If you have played any mainstream games you have probably played Yatzee. Although I have run into people that have not heard of this timeless classic, it is probably the most well know roll and write game. Most mechanics are pretty self explanatory, and this is no exception. You are going to roll dice and record things on your sheet of paper. They tend to be small box games, easy to travel with, but not always easy to teach or learn.
In Yatzee, you are simply collecting sets from the die results. The dice are normal 6 sided dice (d6). With these basic dice we can bring things up a notch. Quixx allows players to participate in each person's turn. It also combines simple number writing with a push your luck element. Another game that uses a basic d6 is Welcome to Dino World.
Games like Railroad Ink use dice with different sides. In Railroad Ink, for example, the sides of the dice have railroad and street configurations. They are written on your board to create the most efficient transportation system with the most connections.
There are starting to be more variations in this genre. One of our most played games is Welcome To... It is a flip and write game, utilizing cards instead of dice.
What are your favorite roll and write games? Tell us in the comments!
Gameschooling is fun and highly beneficial, but it can get expensive quick! If you want to gameschool without a collection, it is possible. here are some options for adding games to your homeschool without maintaining a collection.
Board Game Cafes
This is a low cost choice with many gaming options. Our local cafe costs $3 per person and have over 500 games to choose from. We went last week and had a chance to play some games we were considering, some games we couldn't find, and some that we were just curious about. They were all fun, but we took all of them off of our buy list because they are not quite what we want. It was great to get the chance to play them before buying them. Plus we get to use them for learning without having to store them or maintain them.
Local Game Stores
Our favorite local game stores have demo games to try. Their collection of playable games is considerably smaller than the game cafe, but it is FREE! Even with our large collection at home, we still go play games at the game store. It is fun to try something new that we don't have. We have built a great relationship with our favorite game store (The Dice Owl in Montreal) and they always do what they can to keep us updated with upcoming games, events, and finding games they don't have in stock.
Library
Some libraries have board games to either play or check out. The library we had in Michigan had some for kids to play within the library. All the libraries we have been to in Quebec have had a collection for check out. This is a great free option to play games without laying down cash or finding a place to store them.
Gaming Friends
Borrowing, trading, and playing together are all great ways to play more games with less cost. Doing game trades with other people does require that you have games in which to trade, but the other two are completely free. What is better than bringing two or more homeschool families together to learn and play? Knowing that the other families have got the games covered. If you have good friends with a great game collection or even a small one, playing together builds that relationship stronger and fills your gameschooling needs. If they are willing to borrow games to you that can be helpful too.
Gameschooling does not have to break the bank. We hope these tips will help you get more gaming into your homeschool experience.
So, what is
gameschooling? It is pretty simple. It is taking games and using them with
intentionality to teach your kids. That was quick and easy, wasn’t it? Now, we
can get into the why of gameschooling. There are many amazing reasons for
teaching in this way. They are all very linked together, but I will break them
up for you in bite sized portions.
Experiential
learning
Games give
you the opportunity to simulate a concept or topic in a way they couldn’t experience
otherwise. For example, you can learn about terraforming a planet, but you can’t
really do it. However, if you play Terraforming Mars, you can simulate the
experience.
Games give you the opportunity to simulate a concept or topic in a way they couldn’t experience otherwise. Click to Tweet
Abstract Concepts
into Concrete
Board games
can turn abstract concepts that they are learning into more concrete ideas. It
helps student to better understand material that would otherwise seem distant
or unrelatable.
Relation to
Material
Subjects from
other times and places can sometimes be hard to relate to. How do they affect
my life now? Games covering these topics bring those times and places to the
present and allows the players to experience them in a different way.
Drive to
Learn More
The game
brings interest to the kids and they may develop a desire to learn more. You
don’t have to push hard for continued learning, because they want to learn more
about what they have been experiencing first hand.
Knowledge Retention
Games
reinforce the learning that is taking place in your school day. Your kids read
a book, do a project, watch a documentary, and then pull it all together with a
game. You are reaching all those types of learning and the knowledge will
really stick.
Build
Problem Solving Skills
Getting
your kids to think out of the box while problem solving can be hard. Games
build creativity in problem solving. They must use trial and error to get the
best outcome and be successful in the game.
Learn from
Mistakes
When kids feel
like there is a possibility of failure, they can sometimes freeze up. Games
help them practice making mistakes in a positive way. The game is only so long,
and they can make loads of mistakes, without real life consequences. When it is
over, they can see what will work better next time. They get to practice
learning from mistakes instead of feeling disabled by them.
Student
Engagement
Some kids
fight the whole learning process. They don’t want to engage and are very
negative about it. Bringing out a game can help them to enjoy the process of
learning more. It may even spark that drive to learn more that I mentioned up
above.
There are
so many ways to gameschool! Some people use games as the curriculum itself and
some use games to supplement and reinforce their more structured school day. We
are somewhere in the middle. Do you use games for school? Leave a comment and
let us know your favorites and how you use them.
