Need To Relieve A Little Stress This Holiday Season? Try Game Schooling!
The holidays are exciting, aren’t they?
Family, parties, sweets, candy, Santa, and presents!
However, with all this excitement, trying to drag our kids through their school lessons can be agonizing. I am all for taking a break during the holidays, but not everyone can. Sometimes it’s a family member who has expectations, it could be your worry, or maybe there’s a legal reason you can’t take a break.
What to do?
Gameschooling to the rescue!
Frugal Fun For the Whole Family
Games are lots of fun, and there are so many, that you’re sure to find at least some that your kids can’t wait to play. Even better, there is reading practice in reading the instructions, and many games have a lot of math in the scorekeeping. You don’t even have to play Addition Bingo!
Games can also be expensive, though, and most of us don’t have extra money at this time of year. So we’re going to look at some games that you can play with whatever you have at home.
Card Games
Most of us have a deck or two of cards lying around. It’s time to put those cards to work! Here are some of my family’s favorites:
Golf. Gamewright Games came out with a version of Golf; they call it Rat-A-Tat Cat. Their pictures can be helpful, but you don’t need their specialized deck. Instructions are easy to find online. Playing Golf with your kids can help all of you work on your working memory, and there is good strategy, too. At the end of a round, add up your points to get your score.
Spoons. Spoons has been so good for my daughter to work on her working memory. You have to keep track of a lot; you’re passing cards in and out of your hand (fine motor control), trying to get 4-of-a-kind, and you also have to keep track of the spoons in the center. Once someone grabs a spoon, you want to be quick to grab the next, as, much like Musical Chairs, someone won’t get a spoon.
Hearts. My husband introduced us to Hearts. It’s a relatively simple game, but there is a lot of strategy involved. Do you try to shoot the moon? Do you eat a couple of points to prevent someone else from shooting the moon? At the end of the hand, everyone needs to add up their score and add it to their running score. More math!
DIY Games
Mancala. Almost everyone has an egg carton lying around. Save your next carton for just 1 dozen eggs to make your own Mancala board. Mancala is a super old game, so there are many variations, but directions are readily available online. You can use dried beans, stones, or even small LEGO bricks. Playing Mancala helps to teach strategy and logic, and at the end of the game, count up the stones to see who has more.
Math Scrabble. Did you know that you can turn your old Scrabble game into a whole new game? That’s right; you just need to use a marker to write numbers and operations on the back of the tiles. This article explains how many of each you need. You can still score like a normal Scrabble game (they even indicate how many points each math tile is worth), but my family generally plays cooperatively, and we still get tons of math practice in.
Internet Games. The internet abounds with free printable games! I encourage you to make sure they’re fun, as much as possible, and bonus points if they’re related to the season or at least your kids’ interests.
Dust Off Old Favorites. Don’t forget about the games you have gathering dust in your closet, or grandparents have gathering dust in their attics. These can be pulled down and played with, or used to make new games.
Voice-Only Games
As you take your family on long car rides to visit family, don’t forget about the various alphabet and word games.
License Plate Game. We play that you can use any license plate or sign outside of our car. Once a sign has been used for one letter, it cannot be used for any others. Work your way through the alphabet, either competitively or cooperatively as a family. This is great for alphabet recognition and reading.
Going on a Picnic. There are two games by this name. One is a rule-guessing game, and the other is another alphabet game.
For the rule-guessing game, one player decides on a rule for what can be brought on a picnic. Each player says what they’ll bring, and the rule-maker says whether or not they can go. Players try to guess the rule.
For the alphabet game, each player comes up with a new item to bring to the picnic, in alphabetical order. As you name your new item, you have to list all the previous items that have been brought.
Both games are wonderful games to play in the car, and you don’t need any supplies. The rule-guessing game helps develop logic, while the alphabet game is great for memory and beginning spelling.
As you can see, there are so many learning opportunities in games! These games are fun and easy to play with what you already have around your house, and your kids can continue to learn throughout the holidays.
Want To Know More About Gameschooling?
To learn more about Gameschooling 101, game reviews, homeschooling resources, and game schooling on a budget, visit Ashley’s website: www.gypsygameschooler.com or check out her YouTube channel.
Want To Write for Us?
Learn more about how you can become a guest blogger for It’s Only Homeschooling, here.
Let’s Keep In Touch
Be sure you do not miss a blog post by signing up for my email list, liking my Facebook or Instagram pages, or subscribing to my YouTube channel.
Blessings,
Kimberly
IOH Mom
This website is not a professional counseling website and nothing here should be construed as professional counseling advice. Although Kimberly Bennett, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor, she is not your counselor, and no counselor-client relationship is established unless she has signed an agreement with you. All information provided through this website is for informational and educational purposes only.
