Obvious looking educational games

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My kids are friends with 2 boys on our block from Bosnia. After school, the "bigs" study here and the "littles" study there (the kids are the same ages). *My dd started ps a week and a half ago. Ds is home.

 

These two kids are not allowed to play much. If they have free time, it's to be used studying.

 

The bigs have 2 study halls in school so they don't come home with too much homework.

 

This week after homework I had the bigs playing scrabble and they had a blast, and the boy's father was fine with it (meaning it had obvious to him study value).

 

What are some other games or things we can do that are obviously educational but can give a break from the pencil and paper tasks? And what else can I add that could help the boy with his English vocabulary and spelling?

[TheReader]

boggle is another word game.

 

for vocab, maybe Apples to Apples, but I'd get the Jr. version as it has fewer pop culture references

 

Dominoes, uno, yahtzee, etc. are good for math type skills, although I guess at 12 maybe not....

 

would Trivial Pursuit (any of the versions) be good? 

 

Chess? Stratego? not study skills, per se, but strategy/critical thinking.....

 

not sure what else....it's a great idea, though!

[mom2bee]

Chess just in general. For math games, there is Plot Your Course and Equate, I suggest browsing the recommendations on Amazon for more ideas in the same vein.

 

For vocabulary games, I'd probably get something in the grade 2-6 range, that includes pictures. Many games take it for granted that it's being played by English-speakers so while they may be excellent vocabulary games with a fun riddling twist to Anglophones, they leave ESL people scratching their heads.

 

I say check your local resell shop and used book store. They usually have a wide variety of games for cheap, so you can buy 3-7 games for the cost of one out of the store.

[Kareni]

Here are some links to older threads in which I've posted some of our favorites.

 

One

 

Two

 

Three

 

Four

 

Regards,

Kareni

[gardenmom5]

smath.  it's like scrabble - only it's math.  I just picked it up at our homeschool store.

brain quest  (there was one restaurant that had boxes of old trivial pursuit cards on the table to peruse while waiting for your order.  I liked it.)

scrambled states of America

how the states got their shape.  (which is also a tv show - but they have some games on their site.)

mad libs

is where in the world is Carmen san diego still around?

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

We really like logic games. Most of ours are single-player games like Chocolate Factory, River Crossing, and the traffic one. We make them multi-player by having timed tournaments.

 

We also like 10 Days across the USA.

 

I think lego kits should be considered educational.

 

Also, there are fun non-board games that can be educational; great books charades comes to mind.

[LostSurprise]

The problem with a lot of English vocabulary or spelling games is that it may set your daughter up as the winner in too many situations. 

 

Word on the Street (teams try to take letters away from each other by spelling words that answer the clue)

Apples to Apples does have nice elements of vocabulary and American culture (and easier conditions for the friend to win) but it may not look as studious

Boggle (similar to Scrabble but with spacial and time elements)

Quiddler (spelling words from certain sets of letters)

 

Chess 

Go

SET (a game where players lay down cards on top of each other that have similar attributes...so the card on the table may be 3 straight purple lines...so someone with a card with 1 of those attributes...3 items, straight figures, purple...can add one on top. It actually takes good observation skills and a flexible mind to be good at this game and its usually sold as an educational game)

 

Acquire (growing and taking over corporations)

10 Days in the USA (moving through the US putting together a travel itinerary...good  for state geography)

Blokus (trying to fit your shapes onto the board and keep others from getting all of theirs on...very spacial)

 

All of these should be widely available (meaning I've seen them sold at Target, etc.), but I would check Goodwill and other secondhand stores first, especially after Christmas (if this is a long term thing). 

[AMJ]

At our local teacher supply shop I picked up Parts of Speech Challenge. This game has the advantage of helping ESL students practice their English grammar. My kids really like it, especially since Mom makes mistakes and they sometimes know better. We use this as a treat break in place of grammar every do often.

 

Backgammon and Risk are both good critical thinking games. Risk takes a long time to play, though. Battleship is another one, and Cataan.

 

Mathisfun.com has some games and a bunch of entertaining puzzles -- we use these for more critical thinking.

 

In A Pickle is a card-based storytelling game in which the next card played must extend the story with the words "in a" (all cards are nouns). Cheap and lots of fun! Good English practice, and at times calls for creative reasoning and persuasive arguing.

 

Quite a lot of games have educational aspects, and really shouldn't be discounted. Even charades, pictionary, creationary, and such have both critical thinking and inter-personal communications aspects. Try taking a look at what you have on hand and thinking about what educational uses they might have. If you like, post a list of games you have and we can kibitz on educational aspects of the ones we know.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Thanks!

 

We don't have much. I just started buying a new game every other month.

 

*I'm* fine with any game. They all have some educational value, even it's just the social side of playing with someone else.

 

The boy's father wants to make sure he studies enough, and then a whole ton more, so to respect that I want to make sure what's played is obviously study worthy.

 

I already know that Legos are not on their study list. They're allowed to play with Lego, just not when they're supposed to be studying.

 

We have: clue, a different themed clue, monolopy and jr, guess who, Dino math tracks, a few scrabbles, battleship, atmosphere, candy land, chutes and ladders, chess, connect 4, UNO, speed, and a lot of other card games, plus a cards for kids game book and a few decks of regular cards.

 

I really like the look of smath and will be getting that. There was also a recommended on amazon of an equation game. I'll be checking out everything posted and getting a new game next month.