Game On! Fun Board Games to Boost Learning at Every Age
Looking for fun ways to bring the family together while fostering learning? Board games are the perfect blend of entertainment and education, offering endless opportunities for kids (and adults!) to develop skills while having a blast. In this post, we’ll break down age-appropriate games for littles, elementary students, middle schoolers, and teens, along with some fantastic family-wide options. From critical thinking to collaboration, we’ll highlight how each game can encourage learning, plus tips on how to apply the skills at home.
For Littles
Snug as a Bug in a Rug: A cooperative game where players work together to match bugs under a rug before the stink bugs invade.
Learning Focus: Color and shape recognition, cooperation, and counting.
Practical Application: Get those early academic skills up to speed with this one. Focusing on early educational standards, this game helps students with the all important skills of counting, colors, and shapes.
For Elementary
Ticket to Ride: First Journey: A simplified version of the popular train adventure game, where players collect cards to build train routes across North America.
Learning Focus: Geography, strategy, and planning.
Practical Application: As players navigate the board, they familiarize themselves with the geography of North America or Europe. They learn the locations of major cities and how they are connected by railroads, enhancing their understanding of maps and spatial relationships. This knowledge can be beneficial in school geography lessons and helps build a general awareness of the world.
For Middle Schoolers
7 Wonders: A card-drafting game where players build ancient civilizations, focusing on science, culture, and military.
Learning Focus: History, strategic thinking, and resource management.
Practical Application: 7 Wonders involves managing resources and making strategic decisions about how to use them, which can be applied to teaching concepts of economics, business, and resource allocation. Players also learn more about historical places, thus expanding on their geography knowledge.
For Teens:
The Resistance: A social deduction game where players must figure out who the spies are within the group.
Learning Focus: Critical thinking, deductive reasoning, and social interaction.
Practical Application: The game requires players to analyze behavior, interpret subtle cues, and make decisions based on incomplete information. Players must effectively communicate their intentions and persuade others. This can help improve negotiation skills, conflict resolution, and the ability to convey complex ideas clearly.
Bonus Family Fun
Some games may be a little too tricky for young ones, but working together with other family members can increase accessibility for our littlest learners. Sushi Go! is a card-drafting game of strategy and chance with bright illustrations and fun for everyone. Because the difficulty level is customizable, children can work with parents and caregivers to play a version suitable for their developmental age and stage. As an added bonus, this game is great for large groups!
One of our favorite family games is Azul. A beautiful strategy creating tile mosaics and earning points, while also keeping your opponents’ scores down. Azul takes around 30 minutes, so it’s perfect for sustaining attention at an appropriate level for elementary aged kiddos. Perfect for families, and no artistic experience needed!
Board games offer endless opportunities for family fun and learning across all age groups. Whether you're building problem-solving skills with your littles or challenging your teens' strategic thinking, these games make education an enjoyable part of everyday life.
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