Cariboo is my absolute favorite game for preschool speech therapy.
I’ve been using this game for seven years and it’s still going strong! Cariboo was a cranium game. It is no longer made. I see it at Goodwill frequently. If you start looking you’ll be able to pick up a version for cheap. In the past I’ve shared about using Cariboo for Articulation therapy and with AAC in preschoolers. I also posted my FREEBIE communication board and visual directions for playing the game!
The object of the game is to find all the hidden balls. To find the balls you open the doors on the game with the key. Keep the balls in the shoot on the right hand side. Once you collect all the balls the treasure box opens. The kids LOVE this one because it involves hidden bouncy balls. I love this one because it’s so motivating, a great way to withhold to entice language, and easily modified to fit therapy. The cards slide into the slots on the top of each door.
Target vocabulary receptively by naming items and having the student find the named word. Describe the function and open that door. Expressively, have the student name the item before they open it. Say a sentence before you open the door or ask a friend to open that door. For grammar target plurals or action words. The possibilities are endless!
In the past I’ve made a lot of different Cariboo Companion cards. Thrown in plastic baggies and stuffed into the lid, they were quite the mess. Since I’ve moved back to preschool this year I wanted to get organized.
Enter Kari over at Rock Chalk Speech Talk. Right before the last sale she posted a huge set of Cariboo vocabulary cards. I bought it and finally got it prepped this week. The set includes 28 different themes including things like seasons, books, and popular preschool learning targets. To store them I decided to put the cards into library pockets inside file folders. The file folders fit right into the game box.
I’m beyond excited to have this prepped for the whole year. To check our Kari’s companion cards, check out her blog post here. She is using velcro so her game and storage look a bit different.
Do you have Cariboo? Do you have two like me?!
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Great idea to store the cards! I still have to get to Party City for more balls since my game was missing one or two. I need to clean my game up so I can use it; sounds like the kids would love it!
Can’t wait to use this with my preschoolers. If anyone knows where to get extra balls please let me know.
Check out gumball machines and you can buy sets of them at any toy store.
I found one, but with no balls and no keys. What size are the balls. I got some that move around and some where six barely fit. Do you have to really push the last one in to make it open?
You convinced me I have to have this for my kiddos (I work at a Pre-K center school). I just bought one off ebay. Now to purchase the vocab cards for it!
Great idea! Did you just attach little envelopes to the inside of folders?
They are peel and stick library pockets! From Amazon.
My kids love this game! I always pick up the game when I see it for sale at a thrift store or my local Goodwill. Currently, I have two – you know, just in case! Also, I love to give my student teachers a little parting gift when they leave me and Cariboo can be used to target so many different goals that it is a very practical gift as well!
My niece is in the Speech Therapy Program at college and is looking for one of these games to help her little ones. Do you happen to have one you can part with? I would be happy to pay you and pay the shipping if you can help.
We’re all looking for them! haha.
Hi,
I am so wishing I had this game! If anyone finds one and they don’t need it, I’ll be happy to Paypal you the cost and shipping!
Finally found a Cariboo at Goodwill! I purchased the cards from Rock Chalk Speech. Trying to decide on storage. Do you laminate your cards or just have them printed on paper? I know I could laminate them with the Velcro. But I’m not sure if I could with the library pockets. Just curious! Thanks! 🙂
This game is seriously the best thing ever. I can use it all week long with virtually every single student which equals very little (or no) planning time – great for those hectic weeks when I just can’t even. Even though I already have a game, I always look for it at thrift stores so I can give them to the other therapists in my district – it’s like an SLP mini-Christmas!
I love that there are so many cards available on TPT – so many quality stimulus items for pretty much every speech/language target, which we know are vast! To stretch the usage of all the cards in my stash, I created some hands-on, fine and gross motor materials to use with the cards (bean bags, a big tic-tac-toe mat, and a couple different table-top activity mats). Each of the items has clear pockets that are just the right size for the cards. My students like these activities almost as much as the actual game! I have them available in my TPT store (Speech Cadet). They would be great for anyone who wants to take advantage of all the available stimulus cards, but hasn’t been able to find the game yet, or for people like me who just want another option for using all the cards they already have.
I don’t know if I read it here or on another blog, but the tip to use the Aleene’s Tack-It glue is pure genius. How I do it is to flip over the original cardstock cards that come with the game so you just see white cardstock on the doors. Then I put a big dot of glue on the cardstock and my laminated stimulus cards stick to it. Once the stickiness wears off I put another big dot of glue somewhere else on the cardstock, and repeat until there’s no more room for new glue dots. Then I can just cut another piece of cardstock to fit the doors and repeat! I like this option because it’s less expensive and time intensive than velcro.
I have a brand new sealed Cariboo game that I recently found in my game closet… what do these sell for?
They are priced on amazon for over $100. I don’t know who would spend that much for a game but apparently its a hot item! I would like to purchase one for therapy but can’t find one anywhere less than $50. If you are willing to part with it for a reasonable price, I am interested. 🙂
e-Bay for $50 including shipping is what I just paid! Hoping it’s in as good as shape as the pictures looked online!