Games!

We have just started incorporating more games into our daily lessons. I was just going to share a few of them.

Shopping Game: I cut out pictures of food from the Sunday coupon ads in the newspaper, glued them on index cards, and wrote a simple price beside them. ($1, $2, and so forth) I give the kids random instructions such as "You have to spend exactly $15" or "Buy breakfast and lunch for under $10" or "Buy 4 items for $20". They think it's a blast! So they are getting math, reasoning and strategy skills, and they don't even know it!!

File Folder Games: I actually bought some of these from our local teacher supply store, and then I realized that I could print out free templates from the internet and make my own. Go to Filefolderfun.com and they have tons of them for many different grade levels, plus they have blank templates so you can design your own game with whatever you are learning at the time. I'm still in the process of making mine but when I get through later today I will post some pictures of them.

Mother May I? Math Drill: Like Mother May I? but they have to answer a math problem first. My kids are young so it's simple. "You can take a step forward if you can tell me what 4 + 7 is."

I am discovering that my kids love to learn...especially when they aren't sitting at the table working a math sheet. I think for a while, we aren't going to do anything at the table except eat. Who says you can't complete a math sheet on the living room rug? Or write a poem lounging on the couch? Or learn phonics while working a puzzle? School in disguise = Playing more games! Plus, it's alot more fun for Mommy, too.