Are you pulling your hair out, trying to homeschool your kids? Or maybe it’s been a real struggle to keep your kids interested in their school curriculum? I believe that there are many ways that you can combine learning with fun. One way is to use board games.
How to Use Board Games for Fun & Learning
Board games appeal to a wide variety of ages; from preschoolers to adults.
Unlike textbooks, workbooks or homework, board games are fun. They normally involve 2 to 4 players and can bring out the natural competitiveness in us. There is an inherent element of chance in it (from the dice throw) but can also involve the smart use of strategies.
Our First Try With Board Games for Learning
Recently, I discovered the idea of using board games to make learning fun. Board games are versatile enough that you can use it to teach many different things.
My 3 year old loves telling stories and listening to stories but has shown very little interest in learning to read herself.
In order to get her to maintain some interest in learning sight words, I drew my own board game and added sight words to them. Because my 3 year old loves princesses, I made the goal of the board game was to get the LEGO princesses to their castle.
For Older Kids at School
If you have older kids at school, you could change the board game squares to contain information that you want your kids to learn. For example, if you want them to learn Math equations, you could put in Math equations into the squares and your kid would have to work out the answers if they fall into that square. If they fail to answer it correctly, they would lose that turn.
Free Blank Board Game Templates
If you don’t fancy drawing out the board game template yourself, you can Google online for blank board game templates and print them out. Then you can just add the information that you want your kid to learn into the template.
The great thing about blank board game templates is that you can use them for anything. For example, you can put in Chemistry periodic table symbols and get your kids to guess what the names of the symbols are.
Other Free Board Game Templates
If you prefer not to create your own board game templates, there are free board game templates that you can download online.
Here are two websites that I personally checked out.
     
Tools for Educators– The board game templates here are mainly for elementary and middle school level. It states that the board game templates are for teaching English but with creativity, I can use them to teach important STEM concepts too. What I like about these templates is that pictures have already been created for you and you can choose which ones you want to use and how you want them arranged.
Games4esl– If you want to make your life even simpler, this website is for you. Just pick the board game template you want and print it out; it’s all completely ready-made for you.
I personally prefer to have some choice in choosing what I want on my board game template.
There are also a ton of free board game templates on Pinterest that you could use for a range of ages, including high school.
Use them to engage your kids! For more idea on kid activities to do with younger kids, see our kid STEM activities.
