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Chicago, IL 60647
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» Getting to Cat & Mouse Game Store
Good Games that Teach
Andre is a veteran middle-school teacher and we have two kids of our own, so we're always looking for good educational games. Now, lot's of games bill themselves as "educational" but often that's an indication that a game is really not that interesting to play. We love it when we find games that are not only educational, but are also actually FUN! Each month in our newsletter we let you know about one or two games that live up to that goal, and below you'll find a complete list of the games we've featured. They're all games that are kid-tested and teacher-approved!
Anyone wanting more information on the topic of using games in the classroom will want to check out Games for Educators and The Librarian's Guide to Gaming from the American Library Association.
| COMMUNICATION | |||
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Backseat Drawing Jr. In this game from Out of the Box, two teams race to identify drawings done by their own team members. But the artists don’t know what they are drawing—they can only follow the instructions given by another team member. There are a lot of drawing games out there, but this is one that can easily be adapted for play by kids of all ages, and can be played in teams or one-on-one. This game rewards good listening skills, plus the ability to speak and describe things clearly and concisely, which can be a challenge for a lot kids. Come to think of it, it's not just kids who could brush up on those skills, so everybody, gather around a table and play some Backseat Drawing!
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| CREATIVITY | |||
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Dixit Often students have trouble coming up with ideas for creative writing, so having a collection of writing prompts can be helpful. The odd and fanciful paintings on the Dixit cards almost seem tailor-made to serve as story sparkers. The game has the simple game play of Apples to Apples, but it's all based on using your imagination and thinking creatively about the imagery. Dixit is sure to get your students' creative juices flowing!
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Once Upon a Time
Once Upon A Time is a game in which the players create a story together, using cards that show typical elements from fairy tales. One player is the Storyteller, and creates a story using the elements on her cards. She tries to guide the plot towards her own ending while other players try to use cards to interrupt her and become the new Storyteller. The game works well as a group creativity exercise and a handy guideline discusses other ways the game can be used in the classroom.
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StoryTellers In StoryTellers, players also work together to tell a story, while at the same time focusing on the effective elements of storytelling. It's a game that gets students focusing on what works in their writing instead of what doesn't. The creator of the game has written an detailed lesson plan for using the game in the classroom.
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| GEOGRAPHY | |||
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10 Days in the U.S.A.
The goal of this tile game is to be the first player to have a completed trip, i.e. your rack has 10 tiles that are connected legally to one another. Connections are made as follows: you can walk to an adjacent state, so you may have 2 states that border one another adjacent in your rack; you can drive to another state, which allows you to drive through a state that borders your origin and your destination utilizing a car tile between the two states; or you may fly from one state to a like colored state using the matching color airplane tile between the two states. 10 Days in Africa, 10 Days in Europe, and 10 Days in Asia are also available. Visit The Dice Tower for a nice review of 10 Days in the U.S.A.
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| MATH | |||
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Incan Gold This game was the top-seller on our opening weekend, and for good reason. It's a quick, fun and tense game in which you and other adventurers explore an old Incan temple in search of gold and treasure. In each of the five rounds, you secretly choose if you want to continue exploring the temple in search of more treasure or retreat to the safety of your camp with your share of the treasure that has been discovered so far. So where does the educational part come in? It happens to be one of the best games we've come across for teaching the concept of division. When treasure cards are turned over, the treasure gets divided evenly between the players and the remainder gets placed on the center path. Our son Milo started playing this game when he was five and quickly picked up on the concept without even realizing that he was doing some pretty tricky math problems for a guy his age!
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| VISUAL-SPATIAL SKILLS | |||
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On
the Dot In On the Dot, players try to arrange four transparent squares so they perfectly match the pattern shown on the dots card. Flip, rotate, and overlap the squares to make a “spot on” copy. The challenge is to figure out how they all fit together. Play by yourself or race against others in a Dot-to-Dot Dash. This would make a great classroom game, and it comes with over 60 different puzzles for hours of brain-boosting fun!
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TaYu Tayu is named after the legendary Chinese hero who saved his country from flooding by creating a series of waterways. In the beautiful tile game, each player trys to create as many water channels from one side of the board to the other while at the same time, blocking his competitor. This game is best for 2 or 4 players. For some reason, towards the end of the game we always find ourselves collaborating over what the best final moves are - must be the relaxing effect of the clean design and the water theme! Visit Goliath Games' YouTube channel for a video demonstration of the game.
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