WordBURST - A Word Recall Game

Ages: 8-Adult
Grades: 3-Adult

Practice four word-finding strategies in this fast-paced game played like Outburst. Game participants develop rapid recall and word flexibility as they hurry to "beat the clock."

Players can focus on one word-retrieval strategy or combinations of strategies in this word recall game. Each double-sided game card has 20 target words or stimuli. A variety of high to low frequency words are used. The 100 game cards are divided into four types of word-retrieval strategies:

• Visual Imagery—Quickly name up to ten items associated with the target item (e.g., Things you see in a backpack, Things you see at a post office, Things you see in a parade).
• Synonyms—Quickly complete synonym pairs (e.g., look/see, chore/job, messy/sloppy).
• Word Association—Quickly identify items associated with the target word/concept, matching as many of the words on the stimulus card as possible (e.g., Artist: paint, brush, easel, canvas, color, picture, pencils, charcoal, paper, creative).
• Sound/Letter Cueing—Recall a given word when cued with the word's initial sound or letter. All of the words on a card are related by category (e.g., shapes: triangle, diamond, heart, rectangle, oval, circle, square, cube, cylinder, star or green foods: lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers, spinach, pickles, limes, grapes, apples, beans, pears).

Players are divided into two teams: the delivering team and the receiving team. A game card is inserted into a shielded decoder, making the target words visible only to the delivering team. The delivering team announces the word-retrieval strategy and the stimulus category and sets the timer. The receiving team then gives answers as the delivering team keeps track of the responses by marking them off on the game card with a grease pencil. Players name as many of the words on the shielded card as they can within the time limit.