Let’s Play A Game

       If you lived life long enough to be a grown-up you’ve probably heard the phrase “You shouldn’t mix work and pleasure.” I understand the sentiment behind the statement but I can’t say I agree with it… especially when it comes to education. Children (and adults too for that matter) are most productive when they are enjoying what they are doing. I could get scientific and talk about the effectiveness of Dopamine and Serotonin in triggering positive responses and increasing rewarding activity, but I’d rather just show you.

So let’s play a game! 

This Game is called Animal Train. Here is how the game will go; I will name an animal and you tell me three things you know about that animal. Then you will name an animal that has one trait in common with my animal. It will then be my turn to come up with two more traits and a new animal that shares one trait with your animal. We will keep connecting animals until we have a train of five animals. We will win the game if we can find a connection between the last animal and the first!  Are you ready?

• Giraffe
• Eats plants
• Tall
• Yellow
• Canary
• Bird
• Sings
• Whale
• Is really big
• Swims
• Beaver
• Builds his house
• Has big front teeth
• Squirrel
• Can jump really far
• Eats plants just like a Giraffe!

Great Job!! We won the game!!

You see, by playing this simple game, we won in multiple ways. We learned to classify animals, sort things by what they had in common, learn about animal traits, (maybe even learn what the word “trait” means!) make connections and differentiations, work together to solve a problem, use our memory recall, ect. And we did all of that while having fun. I’d be willing to bet my bottom dollar that while I was listing the animals you had others in mind that also connected!

For children, particularly younger children, the best way to learn is through play. Try this game with your own child and see how engaged they are! See if you can connect more than five animals. Draw and color pictures of animals and see if you can find ways to connect the ones you just colored. Try it with something besides animals in order to make it more challenging for older children. Get creative!

There are many games you can play that allow for both work and play. Don’t be afraid of having fun while engaging the mind - the mind is much more receptive to what it likes! One of my favorite games that we used to play, back in my homeschooled childhood, was called Masterpiece (it is, sadly, out of print). The game contained a large stack of cards - each one a printed copy of a famous painting - that the players bought and sold at auction in an attempt to make a profit. I learned so many artists and paintings through that game (not to mention the math and reasoning skills of conducting an auction for profit). By ten years old I could identify paintings by Edward Hopper, Picasso, or Vincent Van Gogh. I developed a taste for what I liked in art and what I didn't care for.

There are other things besides games that can make learning exciting: play-acting a skit, doing a related craft, hands-on experiments, getting something fun in the mail like The Adventure Letters, or making a food that might tie in somehow. Sometimes you will learn the favorite foods from the states in The Adventure Letters. You could try making that food together and talk about what you learned that week in the Letter you got!

I encourage you to mix work and pleasure in your homeschool life! It will make your lessons that much more effective.