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Best Games to Teach Elementary Students Geography

June 18, 2020 | Leave a Comment

For many of us, we learned geography in school through memorization. We memorized capitals, populations, physical geography. Oh, the tedium. While I liked geography, learning it in school took all of the joy out of it. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can bring geography to life for your student by cooking food eaten in that country and playing games.

Best Games to Teach Elementary Students Geography

There are so many fun games to teach kids about geography!

The Professor Noggins Series

If you’re looking for a quick and educational game, try the various Professor Noggins games. Popular geography titles include Wonders of the World, Countries of the World, Countries of the World II, and Geography of the United States.

These games are good for ages 7+. To play the game, roll the dice. Then, the next player will read you the question. You can choose between student or scholar. A student question might read, “The peninsula of Cape Cod juts into which ocean?”, while a scholar question will ask a more difficult question like, “Guadalupe Mountains National Park is located in which state?” When you’ve gone through the entire deck, whoever has the most cards (correct answers) wins. Because of the two different levels, this game is great for multiple ages. I enjoy playing these games with my kids, especially because I usually learn something, too!

The Scrambled States of America

In this fun game, each player is given a U.S. map and five state cards. Then, you read a playing card such as, “Capital starts with A or B.” The player then looks at their five-state cards to see if they have a card that fits the criteria. If they have one, they put that card aside and pick a new one. The winner is the person who has the most state cards when the pile runs out.

I enjoy The Scrambled States of America because there are two options to play. You can either race (the first person to answer correctly wins the round), or each player can answer and all the players that have it right win that round. The latter version is perfect for younger kids or kids who have dyslexia and take more time to read. The former is perfect for competitive older kids.

Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is often a long game. Plan on playing for an hour or so, but it also makes a fun family game. Players choose three cards that represent trips across America. They can choose to keep all of the cards, only two, or only one. If they complete the trip, they get the number of points on the card. If they don’t complete the trip, the points on the card are deducted from their score. The winner is the person who has the most points at the end.

Players learn where the states are as well as what the major cities are through regular play. Our family really enjoys this game.

Final Thoughts

These are just three of the best games to teach elementary students geography. There are many others available. With so many fun resources, why settle for boring lessons? Make learning geography fun instead!

Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Games that Teach Kids About Money

June 11, 2020 | Leave a Comment

Let’s be honest. Hoping children learn via parent lecture is unlikely and boring. Kids don’t listen, and parents get frustrated. But there is a fun way to teach kids about things that doesn’t feel like learning—playing games. If you want to teach your kids how to behave responsibly financially, don’t lecture. Instead, play games that teach kids about money.

Classic Board Games That Teach Kids About Money

My favorite place to start when using games to teach about money are the classic games. You know, the ones we grew up playing.

Monopoly

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

This classic game teaches your kid the value of location, location, location when buying land. It also teaches kids about the importance of having rental income. And of course, your kids learn about property taxes, stocks, and income.

The only drawback to this game (and some don’t see it as a drawback) is that it can take a long time to play, upwards of an hour or longer.

Life

In The Game of Life, kids choose whether to go to college or go right to work. They also learn about the importance of insurance and avoiding loans. The stock market also plays a role in the game.

One thing I find confusing is that the more kids you have, the more money you seem to make. I haven’t found that to be true in real life!

Pay Day

In Pay Day, the board is set up like a calendar month. Players can choose to buy deals such as a pizza joint for $800. Then, later in the game, they can choose to sell it and make $12,000. Players also get bills in the mail and have to pay them. Throughout the game, players can borrow money from the bank or other players, but they need to agree on the terms.

This is a great game for teaching kids about investing and borrowing. Parents may like it because you can choose how many months to play. The more months you play, the longer the game goes.

Newer Board Games That Teach Kids about Money

Beyond the classic games mentioned above, there are several new board games that teach kids about money.

Cashflow for Kids

This game was created by Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The game is suitable for kids ages 6 and older. The board is fairly simple. Kids land on a green or red space or a dollar sign. When they land on a green space, something positive happens to their financial situation. For instance, they can choose to buy a stock and get passive income. If they land on a red, they have to pay an expense. The dollar sign gives them a payday, and this is also when they can get their passive income.

While the board is simple, this game is great for teaching kids about positive, long-term uses of your money and negatives uses of it.

The Allowance Game

Designed for ages 5 to 10, The Allowance Game teaches kids about earning and spending money as they travel around a board. They might spend money for movie tickets and earn money for losing a tooth. They can also put their money in the bank and earn interest.

The money that is used resembles real United States money, so it’s easy for young kids to learn how to differentiate the different bills and coins, too.

Act Your Wage Game

Followers of Dave Ramsey will love the Act Your Wage Game, especially if you’d like to easily teach your children Ramsey’s Baby Steps. When you play the game, you’re given a life situation—how much you make per year and if you’re married or not as well as basic bills such as food and utilities. You also draw debt cards.

You follow Ramsey’s Baby Steps to get yourself out of debt and in a financially secure position. Along the way, you’ll fill envelopes so you can spend cash rather than using credit.

Online Games

You can also find games that teach kids about money by going online.

Rich Kid Smart Kid

The Rich Kid Smart Kid site (from the makers of the board game Cashflow for Kids) has several mini-games including:

Jesse’s Ice Cream Stand
Reno’s Debt Dilemma
Ima’s Pay Yourself 1^st
Jesse’s Big Change

These microgames teach kids entrepreneurship, debt management, and how to start an emergency fund.

Peter Pig’s Money Counter

Peter Pig’s Money Counter is ideal for 5 to 8-year olds who are learning to add and subtract money. Kids need to put the money in different jars, and then they can buy things such as clothes for the pig. By doing the various activities, kids learn how to add and subtract money.

Financial Football

Financial Football taps into some kids’ love of the NFL to help teach them about finances. The game has three different levels:

Rookie (ages 11-14)
Pro (ages 14-18)
Hall of Fame (ages 18+)

To go down the football field, players must answer financial questions. This game was created by VISA in conjunction with Drew Brees, who created several of the questions in the game.

If you homeschool, you can dig even deeper with this game, as there are also lesson plans and pre and post-tests available.

The Playoff

The Playoff is designed for kids ages 14+. In this immersive game, you choose between two vloggers, Alex and Jess. You manage their finances and deal with unexpected events like getting robbed all while trying to develop a video in just three days. Whoever ends the game with the most money wins.

Just like Financial Football, this game has lesson plans, so it could be used in schools or if you homeschool.

Final Thoughts

Teaching your kids about money is challenging. Sure, they’ll watch how you handle your money, but they may need more instruction for how to handle their money wisely. Luckily, there are many games that teach kids about money. Your kids can learn and face natural consequences through the game before they do so in real life. Then, when they’re teens and young adults, they hopefully will know how to manage money responsibly.

Melissa Batai

Free Online Games to Teach Kids about the Environment

May 14, 2020 | Leave a Comment

If you’re a mom of kids under 12, you know that one of the best ways to teach kids so that they actually remember information is to play games. Games are fun, so kids are eager to play, not knowing (or caring) that they’re actually learning something. If you have science minded kids, there are many free online games to teach kids about the environment.

Free Online Games to Teach Kids about the Environment

There are so many games and so many ways you can teach kids about the environment!

Games for Ages 4 to 7

Even your little children can learn about the environment with these fun games.

Environmental Protection Agency

Choose one of three games for ages 4 to 7 to teach them about air pollution and what the various colors mean—green day, red day, etc.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

There are many, many games on the Kids Environment Kids Health page from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. These games are for kids in 1^st to 4^th grade. The free online games to teach kids about the environment include:

Climates of the World

Kids match children in a variety of clothes with the climate and country that they live in.

Matching Game

In one of the matching games, kids can match bird songs with the birds that make them.

Do check this site out as there is so much here young kids would like include many different games, jokes, riddles, and songs.

Energy Star

Calling all Dr. Seuss fans! The Energy Star website has a fun game called Join the Lorax. Games include coloring the Lorax characters, completing a word search, and a picture search for energy efficient items.

Games for Ages 8 to 12

SciJinks

The SciJinks site has many different games for kids from grades 3 to 7. This site has 23 games including a hurricane simulator and a tornado simulator (kids will probably enjoy seeing the flying cow spinning around when the tornado hits). Game topics include:

Weather,
Hurricanes and Storms,
Clouds, Water, and Ice,
Tides and Oceans,
Atmosphere,
Seasons,
Satellites and Technology,
Space Weather

EPA

For those who prefer more scholarly free games to teach kids about the environment, the EPA has an ozone science crossword puzzle. This puzzle would be perfect for 5^th to 7^th graders. There are 17 clues and 17 answers to choose from.

Energy Kids

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has all sorts of activities for kids on the part of their website called Energy Kids.

They have fun energy-related riddles such as, “How do energy-conscious people feel about wind power? Answer—they’re blown away.” When my son was in 3^rd grade, he would have loved riddles like this.

They also have energy slang terms as well as puzzles (Sudoko, slider puzzles, crosswords and word searches).

For students who love participating in science fairs, the site has science fair experiment ideas for all ages, K-12.

Lastly, the site has suggestions for energy-based field trips as well as a brief description of each site.

NASA Science

For your kids in grades 6-9, Nasa Science has a game to teach your kids about energy flow called Go with the Flow. Kids get to experiment with how salt and heat affect the weather and the water currents.

If your child is interested in learning about space weather, there is also a game for that on the site called Shields Up!

Smithsonian Science Education Center

If you want to teach your kids about the environment, the Smithsonian Science Education Center site has games for kids in grades 3 to 6.

In the game Habitats, children are given a picture of a habitat (habitats range from desert, coral reef, jungle and marsh.) They then can choose from images of three animals to decide what animal belongs in that particular habitat.

Similarly, they also have a game, Home on the Range, that corresponds with 2^nd grade learning standards. Kids try to find animals and plants that exist in certain habitats around the United States. If they don’t know the answer, they can click on each animal or plant that is a possible answer and read more about that particular one.

Smokey for Kids

Teach your kids about the dangers of wild fires with the Smokey for Kids site. Not only do kids learn how to prevent wildfires, but they also can play games to reinforce what they learn. Kids might find it especially fun to play the Storymaker Game. They first fill out quite a bit of information personalized to them, and then a story is created using that information.

Water Sense

In the Water Sense game, created by the EPA, lead the water drop through a maze, being careful to avoid water wasters. This game is great for late elementary and early middle school students.

Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute

In the Migration Game, students answer questions about migration. Each question that they answer correctly gets Wanda the Wood Thrush closer to her summer home in Maryland from her winter home in Costa Rica.

Sample multiple choice questions include, “When do Wood Thrushes fly when they are migrating?” and “How long does it take a Wood Thrush to migrate from Costa Rica to Maryland?”

Recycle City

Another site created by the EPA, Recycle City offers two activities for kids. First, there is the Recycle City Challenge, where kids can answer questions about actions people can take to reduce waste and energy use. They can earn points and jump on the leader board.

They can also play the Dumptown Game. The player is in charge of Dumptown and must start programs to reduce waste and encourage recycling. Players will be able to see the financial differences based on the programs they implement.

Final Thoughts

Most kids love playing games, all the better if they’re electronic games. Why not use these free online games to teach kids about the environment to both entertain and educate your children? I’m guessing your kids, if they’re like mine, would be happy to try out these games and learn new jokes and riddles to add to their repertoire.

Melissa Batai