Translating Board Games into Educationese

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Board games are a fun way to build upon skills your children are learning while providing a great opportunity to spend valuable time together as a family. For those of us who are required to keep logs of our children’s “school days,” it’s helpful to know how to translate these games into a language school officials will recognize, or as I first heard from Kathy Ceceri on About Homeschooling, “educationese.” Below I’ve compiled a list of the 10 most popular board games in our house and the skills they impart.

1.
Monopoly Board Game– This game is a classic, and while some things have changed since when I was younger, such as how to disperse the money, it remains to this day a fabulous way to develop a variety of skills, such as:
-counting money
-making change
-property management
-real estate
-reading
-multiplication (adding houses)
-logic
-strategy
-addition
-counting

2.
Brain Quest States Game– To be quite honest, my kids sighed the first time I pulled it out, but since the first time we played it, my kids absolutely love this game and ask to play it all the time. What I love the most about it is that it is designed so that your children can look right on the game board, which is a map of the United States, to answer most of the questions. This is a great way to teach geography while your children remain oblivious to that fact. Some skills learned in this game are:
-US geography
-US history
-counting
-strategy
-logic
-cardinal directions
-oceans surrounding the US
-reading
-map skills

3.
Yahtzee Jr. Disney Princess Edition– Ireland and Summer love this game. It’s a great choice for preschoolers and younger children who may not quite understand the standard version just yet. Some skills include:
-counting
-matching
-logic
-strategy

4.
Hasbro Yahtzee– This is another example that has withstood the test of time and has continued to be a favorite in many families. Skills involved include:
-adding
-logic
-strategy
-reading
-probability

5.

Scattergories Game– This one has got to be my personal favorite. I played it for the first time on a camping trip after the prom with some friends, and I’ve been playing it ever since. This is an awesome vocabulary builder and just a great game for people who, like I, love language. Some skills built upon include:
-vocabulary
-spelling
-reading
-critical thinking

6.
Apples to Apples Party Box – The Game of Crazy Combinations (Family Edition)– This one happens to be another of my personal favorites. It’s possibly because this game also involves language skills. When my son came home from boot camp for a Christmas visit, we stayed up into the wee hours many nights laughing and having a great time with this game. Skills included are:
-vocabulary
-reading
-comprehension
-synonyms
-antonyms
-critical thinking

7.
Clue The Classic Edition– Another tried and true classic, Clue is a fantastic “murder mystery” game that has entertained generations of children and adults, alike. Skills built upon include:
-logic
-strategy
-critical thinking
-process of elimination
-vocabulary

8.
Twister– Okay, this isn’t technically a board game, but it definitely falls into the category of games, so I’m including it. My kids love this game so much that when we couldn’t find it for a while, they actually used our living room rug, which has multi-colored circles all over it, as a Twister board. Some skills involved include:
-knowing left from right
-colors
-flexibility
-coordination

9.
Scrabble Deluxe Edition– Scrabble is a language game, hence it’s another favored by yours truly. This game can be approached from many different angles. You can play it from a very technical standpoint, even challenging opponents to the validity of words by looking them up in the dictionary, or you can be more silly and use made-up words with imaginative and goofy definitions. Variety is the spice of life, right? Skills engaged include:
-spelling
-vocabulary
-dictionary usage
-strategy
-reading
-logic
-addition
-multiplication (for those double and triple-word scores)

10.
UNO Attack!– This version adds a little twist to another classic game. Instead of a person dealing the cards, a battery-operated contraption holds them, but watch out! It will occasionally start spitting out a load of cards when you draw from the deck, and you have to keep all of them! Various skills involved include:
-strategy
-logic
-matching
-addition
-counting

These are but 10 of the hundreds and hundreds of games available today. The next time you plan a family game night, remember, as always, your children are learning all the time, so pull out that log and practice your educationese.

What are some of your favorite games, and how do you include them in your records?

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