I think this is my patients’ favorite game! Although many Toca Boca games are free, this one costs $3.99. I usually use it for social inferencing (identifying each pets’ feelings and the cause of those feelings), but I use it for irregular past-tense verbs, too. As we play the game I’ll ask the kids questions like, “What did we do?” or, to be more specific, “What did we do with the bandage?” If a child needs more help I’ll narrate as I’m going along (“I’m putting on the bandage.”) before asking the questions. If that isn’t enough I’ll give them a binary choice (“Is it ‘put’ or ‘putted’?”). Here are some irregular past tense verbs found in Toca Pet Doctor…
- Fed – after you help each pet you get to feed it treats.
- Ate – after the pet eats all it’s treats.
- Fell (asleep) – after eating their treats each pet falls asleep.
- Slept – this is what all the pets did after they got their treats.
- Put – we put bandages on the pigeon, rabbit, and yellow bird, we put medicine in the spider’s eyes and on the frog’s bumps, and we put an ice pack on the yellow bird’s bump.
- Broke – the pigeon broke his arm and we broke the egg to free the snake.
- Got – the lizard got flies stuck in his stomach, the cat got scratched, the turtle got stuck on his back, the beaver got twigs stuck in his teeth, the blue bird got stuck in gum, the mouse got bubbles in his stomach, the yellow bird got hit in the head, the snake got stuck in his egg, and the worm got tied into a knot.
- Stuck – what the bird was in the gum and the snake was in his egg.
- Caught – the snail caught bugs, the spider caught pinkeye, the frog caught bumps, the dog caught fleas, and we caught all the fleas on the dog, the bugs in the snail, and the flies in the lizard.
- Fought – the cat fought another cat.
- Hit – something hit the yellow bird’s head.
- Shrunk – the ice shrunk the yellow bird’s bump.
Here are some more play-based activities for irregular past-tense verbs.