ASL Game Cards
Suggestion:
Make or buy some card holders for your family or classroom! Using tabletop card holders frees up both hands for signing.
Check this out, too!
Hands Land is a fantastic series and you should check it out in general- but in particular, S1E10 “Colorful Animals” is about the same red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple animals.
Cards
This card deck has 60 cards in four categories. Each category has a slightly different card back design to make sorting easier.
Two cards show each colorful animal: red worm, orange bison, yellow whale, green bird, blue shark, purple skunk, pink sheep, black mouse, white wolf, brown seal, gray deer, and rainbow zebra. The sign for each animal uses the same handshape as the sign for the color. These cards have a yellow heart on the card back.
One card each has an illustration of a child signing a color. The children are wearing shirts of the color they are signing. These cards have a pink heart on the card back.
One card each shows a handshape. Each handshape corresponds to a color/animal pair. There are two “B” handshape cards because the signs for blue/shark and brown/seal use the same handshape. The handshape cards have an orange heart on the card back.
One card each has a color circle and the English word for the color. These cards have a purplish-blue heart on the card back.
Game & activity ideas
These cards are designed for maximum flexibility! Use them however best fits your family or classroom needs.
Play the matching games described here, or Go Fish; practice signing, reading, or writing; check out other ideas on our website and the linked websites; and use your imagination to invent your own games!
Check this out, too!
The Signing SLP has a post up with even more ideas for games & activities you can do with these cards!
Matching
Easiest: Sort out only the animal cards (yellow heart- there are two of each). Spread all the cards out on a table or on the floor, face up. Discuss the animal and color shown on each card, and find the matching card. This is a cooperative activity with no winner or loser.
Easy: Choose two categories and sort them out from the rest of the cards. Spread them out on a surface, face up. Discuss each card- what color, sign, or handshape is shown? What is the corresponding item from the other category you chose? Match the two categories. This is a cooperative activity with no winner or loser.
Easy: Sort out only the animal cards (yellow heart). Lay the cards out on a surface, face down. Match as in the game Memory: take turns turning over a card, and then a second card. If the two cards are the same, take both of them out of the game. Keep going until all of the cards have been matched. The person or team with the most matched pairs at the end of the game wins.
Medium: Play the “memory” matching game as above, but use two different categories of cards. (If you use animals for one category, only use one of each animal). Match the corresponding cards from each category (the red worm matches with the bending-X handshape card, or with the “red” ASL sign card, or with the “red” English word card, etc). The person or team with the most matched pairs at the end of the game wins.
Go Fish
Easy (2-3 players or teams)
Sort out only the animal cards (yellow heart). Deal 3 cards (3 players) or 5 cards (2 players) to each player. Put the rest of the cards face down on the playing surface.
Take turns asking another player for the match to a card you hold in your hand. Use just the animal’s name (“do you have a bird?”) for an extra-easy version; use color + animal (“do you have a green bird”?) for a slightly more challenging game.
If you have the card you are asked for, give it to the player. If you don’t, they will draw one from the pile on the table.
When a player has a pair, put them down on the table nearby. Keep these cards separate. If you run out of cards, draw more from the pile.
Keep playing until there are no more cards. The person or team with the most cards in their pile is the winner.
Medium (2-4 players or teams):
Add a second category and use sets of 3 instead of pairs.
Tricky (3-6 players or teams):
Add a third category and/or the fourth category, and use sets of 4 or 5 cards.
Handshape games
Easy: Separate the animal cards (yellow heart) and the handshape cards (orange heart) in two separate piles. Put the handshape cards in a pile, face-down. Spread the animal cards out face up (you can use all the cards, or just one of each). Turn over a handshape card. Decide which animal/color signs use that handshape, and remove the cards. Continue through the rest of the handshape pile.
Add the color cards (blue heart) for a slightly more challenging version.
Medium: Separate only the handshape cards. Put them in a pile, face down. Turn over the top card. Take turns thinking of signs that use the handshape, then turn over the next card.
Variations:
Parent/teacher/tutor flips the card; child/student thinks of signs with prompting (or just collaboratively).
Take turns making signs that use the handshape until no one can think of more. The last person to think of a sign gets one point.
Make a list of English words that correspond to signs that use each handshape.
Tricky: Use the handshapes as the basis for a handshape poem/story. Lay out a series of 2-5 cards, and think of a short story that uses those handshapes in a sequence.