The Best Supplemental Learning Activities from Super Duper Review

Now that we’re back to school, I’m realizing more and more how important it is to try to help the children with their nightly homework.  However, sometimes they do not always receive homework, and I’m left with trying to come up with my own ways of supplementing their learning.  Both of my school age boys could definitely use some extra help and motivation to improve their learning at school.  So, I was really interested to try out some language skill games from Super Duper Publications, a best selling children’s educational materials company.  Super Duper Publications has been employing Speech-Language Pathologists to make language-enhancing learning materials since 1986.

I decided to try out three of their best selling games with my older boys, aged 5 and 9.  The games which I chose were: Pirate Talk: Receptive & Expressive Language Game, MagneTalk Match-up Adventures Kit with Barrier Stand, and HearBuilder:  Auditory Memory Software Program.

The first game we tried was Pirate Talk.  I chose this game because my boys are totally into pirates, and also because it is supposed to reinforce the seven essential communication skills:  Sentence Repetition, Answering Questions, Following Directions, Categorizing, Inferencing, Describing, and Social Skills.  It is a very colourful board game, with cool pirate guys in ships to move around the board.  My sons really loved the gold coins and electronic light up spinner that motivated them to want to play the game.  The game consisted of question cards in 5 different categories:  Activities, Community, Home, People, and School.   Basically, each player would spin, and potentially land on a island where they could collect more gold if they answered their questions right.  We played the quick version of the game, so whoever got around the board first won the game.

At the start of the game, I chose the Activities category, and was required to show the picture on the front of the question card to the player whose turn it was and to ask them the corresponding communication questions on the back.  It soon became quite apparent that I was going to have to be careful which cards I used, since sometimes the subject was not fully understood enough to answer the questions properly.  For example,  one question was about football, but neither of my sons have watched football, and so could not answer what a football field looks like.  However, for the most part, I loved the premise of this game, as it required the boys to have to listen carefully to what I was saying at the beginning, and to have to think about what was happening in the picture.  This was a very enjoyable and informative game for both my boys to play.

The second game which I introduced them to was the MagneTalk Match-up Adventures Kit with Barrier Stand.  This is a cute colourful magnet game which my 5 year old simply adored.  It involves putting up one of 5 colourful scenic pictures (Camping, Picnic, Outer Space, Ocean, or Grocery Store) on a magnetic stand.  Then, 10 equally cute and colourful magnets are given to the child to place on the picture to follow directions given by the parent, such as: Put the fish in the stream, and Put the squirrel in front of the tent.  There are also rhyming questions, deductive reasoning questions, and a story time/memory component as well.  My son loved to place and remove the magnets from the board, and also loved the silly rhyming words which we came up with together.

This game can be played by 2 children at once, since the barrier stand can hold a scenic board on each side, and the game comes with 2 sets of both the scenic boards and magnets for each board.  The game also comes with a 34-page reproducible activity book with a CD-ROM (that includes a French translation) for easy printing, so that multiple copies could be made if teaching a group of children.  Overall, the game teaches the following the language and listening skills:  Following directions, Deductive reasoning, Giving directions, Vocabulary, Auditory memory, Storytelling, Basic concepts, Categorization, Rhyming, and Listening.  I would also highly recommend this game, especially since the children had so much fun handling the magnets.

The third game which we looked at was HearBuilder:  Auditory Memory Software program.  I chose this game because my boys love to play computer games and most of them are definitely not very educational.  So if I could get them to be interested in an educational computer game, I figured that it would be a win-win situation all around.  This game centres around special Recall agents Kim and Joey in MemoryTown, and the player has to remember different things to foil the wacky plans of Dr. Forgetsit.  The thing that I really liked about this game was that you could choose a specific level of play for your child.  So, for the 5 year old, I chose the Beginner level, and for the 9 year old, I chose the Intermediate level.  Also, there are 5 different activities to choose from to practice auditory memory including:  Numbers, Words, Details, Closure (how a sentence should be completed), and WH Info (answering detailed questions about a short story).

My 5 year old son started off with the Numbers activity, and was quickly mastering the number “codes” required to crack the safes.  After he had correctly remembered a set amount of codes he was allowed to play a quick motivational reward game which requested him to open doors with bonus points behind them, until he was caught by Dr. Forgetsit.  He could have very happily played this memory game all afternoon, if I had not stopped him to have lunch.  I am sure that this is a game which both boys will be coming back to again and again.  As another motivational tool, the game also updates their Agent Status, so that they can brag about how high an agent they have become in a certain category, and even print out their badges.  I am so excited and hopeful that this game will truly help them to strengthen their memory skills.

I would definitely suggest taking a look at all of the hundreds of enticing language products created by Super Duper Publications on their extensive website and online store, www.SuperDuperInc.com.   Each game on the website explicitly describes which skills it improves, so you are sure to get the correct game required to target that specific skill with your own child.

Natalie,

SAHM to 3 little boys, P.eng, in a previous life worked as an auto corporate buyer and supplier quality engineer, addicted to chocolate, contests, travelling (lived in the UK for 3 years), and trying out new things.