Ka-Ching!

 Mathematics  1 Response »
May 042012
 

One of the things I love to use for our living math lessons is games. I don’t know about your children, but mine can pick up skills they never knew they had simply by playing a game. When I taught my eldest how to multiply one of the things I started with was this very simple game called Ka-Ching! Instead of using the word “multiply” though I used the words “groups of”. My son had so much fun playing this game he had absolutely no idea he was learning a valuable math skill!

How We Use It:

When we’re having a living math day, I pull this game out and challenge my son to a round or two. It’s a very fast paced game all about buying and selling stocks. It’s really addictive to play as well!

Basically you set a game board up with the cards by laying them out in a 7×5 grid. Each person is given a certain amount of money {provided in the game} to buy stocks with. I give out money a little differently than the game indicates. I hand out one $10, one $5, one $2, & three $1’s to get the game rolling. Each player also gets one bonus card which can be paired, at any time, with any stock card from the grid. {We generally save it until the end!}

From there, on each turn a person can collect a card from the grid or they can sell stocks, the choice is theirs. The idea is to buy low and sell high. For instance, if you purchase a $3 card and a $6 card you’ve spent a mere $9, but when you sell them you get $3 x $6 for a grand total of $18!

You can see where this is going right? I didn’t explain this strategy to my child when we started playing the game. We simply played. I prefer to let them find their own strategies as they go along, it’s more likely to stick with them. That’s exactly what happened with this game! It took a few rounds of plays but he very quickly realized he needed the higher value cards in order to beat Mom at the end.

What I love:

  • I love the simplicity of this game. It didn’t take us an hour or a week to figure out the instructions. It was pretty open and go!
  • I love that this is made by Gamewright. Seriously! They sell some amazing, but quick, fun games!
  • I love that the cards are reasonably durable considering I play this with my kids.
  • I love the color! For anyone who’s visual it’s really eye popping to play, not to mention the pictures of the presidents on the money crack us all up.
  • The price. If purchased in the US, this game is fairly reasonably priced at a meager $9.89 + shipping from Amazon.

What I don’t like:

When sold overseas I find the price of this game a bit much. I bought it at a local shop in Tasmania for $20. At the same time, the game is fun, educational, and thus makes it worth what I paid.

Other than that I really can’t complain about this game!

Bottom Line:

We love this highly fun, extremely addictive, amazingly educational game. You really have got to try it for yourself!

Geography Games

 Geography, Hands On  5 Responses »
Jun 222010
 

It’s been awhile since I posted about favorite learning games, and since the lazy days of summer break mean more time for games, I’ve been reminded of some favorites.  The 10 Days in … games have been popular with homeschoolers for several years now, and for good reason.  Geography, logic, critical thinking and luck of the draw make these games exciting – and worthwhile educationally!

In our homeschool, geography is one of those subjects that I’ve never chosen to teach outright.  We cover geography and mapping in many formats during Bible, history, projects … and games!  All of these experiences have helped my children to be very well-versed in American and world geography.  And believe it or not, the games we’ve played have probably been the biggest factor in their understanding of geography!

10 Days in the USA, Europe, Asia and Africa are all very similar to one another, but obviously promote learning the geography of one area each.  The goal of the games is to be the first person to plan a ten day trip around the country/continent.  Sounds easy enough, huh?  The trick comes in finding states/countries that allow you to travel in the appropriate order.

In 10 Days in the USA, for example, you may place state cards next to one another in your travel planner if they are border states.  OR, you may travel through one state to another if you are able to locate a card with a car on it.  OR, since each state is assigned a color, you may travel from one colored state to another of the same color if you can locate a card with a plane on it.

I’m sure my explanation sounds a bit confusing.  Really, the game is not at all confusing and the directions are not only clear, but provide photo examples, too.  It took us less than five minutes to learn how to play.  Each game takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, so there isn’t a huge time obligation.

Some other geography game favorites include:

  • Quick Pix Geography
  • Borderline Geography – many continents available
  • Scrambled States of America
  • Great States
  • The Global Puzzle (very hard!)

Some of my favorite FREE geography game websites include:

I’m always on the lookout for other fun board/card/computer games for geography.  What are your favorites?

-Cindy is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three.  You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers units at Shining Dawn Books.

Logic Games

 Hands On, Mathematics  9 Responses »
Jan 052010
 

I’m sure I’ve told you before that our family uses non-traditional approaches to math twice a week.  We do this partly to get away from falling into the textbook rut, and partly because I believe varied approaches to any subject are good for raising a well-rounded, educated child.

One of our most favorite things to do during math time is play games!  Today I’m going to focus on a couple of our favorite logic related games – Qwirkle and Logic Links.

If you’ve ever played SET (which I also LOVE), Qwirkle is similar – yet different!  You draw several blocks at a time and, in the manner of Scrabble, place pieces that either match a shape or color on the playing surface.  Points are scored according to how many lines you’ve connected, with extra points being scored for making a Qwirkle – a complete line of six.

It’s easy enough for a first grader to play, but complex enough for adults to enjoy as well!  I’ve even used the pieces to practice matching and sorting with my three year old.

Logic Links is a game your children can play by themselves – woohoo!

Numbered cards show you logic puzzlers from easiest to hardest.  On the cards, clues are written that help your children decide how to organize a series of colored chips.  I only own the level A game, but there are three more levels available, too.

This is the perfect thing to pull out when one child is finished with a school activity, but you’d like to keep them engaged in “thinking” for a little while.

I have an entire coat closet full of wonderful learning games, some of which I might share at other times.  For now, I’ll leave you with these two and wish you happy math time!

Thinking Games

 Hands On, Mathematics  1 Response »
Dec 032009
 

PursuitMy family loves games. Over the years, we have acquired a fairly large collection. But even with our large collection, we usually receive at least one new game for Christmas.

But all games are not created equal. There are games that are completely based on luck, completely based on skill, and all combinations in between. I especially like games that require strategy and thinking. But not too much thinking. I personally don’t really like games where one false move and there’s no chance at winning remaining. Nor do I like games that take a really long time to play.

Here are some of my personal favorite logical thinking and visual-spatial games. These are also kid-approved games. I have attempted to include games that are played with different numbers of players and can be played over and over again without playing the same game twice.

SET - The object of this “simple” card game is to recognize patterns. Each card has 4 features: color, number, symbol, and shading. There are 3 possible options for each feature. Players must form a Set of three cards.

A ‘Set’ consists of three cards in which each feature is EITHER the same on each card OR is different on each card. That is to say, any feature in the ‘Set’ of three cards is either common to all three cards or is different on each card.

The rules are simple enough for children to understand (though when reading the instructions it does not seem like it!) , but the game is challenging enough for adults to enjoy. It can be played with 1 to 20 people according to the makers of SET, but I think with 20 it would be too difficult for everyone to see the cards. You can visit the SET game website to see pictures of the cards, read the rules, and even play a daily on-line game of SET for free.

Pentago – This game is for 2 players. It consists of black and white marbles and the playing board. The players take turns placing marbles on the board with the object being to get five marbles in a row. The extra twist is that each quarter of the board can be twisted a quarter turn after each move.  Pentago requires the player to plan ahead and develop strategy, yet once again its concept is simple enough for a child to play.

Blokus – There are several variations of this game available. The original version works best for 4 people. Each person has 21 tiles, made up of all the possible shape combinations of 1 square, 2 squares, 3 squares, 4 squares, 5 squares, and 6 squares. Each player takes a turn placing one of his pieces on the board. Each subsequent piece must touch diagonally to one of the same color pieces. This game requires the player to plan ahead and is great for developing spatial relations. You can visit the website and play an on-line version for free to see it before you buy it.

Rush Hour – This unique logic game for 1 player is comprised of different colored and sized vehicles on a square grid. Included are cards that show the initial set-up for the vehicles. The goal is to move all the other vehicles out of the way in order to free a specific car. The puzzles range from beginner to expert, so there are enough to challenge a child for a long time. This game also has an on-line version you can try out.

I’d love to hear your comments on any of these games or other recommendations for games of this type.

Written by Kristen,  Relaxed Classical Homeschool Mom of 4. Kristen blogs at A Day in the Life.