as the ducks are moving. This makes a natural scenario for practicing help. 

7.) Same/Different - Put only two of each kind of duck on the pond and play the game like a matching game. Have your patient/student pick two ducks and tell you whether they are the same or different. If they match, they get to keep them. You can make it simpler by keeping the pond turned off so the ducks stay in the same place for each turn. 

8.) Yes/No - I will combine the game with other animal figurines. I tell my patients that only the ducks can go on the pond. I hold up an animal and ask them if it is a duck. They answer with yes/no and decide if the animal can go on the pond or not. 

9.) Loud/Quiet - This game can make some loud noises. We practice labeling the ducks as "loud" and telling the ducks to be quiet. I will turn it off and then we practice labeling the ducks as "quiet." I turn it back on and ask the patient if the ducks are "loud" or "quiet." We repeat this process several times to practice. 

I hope this gave you some fun ideas to adapt this game for your students' needs. Thanks for stopping by!