Games and Activities for Youth

Explore inclusive games and activities designed to build understanding of Specific Learning Disorders, strengthen empathy and support more accessible participation in youth work.
1 guide to support implementation · 17 games · 13 activities

Implementation Guide

Not sure where to start? The Implementation Guide will help you understand and navigate the compendium of games and activities, choose the right game or activity for your group, and make confident use of the resources in different youth work settings.

Games and Activities Compendium

Choose from 30 ready-to-use games and activities created to support awareness, empathy and inclusive participation in youth work.

The collection combines playful, reflective and hands-on approaches to help participants explore SLDs from different perspectives. Resources address themes such as learning barriers, communication, attention, memory, emotional and social experiences, teamwork and practical inclusive strategies.

Each resource gives you the practical information you need to decide whether it fits your group, including its focus, format, duration, group size, set-up, overview and step-by-step implementation. Some games also include printable materials such as cards, boards or other components.

Choose the category below that best matches the main need you want to address. Each game or activity appears once under its primary focus, while additional SLD-related needs are shown separately as “Also supports” tags. Practical details such as group format, setting, delivery mode, duration and participant numbers help you quickly see which resources fit your session.

Attention & Processing

Resources that support attention, memory, executive processing, visual-spatial processing and coordination.

ACTIVITY

Black Magic

A group observation and guessing activity built around a hidden rule: participants try to identify a secretly chosen object while working out how a black object is being used as the clue to the correct answer.

Also supports:

Memory

Collaboration

Communication

Practical details:

👥 Team · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 40–50 min · 4–20 participants

GAME

Dyscalculia Games

A collection of interactive online numeracy games where learners practise counting, number recognition, number sense and basic arithmetic at their own pace, with immediate feedback and gradually increasing challenge.

Also supports:

Dyscalculia

Numeracy & number sense

Practical details:

Individual · 🌐 Online · ⏱ Flexible duration · 1 participant

GAME

Gap Trap, Bazinga!

A strategic number-card game where players place cards in numerical order while trying not to leave gaps their opponents can exploit, turning sequencing and mental calculation into a fast, social challenge.

Also supports:

Dyscalculia

Problem-solving & planning

Practical details:

Team · In-person · ⏱ 20-35 min · 5-10 participants

ACTIVITY

Mirror Maze

A mirror-guided drawing challenge where participants trace shapes and navigate mazes using only reflected visual information, creating a hands-on experience of visual-spatial and coordination difficulties.

Also supports:

Dyspraxia

Motor coordination

Visual-spatial processing

Practical details:

Individual within a group · In-person · ⏱ 30–40 min · 6–30 participants

ACTIVITY

Learning Style Stations

A rotational activity where groups complete similar tasks through visual, auditory, kinesthetic and optional text-based formats, then compare how each approach affected their understanding and engagement.

Also supports:

Dyslexia

Multimodal learning

ADHD

Practical details:

👥 Group · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 45-60 min · 12–30 participants

ACTIVITY

One Instruction Only

An experiential challenge where participants try to complete a task using deliberately unclear or overloaded instructions, then redesign those instructions to make them clearer and more accessible.

Also supports:

Memory

Accessible design

Communication

Support strategies

Practical details:

Individual / small group · In-person · ⏱ 30–50 min · 8–25 participants

Communication & Collaboration

Resources that strengthen communication, teamwork, peer interaction and inclusive participation.

ACTIVITY

Bridge Building

A hands-on team challenge where participants use limited paper and tape to build a bridge strong enough to hold an object, encouraging groups to communicate, test ideas and adapt their approach together.

Also supports:

SLD awareness

Inclusive practice

Problem-solving & planning

Practical details:

Team · In-person · ⏱ 40–50 min · 4–20 participants

GAME

Hidden Voices

A cooperative two-player decoding game where one participant describes patterns of letters, colours and shapes while the other uses a guide to uncover the hidden word, offering a hands-on way to explore communication and decoding barriers linked to SLDs.

Also supports:

Dyslexia

Dysgraphia

Communication

Collaboration

Practical details:

Pair · In-person · ⏱ 30 min · 2 participants

ACTIVITY

Everyday Concept

A Taboo-style pair activity where participants describe familiar objects and ideas without using key words, offering a playful way to experience how language restrictions can make communication and understanding more difficult.

Also supports:

Communication

Empathy & perspective-taking

Practical details:

Pair · In-person · ⏱ 15 min · 2–6 participants

ACTIVITY

Silent Instructions

A visual-only communication challenge where participants complete a task without spoken or written instructions, then reflect on how different ways of presenting information can help or hinder understanding.

Also supports:

Accessible design

Inclusive practice

Multimodal learning

Practical details:

Individual / small group · In-person · ⏱ 30–45 min · 8–25 participants

ACTIVITY

The Wind Takes You

A fast-moving circle activity where participants respond to shared statements by changing seats, taking turns to create new prompts and discovering common interests, strengths and experiences within the group.

Also supports:

Attention

Inclusive practice

Emotional well-being

Practical details:

Group · In-person · ⏱ 10-15 min · 6–25 participants

Empathy & Emotional Well-being

Resources that encourage reflection, emotional understanding, empathy and supportive group dynamics.

ACTIVITY

Empathy-mapping Workshop

A reflective group activity where participants explore a fictional young person’s thoughts, feelings, behaviours and support needs, helping them understand the lived experience of SLD beyond academic difficulties.

Also supports:

SLD awareness

Support strategies

Inclusive practice

Practical details:

👥 Small group · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 45–60 min · 10–30 participants

GAME

Puzzle Relay

A team relay where participants tackle reading, logic, visual and construction challenges while working under different constraints, then reflect on how adaptation and peer support can make participation more inclusive.

Also supports:

Dyslexia

Collaboration

ADHD

Support strategies

Practical details:

👥 Team · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 30–40 min · 10–30 participants

GAME

Card Story

A collaborative card game where teams explore SLD-related learning situations, identify how a young person might feel and develop practical, inclusive ways to support them.

Also supports:

SLD awareness

Support strategies

Problem-solving & planning

Practical details:

👥 Small team · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 30–40 min · 4–20 participants

GAME

Same Goal, Different Minds

A role-playing simulation where four participants tackle the same project through different neurodivergent profiles, experiencing both the challenges and strengths associated with different ways of processing information.

Also supports:

Dysclaculia

An image-based storytelling game where players take turns adding picture prompts to an improvised story, encouraging verbal expression, narrative thinking and creativity without relying on reading or writing.

Also supports:

Dyslexia

Multimodal learning

Communication

Practical details:

👥 Group / individual · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 20–40 min · 3–20 participants

SLD Awareness & Inclusive Practice

Resources that build understanding of SLDs, challenge misconceptions and support inclusive practice.

GAME

Mind Tap

A fast-paced team quiz where players race to answer question cards about SLDs, learning challenges and support strategies, with short debriefs used to clarify answers and misconceptions.

Also supports:

SLD Awareness

Executive function

Support strategies

Practical details:

👥 Team · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 20 min · 4–10 participants

ACTIVITY

Neuro Guess

A “Heads Up”-style guessing activity where players ask questions to identify the SLD or learning profile on their unseen card, encouraging discussion and awareness of different learning needs.

Also supports:

SLD Awareness

Communication

Practical details:

👥 Group · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 20 min · 2–12 participants

GAME

Beyond the Label

A myth-or-fact card game where players test their knowledge of Specific Learning Disorders, challenge common misconceptions and discover what effective support and inclusive practice can look like.

Also supports:

Support strategies

Inclusive practice

Practical details:

👥 Small group · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 30 min · 3–5 participants

GAME

3D

A matching board game where players decide which support strategies are appropriate for dyslexia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia, while spotting misleading options and discussing what genuinely helps learners.

Also supports:

Dyslexia

Dysgraphia

Support strategies

Practical details:

Individual / small group · In-person · ⏱ Flexible duration · 1–5 participants

Problem-solving, Planning & Youth Action

Resources that support creativity, planning, decision-making and active responses to social challenges.

GAME

Reset

A collaborative foresight game where teams explore a social challenge, imagine different future scenarios, choose a desired outcome and map a realistic path towards it using SMART planning.

Also supports:

Social awareness

Collaboration

Communication

Practical details:

👥 Team · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 2 hours · 3–7 participants

GAME

A multi-stage social iinnovation game where participants explore inequalities and Sustainable Development Goal challenges, build empathy through lived stories, and develop creative local responses that turn awareness into action.

Also supports:

Social awareness

Collaboration

Empathy & perspective-taking

Practical details:

👥 Group · 🏠 In-person · ⏱ 4 hours · at least 4 participants