Learning Games for Elementary

Playing games can be a great way to make learning fun, and spend quality family time together.   Below are a list of learning games you can use to practice and learn about various topics (for middle and high school games go here).   While there are many great online games too, in this list I'm only listing games you play offline with others (siblings, parents).    

Some of of these games are meant to be played with other children the same age.  If a parent is playing, I suggest adding an element of chance  to the parent's turn to make it more fair (For example, the parent could have to guess what hand your child is holding something in to be able to play their turn, or if it is a quiz style game, or the children could answer all the answers and the parent only moves if they get the answer wrong).   If an older child is playing with a younger child in a game of skill, I suggest giving the younger child some sort of similar advantage (a head start in a race game, two turns for every one turn the other child plays, etc.).

Most of the items on this list are free, but there are a few board games (some of which may already be in your closet) or printable games you can purchase which I've include, which are marked with a $. 

KEY

$ = Not a free resource

$ + $ = Free and not free resources

PK = Preschool (May or may not include 2-3 year olds)

KG = Kindergarten

EE = Early Elementary (KG - 2nd)

E = All of Elementary

LE = Late Elementary (3rd - 6th)

MS = Middle School/Junior High (6th - 8th)*

HS = High School (9th - 12th)*

K-12 = All school age (not PK)

ALL = All Ages (May or may not include 2-3 year old)

*Why do I even bother including MS/HS on an elementary school list?   Because sometimes its nice to find a game you can play with the whole family that everyone can learn from.   If you're looking for more games for Middle and High School, check out Ellen McHenry's Basement.

Mixed Skills
Educational Bingo Games
Jump and Learn Game

5 Learning Games (these can be used for various skills, ALL) 

Early Learning Skills

Colors and Shapes

Jump and Learn Game (Requires chalk, PK/KG)

Dino Sort - Teaches Sorting/Classifying (Printable, PK/EE)

Soccer Spin - Probability, Predictions, Tally Marks (PK/K)

Math

Various/Mixed Math Skills

Angry Bird Math - Counting/Probability (Printable, EE)

Storm the Castle Game (EE)

Sheep Herding Math (ALL)

Math Card Games, Various (Requires Card Deck, PK/E)

Traditional Native American Games Organized by Math Skill (ALL)

6 Math Games (board and card games to use for learning math $)

Bluebird Math Circle (All) - Math activities for various ages, many of which are related to Native American history and culture.  

Number Recognition

Number Bingo (Printable, PK/KG)

Jump and Learn Game (Requires chalk, PK/KG)

Subsidizing (Ability to quickly tell how many of an object there is)  

Caterpillar Number Match (Printable, PK/KG)

Ten Frames War (Printable, PK/KG)

Skip Counting
Various skip counting Games (Printable, KG, EE)

Place Value
Place Value Game (Printable, EE)


Money

Coin Recognition Game (Printable, ALL)

Race to a Dollar (Printable, Requires Change, EE)

Coin Recognition Games, Various 

Monopoly (Board Game, LE/MS/HS $)


Addition
Five In a Hive - Mental Math/Adding to 5 (Printable, PK, K, EE)
Find 10 - Adding to 10 (Printable, K/EE)
Adding to 10 Game (Printable, K/EE)
Adding Up to 12 Game (Printable, E)
Adding Dice Game (Printable, Requires Dice)
Race to a Hundred  +10/Number Charts (Printable, EE)
15 Game (Printable)
Sea Slide Addition Game (Printable, EE)
Addition Facts that Stick - 5 Week Game Based Curriculum (Printable or Book, E, $)

Subtraction
Subtraction Facts that Stick - 5 Week Game Based Curriculum (Printable or Book, E $)
Dino Subtraction Game (Printable)
No Prep Subtraction Game (Printable)
Robot Subtraction Game (Printable)
 

Number Lines
Frog Jump Number Line Game (Printable, E)


Multiplication

Loot the Pirate Ship (Printable, LE)

Multiplication Games by Games 4 Learning (Printable)

Multiplication Facts that Stick - 5 Week Game Based Curriculum (Printable or Book, E $)

Kingdominoes (Board Game, LE/MS/HS $)

Multiplication Facts Games by Cooties and Cuties (Printable Games, LE)

Division
Loot the Pirate Ship (Printable, LE)
Division Facts that Stick - 5 Week Game Based Curriculum (Printable or Book, E $)  

Fractions
Monster Math: Factions vs Decimals (Printable, LE)

Decimals
Monster Math: Factions vs Decimals (Printable, LE)

Prime Numbers
Loot the Pirate Ship (Printable, LE)


Area 

Area/Array Game (Printable)

Area of a Triangle Card Game (MS/HS)


Language Arts

Various/Mixed
Language Arts Adventure (EE)


Alphabet - Letter Identification
Jump and Learn Game (Needs chalk, PK/KG)
Alphabet Bingo (Printable) 
Bunny Hop Alphabet Game (PK, EE)

Reading - Phonics
Uno Style Phonogram Game (Printable, E $)
Hard and Soft G Go Fish (Printable, E)
Homophones Game (Printable, E)


Reading - Sight Words
Rotten Bananas (Needs Colored Paper, K, EE)
Sight Word Go Fish (K, EE)

Spelling
Spelling Balloon Game (Need Balloons, Sharpie, E)
Boggle Word Game (E/MS)

Grammar
Silly Sentences (Puzzle Game or Board Game, E, $)

Vocabulary
Various Vocabulary Games

Prefixes/Suffixes and Greek/Latin Roots

Affixes and Roots Games (LE/MS/HS)

Greek Roots Tarsia Puzzle (LE/MS/HS)

Roots and Affixes Go Fish (LE/MS/HS)

Writing/Composing

Campfire Storytelling Game (All Ages)

Computer Coding

Computer Coding Game  (Requires Cards)
Computer Coding game
 

Geography

World
Various Geography Games by Ellen McHenry (Various Ages)
Coleoptera (Beetles/Weevils) Around the World (printable, LE/MS/HS)


South America
Birds of Brazil Bingo (K-12)

Antarctica
Scientists of Antarctica (LE/MS/HS $) 

US States - Multiple States

13 Colonies Game (K-12)


US States - Specific States

Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Geogrphy/Geology - Bottom of Page (K-12)

Texas
Ride 'em Cowboy Texas Game (E)

Foreign Language

French
On Vacation Around the World (in French) (Printable, E 7+/MS)



Health/Nutrition
Fruits and Vegetable Nutrition Game (ALL)



History 
The first section are game from historical time periods, and others are games that teach about these time periods.

Historical Games
These game are actual games played in ancient cultures and other times in the past.   They are useful for living history style exploration.  

Senet - Ancient Egyptian Game (LE/MS/HS)

Ancient Egyptian Snake Game (ALL)  

Ancient Rome - Tabula, an Ancient Roman Game (LE/MS/HS)  

Rota - Roman Tic-Tac-Toe (ALL)

Native Americans - Games from the Aboriginal People of North America (ALL)

World History

History Buffer Games (Various Eras - Printable, LE/MS/HS $ + $)

Egyptian Trivia Game (Printable, LE/MS/HS)

Digging Up Greece (LE/MS/HS)

Zeus on the Loose (Card Game, E/MS $) 

Age of Exploration Dice Game (E/MS $)

Viking Voyages (LE/MS)
    + My Viking Voyages Expansion Pack (LE/MS/HS)

Age of Exploration Dice Game (LE)

Sail the Seas - Explorers/Bodies of Water (LE/MS/HS)

Storming the Bastille French Revolution  (LE/MS/HS)

US History

History Buffer Games - US History (Printable, LE/MS/HS $ + $)

Great Depression Simulation Dice Game (LE/MS)

Bluebird Math Circle (All)
Math activities for various ages, many of which are related to Native American history and culture.

Religion (Christian)

Journeys of the Apostle Paul Game (LE/MS $)

St. Patrick of Ireland (LE/MS $) 

Science

General/MISC
Scientists of Antarctica (LE/MS/HS $) 


Animals and Habitats
Various Animal Games by Ellen McHenry (All)
Safari Animals Seek and Find (PK - K)
Phyla Ecology Game (LE/MS/MS)
Birds of Brazil Bingo ( K-12)
Birds of Prey (LE/MS/HS $)
Gastropods (Mollusks) Bingo (EE, MS, HS)
Poison Dart Frog (Requires cardboard, Lots of Set Up, E/MS)
Various Frog Games See links in post...it's more than just the pictured game  (Elementary)
Pond Scum - A Protozoa Game (LE/MS/HS)


Cells
Pond Scum - A Protozoa Game (LE/MS/HS)


Chemistry
Make 5 - A Game About Mineral Chemical Formulas ( LE, MS, HS)
Various Free Games by Ellen McHenry  (K-12)


Earth Science
Various Games by Ellen McHenry (K-12)


Nature Study
Nature Scavenger Hunt (K-12)



MISC

Family Friendly Version of Cards Against Humanity (LE/MS/HS)
Lego Building Game (Requires Legos, ALL 4+)
Various Lego Building Games  (Requires Legos, ALL 4+)
Bible Games, Various (ALL)
Concentration, Memorization, and Observation Games (LE/MS)  




Shared on Little's Learning Link-up

A Kiddo Directed School Day

As I've mentioned before, much of our learning takes place in "play school,"  which is pretty much like regular school, only when I explain things I'm holding a dinosaur or shark or whoever my son chooses to "be the teacher" for the day.  My son moves around  a number of smaller toy students, and we both speak in silly voices (which usually get lost half way through the lesson).  But it's real lessons and real learning.

The other day, after literally years of letting me teach all the lesson in play school, my son asked if he could be the teacher again.  I had a full day planned, so initially my heart sunk...but then I decided to embrace it (at least a little bit).  I asked if I could teach some of the lessons, and asked what he wanted to teach.  "Math and spelling" he said. 

And I'm so glad he did this.  He was doing just as much review teaching ME (or, um...the students) as we would have done if I was teaching.  And as I had the "students" ask him questions it caused him to think about things in different ways.   It was really a great way to do math narration without having to MAKE him explain things, which he usually resists.   It also gave me a good idea of what concepts he was really strong on and which he was still struggling with.

Just another reminder of why I love the flexibility of homeschool.




 

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Shared on Littles Learning Link Up

Kindergarten Curriculum Review

This post contains affiliate links through which I can earn commission.

Below are the curriculum and materials we used for our first year of homeschooling, both ones we purchased and free resources we found.  I didn't get all my curriculum at once...I gradually added curriculum as the year progressed and I got a feeling for how my child learned.

We are still using all of these this year, though some of course at different levels.

READING AND LANGUAGE ARTS

I looked at a lot of reading programs...and I finally decided on none.  My son had already started blending simple words, and before we had even decided for sure we were homeschooling, we had started working through some simple readers, and that was working well so we stuck with it.  So, while we didn't use an "all in one" reading program, here's what we did use for reading, writing, and spelling....

Bob Books

I like the Bob Books Beginning Readers because, while simple,  the stories incorporate humor (my son laughs at a lot of the pictures, and laughter is great homeschooling medicine).  Compared to "real books" of course the stories are pared down, but that's the nature of readers.  They are meant to give a child an easy way to practice reading that gradually ads new reading concepts, and doesn't include "tricky words" (unless that's what they are introducting).    I also like the "Hooked On Phonics" readers, which we supplemented with as we had an incomplete set of those as well.  (NOTE that Bob Books do not explicitly teach the phonics, so you will need something else, like Progressive Phonics Below or another phonics program, to cover phonics more specifically.   In retrospect, I wish I had started with that earlier in stead of relying too heavily on Bob Books at first).



Progressive Phonics

Progressive Phonics is a site with free printable phonics readers and other tools.  I discovered this mid-year when we were struggling with our ch,sh and, th sounds...and someone on a forum suggested this.  It's a great program. Each section starts with an explanation of the new sound you will be learning.   The printable books are full of rhyming poems you read WITH your child.  The words your child should read are in one color, and you read the rest.  This is easier for kids who struggle with reading longer sentences.  I started switching back and forth with this and the Bob Books once I discovered this program.

They also have a free handwriting program which I might have used if I had learned about it earlier.    I did use parts of it to help with b/d reversals.


All About Spelling


 
All About Spelling is SO EASY TO USE.  It's one of those programs that you can open up, skim, take out the materials and start...with no prep.  It's been wonderful for helping my child to learn the rules of spelling.  They also have a reading program too, called All About Reading, which sounds wonderful, but was a little outside our price range.  Their spelling program costs a little less, and much of that is one time cost for materials that are used at every level, like the letter tiles.  It's also easy to find used materials online as most of the materials are non-consumable (not used up--reusable).


Print Path:  Lowercase at Last

 Lowercase at Last Set by Print Path

(Free Sampler Here)

Before I was teaching my own child, I had no idea what the big deal was about different letter styles.  I saw no issue with ball and stick letters (or others).  Once I started teaching my son at home immediately I saw how the "ball and stick" style was causing problems with how he formed his a, g, d and several other letters.    I realized I wanted to teach him another way.

At a local Mardel's bookstore I found a copy of Handwriting Without Tears and loved how the letters were formed and the instructions on how to form them.  But since my son only needed help with a few letters, I thought I might be able to find something cheaper on Teachers Pay Teachers to practice with (and of course started by looking for something free).  I found the A Free Sampler from Lowercase at Last by Print Path that had all the letters I was most concerned about.  But as I worked with him I learned he was iffy on some other lowercase letters too so I bought the whole Lowercase at Last Set for less than $5 and it was worth every penny.  I really wish that he was taught with this style from the beginning because it's so much harder to re-teach something a new way, but I feel like this is helping him in the long run.

MATH

Math U See

Math U See helped my son understand place value, which he really struggled with.  The way they teach it is very visual and hands on, and even incorporates a story (a bonus for an imaginative learner like my son).  And once he learned place value it helped him with counting larger numbers too.

We got the program later in the year after winging math for a while, so we are still working through this book.  Actually, when we got to addition, we took another direction because my son, who had struggles with memorization, had a "learning burst" where we were able to memorize addition facts by jumping them out, so I dropped this for a while to focus on that. 

I did find that the lessons, while excellent, did take a lot of prep.  Not "gather things up" prep, but watching and reading prep.  Math U See is designed to help teach you how to teach your children, which is what I wanted, but sometimes I had trouble taking the time to do the learning I needed to teach him this way.  Some people just show the videos directly to their children (which are designed to show how to teach the lessons).  While I see where that might make things easier, it didn't work for us.

So, I'm not sure whether I'm going to keep using this or try something else.  

UPDATE:   I did later decide to use something else, something more scripted (Addition Facts that Stick/Subtraction Facts that Stick, and Right Start Math), though I still continued to use their manipulatives even with the new program).

SCIENCE 

This year we focused on three main science topics:  Dinosaurs, Weather, and Caves (which touched on a lot of other subjects...food chains, geology, life cycles, etc.).  We didn't use a curriculum for these, just made our own with a combination of activities we found on the internet, library books, cheep dollar store workbooks, museum trips, etc.   I'll be sharing the Unit Study we did on caves here on the blog some time in the future (still writing everything down).

SPANISH

Foreign Languages For Kids By Kids

I picked up a Spanish membership to Foreign Language For Kids through Educents, and their videos are the BEST THING I've ever gotten for teaching Spanish!  They are full immersion (completely in Spanish...save for the intro), but presented in a way that makes it easy for the kids to figure out whats going on and what the words mean.  My son was picking up phrases from the first video on.

When I got my membership, it included online access to the videos,  workbooks, and a few online games.   We only really used the videos.  The workbooks and games all required reading, and my child wasn't reading yet. I got a really good deal on a year's membership, but if you buy it at regular price I think just buying the videos are a better deal.

Though the deal I got them with is gone, these products are still less on Educents right now than on their main site. 

This post contains affiliate links (links though which, if people purchased products, I receive commission) to Amazon.com, All About Learning Press, and Educents.  All oppinions are my own.



This post has been shared on Throwback Thursday.

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This post contains affiliate links. 

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