Have you played the Tall Tales Storytelling game by SCS Direct? This blog post summarizes how to play the game and why I think Tall Tales is an excellent game for speech and language development. You will also find information in this blog post about how you can receive the Tall Tales game for FREE!
What is Tall Tales?
Tall Tales is a storytelling game that comes with a handy drawstring bag, 50 mini object/character game pieces and 24 story cards depicting various settings. First, one player reaches into the story bag and draws 8 game pieces. Then, the player chooses a setting card and uses the mini object game pieces to create their own a story. With more than 50 game pieces and 24 settings, the possibilities are infinite! You can also play the game cooperatively by having students take turns adding to the story. In fact, this game comes with 5 options for play. You can learn more about this game (including a video about Tall Tales here).
Why I Love it!
Here are some of reasons that would recommend Tall Tales:
Versatile – It is always a challenge for school SLPs to find resources to engage a large caseload of students who have various needs, interests, and strengths. Tall Tales is a versatile game for people of all abilities and ages (4 to 99). This makes it ideal for mixed groups because you can use this game to target a wide variety of speech and language skills. See below for some of the skills that can be targeted with Tall Tales.
Academic – Tall Tales offers an engaging way to practice a variety of academic skills such as the following:
- oral language
- vocabulary
- critical thinking
- problem solving
- narrative language
- Story elements/story grammar
- sequencing
- retell
- writing
Multi-sensory – I love the tactile and visual nature of this game. Students reach in the bag and FEEL the objects. The visuals in this game help students SEE and understand story elements. These visual and tactile prompts help the ideas flow so students can think of their own stories to tell (or write).
Cooperative – I recently wrote a blog post about cooperative activities. Tall tales is a fun cooperative game where there are no winners or losers. Cooperative activities promote teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills. In a cooperative game, players work together as a team. When players are creating a story together, the focus is on cooperation rather than competition.
Imaginative – Finally, this game fosters imagination and creativity with all of the different characters and settings included. Imagination creates a depth of thinking that allows for learners to develop creativity and innovation. As Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
How to Receive Your Free Game
SCS Direct is a company that understands our need for quality resources that promote creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, oral language, and storytelling skills. I was fortunate to receive this game for free in 2017 from SCS Direct to use with my elementary aged students. I recently contacted the company to see if they are still offering the game for free and they told me that they just brought back the program this month!
On September 5, 2023, Howard Greenspan, Owner of SCS Direct announced the “Learning Through Play” program, an initiative designed to support elementary K-6 teachers by providing them with free educational games that not only enrich the classroom experience, but also encourage students’ learning journey at home. I have confirmed with the company that this program is also available to school SLPs!
In order to participate in the “Learning Through Play” program, you must meet the following requirements:
- Must be employed as a teacher (or SLP) in grades K-6
- Current classroom size (or caseload) must be a minimum of 15 students
- Must provide your school’s address as the shipping address
To enroll in the program, simply send an email to SCS Customer Service at: Customerservice@scsdirectinc.com. Include “Learning Through Play” in the Subject Line and include your Name, Grade, School Name, and School Address.
If you do not qualify for the free offer, you can also purchase the Tall Tales game from SCS Direct on Amazon. Finally, there is an Expansion pack on Amazon that allows you to add more characters and settings (including more diversity) to the game!
Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases linked in this post.
