Gevas

Shh! Don’t tell your students this, but they CAN learn while playing board games! It’s a similar concept to not telling your children that what they are eating is healthy for them. I am a huge fan of board games, and my husband and I actually host a “Game Night” at our house quite often, where our friends get together to play board games, so I always tried to fit them into my teaching lessons when possible. Students enjoy a little friendly competition, and it’s a great way to teach them how to work together and how to be a good sport to others.

Here are just a few games that I have incorporated into my classroom:

APPLES TO APPLES, JR. (9+), or APPLES TO APPLES KIDS (7+)

This game, found at pretty much any store now, is gaining popularity quickly. It’s almost too simple, yet it is very addicting, and very educational! It would best be used in a Language Arts class, as it will expand their vocabulary greatly. It basically involves comparing one adjective to several nouns, and one person is the judge of which noun the adjective describes best. If you’re not familiar with the game, find it in a store or look it up on the internet to learn more.

SCATTERGORIES

I personally used this game in every subject I taught. All you need to use from the game itself is the die (or you can just randomly pick a letter yourself), and a timer (or you could time it yourself on the clock). Have each student number their paper from 1-15. On an overhead projector, show 15 different categories relating to the subject you are teaching. For example, if I am teaching social studies, some of my categories might include “U.S. river”, “state”, “country”, etc. Within the time limit, students must try to come up with one example of each category that begins with the letter chosen at the beginning. If the letter was “R”, a student might write “Rio Grande River”, “Rhode Island”, “Russia”. Normally, a person can’t use a word if someone else in the class used it, but you can bend the rules if needed! Just adapt the game to your needs. Whoever comes up with the most correct examples is the winner!

BOGGLE

Shake it up and see how many words can be made! This is a great tool for spelling.

GAMES FOR REVIEWING MATERIAL

I have played Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire with my students to review material with them, especially before a test.

LET THE STUDENTS CREATE

Put the students into small groups and let them make up their own board game to share with the class! Just give them criteria that they have to meet, and leave the rest up to them.

As you can see, I didn’t go out and spend much money on board games… In fact, most of them were just adaptations to the real thing. If you go to an educational supply store, you can find several educational board games created specifically for certain subjects. If you are on a tight budget, which most teachers are, just go to your closet and see what games you already have. Think of ways of adapting them to use in the classroom. With a little creativity, you can use board games to spice up your teaching, and the kids will think you are the most exciting teacher in the school!

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