Weekly Photo Challenge: Board Games

This week's photo challenge is all about board games and how we use them in our homeschool. We actually don't use them that often any more. Which isn't to say "never" but not on a regular basis. We have found some great uses for board games in the past though.

In the fall we had the opportunity to review The Presidential Game, and it is actually a great learning tool. It's a surprisingly fun way to get familiar with how the electoral college works.  (You can read our review here: The Presidential Game {Schoolhouse Crew Review})

We sometimes find ways to incorporate games educationally, without using purely educational games. Last year, in studying American history, we learned about the introduction of several popular board games during the 1930s, when the Parker Brothers went into business. We followed up that history lesson by having a 1930s Family Game Night, where our game of choice was "Sorry!", although we also own some of the other games that came out during that time - Rook, Scrabble, and Monopoly. (See more about what we learned and did for the Family Night here: History Lesson: 1930s Family Game Night)











I found that using board games a few times in a Personal Finance/Economics class I helped teach at co-op last year was a simple way to let kids learn about money-related topics. They played some Monopoly and The Game of Life.

Once while studying China a few years ago, I pulled out my old Chinese Checkers board, which is not actually a Chinese game, but anywho... It led to a discussion of how Chinese art styles became very popular in Europe and America, and because this particular board once belonged to my grandparents, we talked about how families entertained themselves before there was TV or even readily available electricity!

And on their own time, my kids have done things like this - cobbled together three versions of Monopoly into what they called "Meganopoly" and they had to do some very creative thinking to adjust the rules to make it work.

Related post from my archives: Games in History Class {5 Days of Teaching Creatively}

How do you use games in your homeschool? Leave a comment and let me know!

You can see other weekly photos shared at The Canadian Homeschooler Weekly Photo Challenge - Board Games and share your own pictures.

Updated on February 28, 2014 - this post has been linked at the Toys and Games for Homeschool Round-up at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

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