Favorite Games for Learning
Learning is made fun through playing games in our home! Here are my top recommendations for learning games that your whole family can enjoy playing together.
Math games:
Math is not always my children's favorite subject in our homeschool. But when we pull out these games, we're able to reinforce math skills while having a lot of fun. It's a big win!
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Sum Swamp (ages 5+): R
ace through the swamp while facing math challenges and meeting funny swamp creatures along the way! -
Yahtzee (ages 8+): T
ake turns rolling dice to try to score combos. You get a total of 13 turns and may roll up to three times on a turn. At the end of each turn, you must fill in one empty box in your column on the score card. The player with the highest grand total at the end of all 13 rounds wins. -
Sleeping Queens (ages 6+): S
leeping Queens was invented by 6-year-old Miranda Evarts, who thought up the game one night when she couldn't fall asleep. She awoke the next morning and, with help from her family, created this wonderfully whimsical world of napping nobles. This game helps develop memory, strategy, and elementary arithmetic skills. -
Pass the Pigs (ages 6+): I
nstead of dice, you roll two cute pink piglets, and gain or lose points depending on how the critters land. This game makes excellent addition practice! -
Money Bags (ages 7+): L
earn valuable money skills through fun game play. Players collect, count, and exchange money all the way to the finish line!
Nature study games:
We are big fans of these nature-inspired Bingo games! It has been incredible to see how our children have learned various dog breeds and ocean animals and even trees through something as simple as a game. These games are a bit pricey, but are excellent quality and have been played again and again. Recommended for ages 6+, but even our 5-year-old is able to play with minimal reading skills.
Strategy games:
- No Stress Chess (ages 7+): This is a genius (and painless) way to learn the game of chess. Once you become comfortable with the moves and powers of each chess piece, you can flip the two-sided board over and play standard chess.
- Qwirkle (ages 6+): Qwirkle enhances many skills for young and old alike including color recognition, shape recognition, math strategy and problem solving.
- Monopoly Deal (ages 6+): This is my personal favorite card game to play with the kids. It's Monopoly-inspired, but only takes 10-15 minutes to finish!
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Sequence (ages 7+): Play a card from your hand, and place a chip on a corresponding space on the game board. When you have five in a row, it’s a Sequence. This game also comes in fun variations for younger children, including Sequence for Kids (which does not require reading) and Sequence Letters.
Language:
- Zingo Word Builder (ages 5+): This is our 5-year-old's favorite game because he's able to build CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and have fun doing it! The original Zingo is also really fun for ages 4 and up and helps build language and matching skills.
- Boggle (ages 6+): Shake up the box of letters, flip the timer, and spot as many words as you can! This game can also be played by a single player.
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Bananagrams (ages 6+): This game has been a hit in our home, and I've watched our 7-year-old's spelling dramatically improve after playing daily for a few weeks. There are also fun variations of the game, like Bananagrams Duel (for two players) and Bananagrams Party Edition (two to eight players).
Spanish:
Our family is studying Spanish this year, and playing these games as a family has been a great way to learn new vocabulary and reinforce what we're learning!
Preschool:
- Snug as a Bug in a Rug (ages 3+): This is a fun matching game that
- encourages social skills to work together and problem solve. It is a
- perfect
- game for young children learning their colors, numbers and shapes!
- Count Your Chickens (ages 3+): This is a fun counting game to help kids learn at a young age how easy it is to cooperate.
- My First Bananagrams (ages 4+): The perfect word game for the pre-reader and early learner, it utilizes lowercase letters that help children grow a love for word games and wordplay.
- The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel (ages 3+): This game teaches counting, colors, and fine motor skills. It even teaches sharing and resilience.
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Tiny Polka Dot (ages 4+): This set includes sixteen easy-to-learn games that helps kids fall in love with numbers by playfully teaching counting, arithmetic and logic.
Geography:
- The Scrambled States of America (ages 8+): This game is fast-paced and averages 10 to 15 minutes per game. It reinforces state names and capitals while also teaching fun facts about them, too!
- Guess in 10: States of America (ages 8+): Ask up to 10 questions to guess the state on the game card! This would be an easy game to take along with you while traveling.
- Ticket to Ride (ages 8+): A fun, fast-paced strategy board game as you build trains and hope to beat other players to the route. While working through the game, you learn major cities and capitals. This one is fun for the whole family!
- Trekking the World (ages 8+): This game is beautifully illustrated and has a feel of traveling the world and its cities.
I hope these recommendations will be fun for your whole family and benefit your children as they learn!
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