Skip to navigation | Skip to content

Share your knowledge. Make a difference.

Games: A Fun Way to Learn

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 20 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

Ranked #124 in How-To

6 people favorited this page

Rated G. (Control what you see)

Created by Evelyn_Saenz (contact me)

Hello world. I am an educational consultant, teacher and a homeschooling mom. I love to help others find materials for teaching. Check out my lenses a...  (more...)

Start your own Squidoo page

Your fans are waiting!

Let's Play a Game Together

 

What do kids do best? Play of course. Why not encourage this natural tendency by providing your children with great entertaining games that just happen to be educational as well. 

Educational Games such as Mancala and Set teach math concepts. Go Fish and Concentration are educational card games that can be adapted to teach anything from sight words, to math concepts to learning a second language. There are educational games to teach number theory, cooperation, and social studies.

How do you feel about the educational value of computer games? 

Roll the dice and join the fun!

Games in School 

Games in School

Children play games to practice reading skills, math facts, strategy, logical thinking and many other skills that are not measured on standardized tests.

Games Day 

In Boston Playing GamesHomeschoolers meet for Games Day about once a month.

Each family brings their favorite board game to share.

A couple of kids play Mancala while another looks on discussing the stratigies and math behind the game. Four more are sitting at a table playing the aMAZEing Lababyrinth and wondering about the Minotar of Greek Mythology. All around the room kids are having fun, sharing knowlege and playing with their friends.

The following are some of the best games we have run across. Please let me know about your favorites in the comments section below.

Math Games make number theory accessable to young and old 

The Family Game of Visual Perception

About Set®
Marsha Jean Falco - The Creative Genius Behind Set

The SET® Game is becoming a phenomenon! It seems everybody is playing it. Who would have thought? I invented it for my own amusement in 1974 and introduced it to the outside world 17 years later in 1991.

Math Games

Would you like to see the first two versions? I am constantly asked, "How did you think of it?" The story goes like this. In 1974 I was living and working in Cambridge, England. One part of my job as a Population Geneticist was to try to understand if German Shepherds who get epilepsy inherit it. Geneticists, as you may know, try to connect the traits that plants, animals and people have to the genes and chromosomes in their cells. To help me understand what I was looking at, I wrote information about each dog on file cards. Because blocks of the information were the same on each file card, rather than writing the data, I drew a symbol to represent a block of data. I used symbols with different Properties to indicate different gene combinations. The veterinarians working with me would look over my shoulder at the cards spread out on the table.

Math GameMath Game

As I tried to explain to them what to look for, the idea came to me that I could have some fun with this. At home with my husband and friends I worked out the game which we now call SET®. Years later, my daughter and son, who enjoyed playing it so much, urged me to put the game in stores. Since then the SET® Game become very popular.
http://www.setgame.com/set/index.html

Board Games 

UNIVERSITY GAMES UG-9916 MANCALA

Mancala
Believed to be the oldest game in the world-originated in Africa-Mancala is a game of counting and strategy.

Amazon Price: $11.98 (as of 05/16/2008)

SET Game

Mancala
The game SET® is an excellent way to introduce basic set theory. It provides a concrete model for understanding and a tool for working through set operations.

Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 05/16/2008)

Deluxe Pit

Mancala
The loudest card game I've ever come across.

Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 05/16/2008)

The aMAZEing Labyrinth

Mancala
The aMAZEing Labyrinth uses a clever board design to create a series of ever-changing mazes that one to four players must move through. The object of the game is for each player to collect as quickly as possible all seven treasures depicted on their individual treasure cards. To add to the challenge, players know what the next treasure is only after they find the one before it. Before each turn, a maze card is pushed into the maze in a strategic place, helping the player make his or her way to the prize. This means that the entire maze shifts and changes on each turn, confounding some and helping others. Players will need to think ahead to choose just the right spot to shift the maze in their favor. This is an excellent game to get lost in. A simpler version can be played by younger children. --Lee Strucker

Amazon Price: $25.80 (as of 05/16/2008)

Snails Pace race

Mancala
This is a great game to practice color words when you are learning a foreign language.

Amazon Price: $25.00 (as of 05/16/2008)

Go Fish and Concentration 

These may be the most adaptable games ever invented!

Make a deck of matching cards to match whatever theme you are studing and start playing and learning. Match
-pictures to words
-Titles to authors
-pictures to first letters or last letters
-baby animals to mothers
Teach these games to children and they will be able to independantly work on all those skills and facts that we have been trying to teach them. Play these games in any language to help promote oral language skills in a fun and natural setting.

Pass the Pigs 

Pass the PigsOne New Year's Eve a friend brought over the game "Pass the Pigs". I'm not quite sure what makes shaking up and tossing those cute little pigs around so hillarious but we just couldn't stop laughing. This is a must have game for a great party or just to pass some time. Educationally it's good for practicing adding and multiplying the scores.

Board Games in the News! 

Board games 'boost early maths skills'
Snakes and Ladders

Playing four 15-minute sessions of board games such as snakes and ladders can improve a child's mathematical abilities significantly, according to a study of four and five-year-olds. And the improvement in numerical tests is still measurable nine weeks later.

Math Games 

Math Games

In order to truely understand mathematics children need many experiences with hands-on concrete objects. Mathematics Their Way by Mary Baretta-Lorton is one of the best resources I have yet found to create and understand the activities needed by young children in order to truely understand mathematics. She explains how to create materials and games that engage for them as well as how to use these in rotating centers.

Read the Mathematics Their Way Summary Newsletter for a sample of this method.

Mathematics Their Way
Here is an example:

ROTE COUNTING GROUP ACTIVITY

Decide on a counting sequence (i.e.,
counting by one's from 1 to 7 or counting
by two's from 2 to 12).

Close Your Eyes and Jump
Materials: None
Concept: Counting forward or backwards
Begin by pointing out familiar classroom objects (e.g., door, calendar, piano, flag). Have the children close their eyes. Name one of the objects in the room. Then count the predetermined counting sequence together aloud. On the final number in the sequence, everyone jumps
and turns with eyes closed toward the object named.
Everyone opens their eyes to check. Name a second object and repeat the process. Repeat the sequence over and over without pausing. Keep the final number constant within any one day.
Math Game
Additional Rote Counting Activities
Mathematics Their Way
Count and Turn p. 93
The Pendulum Game p. 95
The Circle Game pp. 98-99
Stand Up, Sit Down p. 109
Take Over p. 110
Inside, Outside p. 111

More Math Games 

Birthday Cakes

Matching Game
Students use the spatula to snag the flapjack with the correct number of dots as well as the corresponding numeral and put them on the plate with the correct numeral.

Counting: You can also program a plate with a number and let students add the correct number of pancakes.

More Counting: If you made big paper pancakes on plates and program the pancake with a number. Then the kids can add the correct number of pats of butter, strawberries, or blueberries etc. These could be felt, painted lima beans or flat glass beads.

Counting Game

Cookie Math

The Squidoo Game 

Computer Games

Loading poll. Please Wait...

Games are fun and educational 

Board GamesCard GamesComputer Games

Which kind of games do you like to play?

Loading Fetching blurbs now... please stand by

Board and Card Games

cherangelry says:

Even though I'm always on the computer, I've never been good at gaming on them. Board/card games are much more my style. There are, however, some very fun educational computer games that I still hold near and dear to my heart.

Becca_Sanz says:

I love all kinds of games but especially Mancala and Monopoly.

blue22d says:

Scrabble. Love your lens. I have a 13 month old granddaughter and will be keeping me eye on this lens to see what I can pull to use with her. Thanks for the great lenses you produce.

Jimmie says:

Sorry, Monopoly, Uno, Skip Bo, Dominoes, Guess Who, Scrambled States. We enjoy board and card games. Computer games are okay, but they are too solitary. Family game night is around the table, laughing and having fun!

Computer Games

ali says:

monopoly

 
 
1 of 1 page
 

"Don't Bother Me Mom - I'm Learning"  

What are your kids learning while playing on the computer?

We all worry about how much time our children are attached to the computer but in his book "Don't Bother Me Mom - I'm Learning" by Marc Prensky, (See below in Books of Games) Marc points out "Not only do game players learn all these thinking, collaboration and other skills, but they begin to acquire them at a very early age."

Check out this book below.

Books of Games 

Educational Games

Some of these books tell how to play the games. Some tell how to make the games. Use these for ideas and then adapt them to the theme that you are studying. Check out my other lenses for ideas.

Wii 

Indoor Games to Keep you Fit

Playing Wii

Play computer games and still get some exercise! What a great idea!

Blokus 

Playing Blokus

Blokus Strategy Board Game

Amazon Price: $18.99 (as of 05/16/2008)

Blokus Trigon

Amazon Price: $22.09 (as of 05/16/2008)

More Oldies but Goodies 

Learn to Read

These are the games that taught my children to read, spell and write. They are great for homeschoolers.

More Great Educational Games for Computer 

Antique Board Games on eBay 

Loading Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
eBay

Board Games In the News! 

Board Games

Have you ever heard of Board Game Cafes? They are popular in Costa Rica for playing Magic. Below you will find a link to Board Games in Asia.
Latest Boardgame Happenings
The community for boardgamers in Asia playing the latest Euro Designer boardgames

Let's Play a Game in the Woods 

A Walk with the Tigers in the WoodsA Walk in the Woods

There is a new group being formed in Squidooville. It's called A Walk in the Woods. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse is inviting you to join him there. If you are a member of Squidoo and you may join the group. The exposure that your lens gets by joining will boost your lens rank and add to the number of web pages linking back to your lens. If you are not yet a member of Squidoo you can still come over and read about those who are. Come take A Walk in the Woods.

Teacher Community 

Forum for Teaching Ideas

teacher community
This is a forum exchanging ideas about teaching. We discuss centers, math manipulatives, "Read the Room", "Write the Room", Story Bags, Interactive Bulletin Boards, Lapbooking, Creative ways to teach ESL through Lemmi Sticks and lots, lots more. Click here to join in the fun.

Lenses with lots of Teaching Ideas 

What have you learned by playing games? 

How do you use games to teach your children?

Please let my know by leaving a comment here. Tell me about your favorite game or teaching idea. Don't forget the stars at the top and if you lensroll this page or add it to your favorites please let me know so that I can reciprocate.

gtafourking

nice lens. just given you 5 stars.be sure to reply to my message and rate my lens about

gta 4 cheats

Posted May 12, 2008

cherangelry

Thanks for this lens, it's really great! I especially love the idea of using Gem Stones in creating your own game. I'll have to remember that in case the right game idea ever comes along!

Posted May 10, 2008

JanaMurray

What awesome collection of learning lenses you have put together! Bravo!

Posted May 07, 2008

Becca_Sanz

Your lens is very informative. Staying healthy is very important. I hope you will support movement to promote Healthy Food on college campuses.

Posted April 26, 2008

Garance

Wonderful site, thank you

Posted April 19, 2008

rms

Nice work on this helpful lens.

Posted April 09, 2008

Jimmie

We've enjoyed Scrambled States (featured on my 50 States Notebook lens). It's really fun, and we've learned a lot from it!

Posted March 26, 2008

rwoman

I think learning should always be fun -- whether you are 6 or 60!

Another wonderful lens! If you need some inspiration check out my lens.

Posted March 21, 2008

funwithtrains

Nice lens! Please visit my Marklin Trains lens.

Posted March 20, 2008

clarkk

Nice - check out my new lens
toddler-educational-toys

Posted January 25, 2008

Unschooler

We used to play boardgames with homeschoolers at a library in Arlington, Mass. Many of these are the same games. I also loved Max. It's so hard to find a non-competitive game.

Posted November 08, 2007

LisaBrave

My kids have learned so much from playing games. Thery can even learn a lot from playing tic tac toe!

Posted October 09, 2007

groovyoldlady

There are some great educational computer games too...

Posted October 01, 2007

X

Hi, I'm Evelyn_Saenz

Evelyn_Saenz

Join my fan club

Hello world. I am an educational consultant, teacher and a homeschooling mom. I love to help others find materials for teaching. Check out my lenses and leave me a comment.  :)

More pages by me...

See all my pages