There are several school breaks throughout the year. Unfortunately, many elementary school children see school vacation as a time to have fun and not worry about schoolwork. But practicing those important skills during breaks can ensure that your children are where they need to be academically when the new school year starts. And one of the best ways to do this is to make learning into a game. So here are five educational games to help children learn even when school’s out.
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The Shopping Budget Game
Create a list of items you need to buy. Then, look at the weekly ads with your children with a specific focus on the items on your list. You may also want to provide them with the typical prices of items at the stores you visit most often. Have them add the prices together to decide which store or stores you should visit to get the most out of your money.
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Alphabet Road Trip
Many families take extensive road trips during longer school breaks, and this game is a great way to keep the kids entertained. Yet, this game also works for short trips. The goal is to find the letters of the alphabet starting with “A” and ending with “Z.” Players can find the letters on street signs, license plates, or anything else that you drive by on your trip.
When someone finds the letter, the person should point it out. You may want to suggest players use only one letter per sign. The first person to find the whole alphabet alphabetically wins.
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Identify the License Plates
This is one of those educational games that work well for older children and even adults on a road trip. Print out a map of the United States for everyone in your vehicle. If you are traveling through an area where you are likely to see license plates from Canada, Mexico, or another country, you may also want to include a map of that country or those countries as well.
When someone sees an out-of-state plate, the person can write the name of the state, providence, or country in the correct place on the map and color it in. The person who has correctly identified the most places at the end of the road trip wins.
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Finish the Story Game
You can play this two ways. In the first version, every player is given a sheet of paper with the opening to a story written on it. Each player then writes down the rest of the story. A fun alternative is to give each person a blank sheet of paper. That person writes down the first line of a story and passes the paper to the next person.
The next person reads the first line, writes down the second line, and folds down the paper so only the second line shows. Then, each person passes the paper to the next person. Continue to pass the papers around, folding down the paper so only the previous line shows. Once all the papers are full, read the stories and laugh.
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Educational Board Games
This technically counts as more than one game. There are quite a few great board games that are also educational. Monopoly stands out as a great classic math game. Adding, subtracting, and budgeting are all important parts of the game. When buying multiple houses or paying income tax, children may need to use multiplication skills. Scrabble is another great educational game. Kids can practice spelling, addition, and multiplication. There are many other great educational board games.
Of course, these are just a few of the great ways to mix education with fun. Look for other fun ways to learn with educational games and share them with others.
