Clothespins! Game

Clothespins! Game

Using games in therapy sessions

Clothespins! Game is a great fun activity that can be used by speech & language therapists, occupational therapists, and special education teachers.  Games can make therapy fun and engaging for the child while the therapist can elicit responses and actions that meet therapy goals. 

Clothespins

Clothespins! Game has 4 game boards, each with 3 starting clothesline poles, and 66 cards consisting of 12 finishing pole cards, 5 bird cards, and 49 laundry cards. The laundry cards consist of 6 types of clothes (shirts, pants, skirts, shorts, socks, and bikini tops) and 2 designs (stripes and patterns).

Suggested lesson for Clothespins! Game

“Today we’re going to play Clothespins! Hang the clothes (the cards in your hand) on the clothesline. Match the clothes by type of clothing (3 shirts, or 3 pants, or 3 pairs of socks) or by pattern. You can hang 3 shirts – 1-2-3, or 3 of the same pattern – striped pants, striped socks, striped shirt.”

“From the deck of cards, deal four cards to each player, and put the remaining cards in a stack, face down in the middle of the table. ” 

“Each player, on their turn, can play up to 4 of the cards from their hand on their clothesline, or discard up to 4 cards (if you have cards you won’t need) face up on the discard pile. ”

“Let’s look at our hand. We have two shirts, one skirt and a finishing post. We can play the two shirts on one clothesline because they match. 1 shirt, 2 shirt. They match.” 

“We can play the skirt on another clothesline and hope to get matches on a future hand.” 

“Let’s save the finishing post for later.” 

“We have played 3 cards, so we draw 3 new cards from the draw pile.”

“A player ends their turn by picking enough cards from the stack so they again have four cards in their hand.”

“Have each player describe the card(s) they are playing. “I am hanging up a striped shirt and striped pants.””

“Each clothesline must have a minimum of three clothing cards on it before you can place the end card with the finishing pole. Extra clothing placed earns extra points.”

“Have each player recap what is hanging on their clothesline. “I have a striped shirt and a diamond-patterned shirt.””

“Bird cards are used to move clothing from one line to another. A player can move from one of his lines to another of his lines. Or, a player may steal an item from another player’s line and put it on his own line.”

“Once a player has three completed clotheslines, the game is over. Points are given for each card played and subtracted for cards still in your hand. The player with the highest score, wins.”