Learning through Games

Not long ago, I joked on Facebook,"Who said the Wii isn't educational?" Isaac was playing Wheel of Fortune. It actually was helping him learn his vowels, spelling patterns, and numbers. Children love to learn through play because it comes natural. Choosing some fun games that have some education behind them can help them learn without it being a sit down with pencil and paper time. Just make sure it is not all "Edutainment" and actually helps them learn a concept you want them to grasp.

Before Isaac was even 2 he learned his letters and sounds by playing on Starfall.com.  Unlike Eli who could care less and gets mad at the mouse, Isaac was a natural at the computer. He loves learning and playing on the computer even today. I let him play a game called Civiballs. It is great for cause, effect, thinking things through, and a little bit of physics. Neon Maze is another good one in which he as to use that noggin.

The other day, I taught Isaac to play Yahtzee. He needed some help with the Lower Section, but the Upper Section was really good for him: adding, grouping, introduction to multiplication, strategy, counting by 2s, 3s, etc. The best part is I got to spend time with him.   

Here is a dice game we played this morning and one we've done in the past:

So we use the Lauri pegs and board with some

big foam dice I got through Oriental Trading.

I didn't see this game anywhere, we just made it up. So if you've seen it anywhere, its purely coincidental. Who knows, maybe it is in the instructions, I don't know! We take two dice and foam mats 2-10 (because you can't roll just a 1 with two dice, and the box doesn't come with 11 and 12). We roll the dice, Isaac has to tell me the answer. (reinforces his math facts) Then, we place a peg on that number. We roll until we have no more pegs. When we get to the end...

We make a graph, count our pegs for each number

and see which number was rolled the most.

Now this game originally came from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

but it was too easy. You roll the dice and circle which one you rolled.

This would be an early game for learning your dice patterns, numbers, and counting.

So we changed it up, and took turns rolling the dice to see

who got the higher number in each square.

Then we tallied up my wins and his wins to see who the grand winner was.

Isaac wanted it to be more challening, so we made boxes

with the numbers through 12 and used two dice.

This again, helps him reinforce his addition facts because we

are rolling two dice to add together.