Take the simple Simon Says game for example. We often play it to get a bit of rainy day exercise in. It's a fantastic way to channel pent up energy in 3 boisterous boys! Whilst playing I'll drop in maths equations, science questions, compass directions, spellings, anything I can think of. The children love it and will answer questions that they would otherwise think of as a test and refuse to engage with.
Yesterday we went on a car journey for an hour. In the car we played a game (it must have a name but I don't know what it is) where I would say something like, "I am huge, I'm made of gas, I emit heat, you can't survive on earth without me, the earth spins around me....." and they had to guess what I was. It was fantastic. We described buildings, cities, plants, animals, people, the list was endless and so much fun.
Another game we've played is story telling. I'll start a story then the next person makes up the next section etc. It's a fantastic way to build story telling skills, use imagination and pass the time on a long car journey. Along with the number plate sentence builder game of course!
We play board games a lot too. They love the '80s Game of Knowledge. One of the questions is 'how many tv channels are there in the UK?' The answer is 4!! It's a very old game but they love it and we can incorporate a bit of history too. They're always amazed by the fact that we only had 4 channels!
I don't play games with them enough and I need to work on that. I know the value to their education is immense and it takes virtually no time or effort - especially in the car.
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