Geoville is one of my favorite speech games/activities. Sturdy, interlocking ground pieces fit together to make the floor that the walls, door, window, and fence pieces slip into. Then you put in the roofs, people, trees, animals, etc. to make a "village". You have to play with it to really appreciate the satisfying "feel" of putting the pieces together.
I love this game because it gives you so much to talk about. First of all, it's great for making requests because you can hold back the pieces and have the children ask for what they want. This is the secret to getting a child to use their language. Getting what they want is a natural "reward" for using their "good speech". If it is hard for your child to express themselves, offer them a choice of two pieces and say "Do you want the dog or the cat?: If they say "cat", you say, "Oh, you want the cat. Your words are I want the cat." When they attempt to say I want the cat, you give them the cat. You can also model desired language structures by letting your child be the "teacher" while you make the requests and they give you the piece you requested.
If you want to encourage social skills, you can divide the pieces evenly between the children and have them work together to make one village. This way they have to negotiate with each other if they want to make a trade for a specific piece or where to put things. (If left to their own devices, my students tend to make their own little village and there is little cooperative play.) I also make it a rule that they cannot move a piece that someone else has put down without consulting with that person first, and if they cannot get that person to agree, then they must leave that piece where it is. This stops alot of conflicts and really encourages social interaction and communication.
Geoville is also great for teaching prepositions and following directions. For example, you can tell the child to put the ball next to the tree etc. for following directions, and you can have the child describe the scene for expressive language practice.
