My family and I recently visited my mom. It was my son’s first time visiting grammy’s house, and she was ready. One thing about my mom, she does not throw anything away. She’s not a hoarder, but if something is well-built and still functioning, she will keep it in storage. That is how I gotContinue reading “What a Piece of Kit! – Travel Sorry!”
Tag Archives: board games
Kingdomino in Space
I have decided to try a deep dive into Kingdomino because it is simple enough to easily analyze and (more importantly) my son enjoys playing it. As a skillbuilder, Kingdomino excels at spatial reasoning. The gameplay involves laying tiles to most efficiently build sections of land. The rules as written explain that players must build a 5×5Continue reading “Kingdomino in Space”
The Math of Kingdomino
Kingdomino is a light-weight and highly regarded tile-laying game. The simple rules and strategy make it perfect for families with young children. Kids quickly learn that there is a tradeoff between turn order and selecting the best tiles. If you choose a high-scoring tile this turn and you will almost certainly get the last to choose next turn. ScoringContinue reading “The Math of Kingdomino”
A Board Game Birthday
Over the weekend we had my son’s birthday party at a board game club/school owned by my friend. There were 8 kids, mostly preschoolers like my son but a pair of 10 or 11 year-olds were there, and about 12 parents. My son and I were the only ones who play games regularly. Even so,Continue reading “A Board Game Birthday”
Girls, STEM, and Board Games
The movement to get more girls into STEM is laudable and ongoing. Leaving aside any social and cultural barriers to girls in STEM fields, in Boys and Girls Learn Differently, Michael Gurian claims that male brains are gender-advantaged for spatial and abstract reasoning, and female brains are gender-advantaged for socialization and relationships. There are manyContinue reading “Girls, STEM, and Board Games”
The Hive Photo Safari
This is a great post by BGG user @dodger. They used their learners’ love of Hive as an excuse to lead a photo safari and find insects (and a spider) living in natural environments. Ideas like this are what make teaching fun. @dodger combined a game and field trip into a creative activity. There areContinue reading “The Hive Photo Safari”
There’s no More or Less, you need to cite sources
I recently came across a copy of the More or Less card game even though it’s a UK exclusive. In my continuing quest to jam games into my clases, I found a fun way to incorporate it into my AP Research course. First, More or Less is an extremely simple party game. One side ofContinue reading “There’s no More or Less, you need to cite sources”
War of the Numbers
In a recent BGG forum thread Defending BGG’s most hated games!, the thread creator called out the old card game War, the game we all played with our grandparents where two people draw from a 52-card deck and whoever has the highest value card wins them both. Like so many games that gamers (myself included)Continue reading “War of the Numbers”
Tic-Tac-Toe
I came across this wonderful post on BGG about tic-tac-toe’s true greatness. Posted by marc lecours (@rubberchicken), tic-tac-toe is one of the first games children can solve so they learn that games involve strategy, not luck. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3110151/article/42550066#42550066 I recommend reading the entire post. It really changed my view on how can tic-tac-toe can be usedContinue reading “Tic-Tac-Toe”
Board Games and Learning Standards
I am working on a personal project this summer to align my board games to educational standards. This interests me for two reasons. First, it forces me to think more deeply about the mechanics of the games. It also familiarizes me with educational standards outside what I teach, specifically math and early childhood education standards.Continue reading “Board Games and Learning Standards”
The Keasy Depot 