52 Homeschooling Tips for Every Homeschooler – #7 Play a Game

Ever have one of those days where no one seems motivated to get to lessons? Consider taking a break and playing a game. We all have some learning games laying around the house. Whether you play something to do with what you are working on presently or not is unimportant. Just breaking up the day and playing a game can give everyone a moment to recharge. You may even need to consider a game day if things really need revived. Here are some fun learning games for the family to consider. (I’ve shared some games you can buy or some you can make.)

Let’s Jet – Great geography game from Simply Fun that gives the whole family a fun tour of the world while visiting exciting destinations.

Scrabble – Who doesn’t love a good game or Scrabble. You can play the regular version or change it up for younger kids with 3 letter words or making only specific words. There is a junior edition that has words to match on the gameboard as well.

Sight Word Go Fish – You can make this card with index cards or small cardstock and print or write 2 cards of each word you want to include. Consider using the Dolch sight words available on the internet as a guide. Then play Go Fish while fishing for sight words. If you are just starting out, consider only using 5 or 10 words and building from there.

Scrambled States of America – A fun way to learn the states, capitals, and interesting fact, the Scrambled States of America is a fun game for the whole family.

Go Math – You can play this game like Go Fish but with a regular deck of cards. You can use it to make any combination of math facts. For instance, you may do sums of 10 and you can lay down pairs that make 10s.  Then you ask someone for what you need to make a sum of 10.  You can play with any addition facts up to 13 with a standard deck of cards.

Math Fact Jenga – Math Fact Jenga is a great way to have some fun with math facts. Write math sentences (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division will all work) and secure them to the bottom of the Jenga pieces. When a student pulls out a block successfully, they have to answer the fact correctly or lose their turn. You can use a standard Jenga set or buy a generic set of stacking blocks.

Review Bingo – Bingo is a great way to review subjects or something you have been working on as a family. If you have been working on Bible verses you might want to put the verses on the card and then the “caller” would say the Bible verse and the students would put a token on the verse if they have it. Then they have to know if to see if it’s on their card. There are also many other subjects you could use. You could also review your semester with having each line be a different subject. There are many ways to use review bingo.

Qwirkle – Qwirkel is a fun, strategy game for all ages. Whether you have a young student just learning shapes and colors or an older child, you can use Qwirkle to challenge the whole family.

Do you use games in your homeschool?