Learning through Board Games

[emilys_mom1]

Does anyone have these board games? What do you think about them? Do you have other recommendations for my family, we want to learn through games?

10 Days in the USA
Great States Junior
GeoSafari Spin USA Board Game
Brainbox All Around the USA

Name That Country Game

Somebody: The Human Anatomy Game
Skeletons in the closet game
SPILL YOUR GUTS™ ANATOMY GAME

Math Noodlers grade 2-3
Dino Math Tracks Place Value Game
Sum Swamp Addition and Subtraction Game
Allowance Game
TIMING IT RIGHT BOARD GAME

Horse Lover's Monopoly
TOTALLY GROSS

Dinosaurs Extinct?
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION DIG THAT DINOSAUR GAME
DINOSAURS BRAIN BOX GAME
DINO DOMINOES GAME

[Dakota's Mom]

We have Great States. But it is not the Jr. version. It is way beyond my new third grader. To be honest, a lot of it is beyond me. I don't have any of the other games you mentioned. One game that we did like is Monkey Math. It taught math facts by balancing the bunches of bananas on the monkey's hands.

Kathi

[Geerbabe]

My kids have played and enjoyed Sum Swamp and Dino Math Tracks. My son just turned five and my daughter is seven. We started off modifying the game slightly for the younger one, but he got the hang of things pretty quickly and now can play like everyone else.

My kids also like the Professor Noggins quiz games. My five year old learned pretty much all the answers in the easy section of the Human Body version (that being a subject he is passionate about). Science Stadium is an animal version of Guess Who that has beautifully illustrated cards.

You can also expand your scope past what are marketed as educational games. My kids have picked up geography from Risk and Pandemic; logic from many games such as Chess, To Court the King, Puerto Rico, Skullduggery, Kids of Carcassone, Guess Who and Gobblet; spelling from Quiddler and Scrabble Jr; and math skills from any game where they keep their own score (Yahtzee, UNO, etc).

[SagMom]

Originally Posted by emilys_mom1

Does anyone have these board games? What do you think about them?

Somebody: The Human Anatomy Game--We had this when the kids were younger. No one liked the actual game, but they used to play with the pieces (basically, it was like Colorforms.)

Allowance Game--they played this one a lot until age 8 or 9. I thought it was pretty dull, but they liked it.

How old are your kids?

We've liked chess, Blokus, Yahtzee, Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, Blink, Sequence, BrainQuest, Scrambled States of America, Snapshots of America, Gobblet, Querkle.

[moominmamma]

Neither my kids nor I are particularly fond of schoolish learning dressed up as games. We much prefer games that stand in their own right as good games. Most of them stretch the brain in fantastic ways, even if they don't necessarily help you check things off on scope & sequence list. Many have been mentioned here already: Gobblet, Blokus, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Qwirkle, Scrabble, Chess. Others we have loved: Army of Frogs, Ticket to Ride, Go, Set, Things ... in a box, Waldschattenspeil (Shadows in the Woods), Hive and Khet.

Hope that helps!

Miranda

[emilys_mom1]

thanks ladies, all very helpful