It’s no secret that I love educational games. After all, as a seasoned educator for well over ten years, I like to take advantage of every opportunity to engage both of my sons in learning. Since we enjoy family game night once a week, I’ve been on the lookout for games that will translate into improved academic performance. The tricky part has been finding games that not only teach them something, but that are also fun to play at the same time.
As a Literacy Specialist, I was thrilled to learn about the learning game Smartmouth! It is a word game which helps kids to expand their vocabulary by using letters to shout out words that correspond to a variety of word categories. One of the areas that most students struggle with, when it comes to fluency and comprehension, is vocabulary. This game allows them to compete to see who can make the best words within 60 seconds.
The concept behind this game is very simple. First, players roll the die to determine the word category. Next, players slide the Letter Getter device to reveal two letter tiles, and using those letters, shout out a word that fits the given category before the timer runs out. The player who calls out the first word and the player with the highest ranking word both collect a letter tile for the round. My boys loved being able to shout out the words and recognize the relationships between word parts and sounds.
Additionally, one of the strategies that I have always known works extremely well in allowing kids to memorize and grasp Science concepts is using index cards in class to record important information. I’ve never been very good at Science myself and this is one of the things I did to prepare for exams and classroom discussions. The students in my class actually carry their index cards in card boxes and refer to them whenever necessary.
That is why I loved the concept behind The Sci or Fi Files Strange Science Facts and Fiction Card Set. It offers a collective way for emphasizing science facts and features strange facts that grabs kid’s attention. Also, it includes 200 two sided cards with fun facts along with scientific explanations in a file cabinet box. The back side of the card contains explanation about each true or false fact. We had a ball asking each other questions about each card and sharing fun and interesting facts that we didn’t know.
I’m so excited to now have these games as part of our family game night arsenal! It’s such a fun and engaging way to strengthen our boys’ academic skills without them even realizing that they are really learning. They are already planning ahead for our next game night this Friday and going back and forth about who is going to come up with the most words and who is going to know the most strange Science facts. Any activity that gets my kids excited about learning is right up my alley as an educator and a mom!
Let’s Discuss: What are some of the educational games that you like to play with your children?
Disclosure: This is a sponsored campaign created in collaboration with KidzVuz for School Specialty. All opinions are 100% my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
© 2014, Tough Cookie Mommy. All rights reserved.
This is so fun and interactive – both for kids and as parents – wow, awesome. Id want this too for my own family in the future hehe
We have a few math games and a few brain teaser games, but I love that The Sci or Fi Files game. I think I might get that for my guys.
You know we play a ton of games, and yes, some educational. We try to stick with spelling and math games rather than trivia and they been a huge hit.
This would be helpful with my 10 year old son. We play scrabble together and that has also helped him as well.
I am thinking this is the only time I will want my kids to have a smart mouth! We love family game night but we are in the younger games right now because of my youngest son’s age.
My step son would love these! how neat! I much prefer this kind of thing over head-in-a-ds-all-day syndrome! 🙂
I absolutely love games like this that are a ton of fun, and educational at the same time. This looks like a great one.
We like to do a scavenger hunt type of game. It makes the kids have to think outside of the box. I also like word building games.
I love that they have one for Science-which can be lots of fun but seems dry the way it is sometimes taught in schools. These two games sound like they are well worth getting!
We love family game night here too, so either of these games would be a welcome addition in our home.
These sound like great games! We always used to play Monopoly over and over and over…
We love trying new games. We buy new ones every year, during the holidays to play while the kids are on Christmas break.
Trivia games and that one called Go to the Head of Class have been great teachers for us. I love games in general!
I love family game night. Looks like your boys enjoy these!
We play games that incorporate counting.. such as card games. Number numbers numbers.. I find it helps with their math
We have recently added more games to our collection too. These look like great ones. I love when they double as educational and fun!
We like to play card games that deal with matching, counting, and recognition of letters/numbers.
My kids are grown but we love to play Pictionary when are whole family gets together. Anytime of Trivial Pursuit type games are great too. Looks like you have found a great game for your family.
We love game nights! Pictionary and quiz games are our fave! Kids even started to love BOGGLE! Once they could spell:)
These look great. We love family game night! I especially love word games and am TERRIBLE at anything where I have to draw!
Those will be perfect for my 7 year-old. We are working on vocabulary and this game will help her a lot. 200 Cards: that’s a lot of fun ahead
This is great! It is always awesome when you can disguise learning as play time
These look like a great way to spend a night together! I love playing games!
These games look really fun and I myslef love a good educational game. Our family favorites are Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit.
We love educational games. You can’t be learning, fun and family time all rolled into one.
Great set of new games. I like something that helps with learning versus just fighting and competitiveness over “nothing”
We love playing board games as a family. It was something I did as a child and something I enjoy passing on to my kids despite living in such a tech heavy world.
I love educational games as well. Looks like you have started a great tradition with your family.