Learning Can Be Fun: 5 Great Educational Board Games for Older Kids

The following is a guest post from Kelsey Allen:

Throwing the word educational into game play can send some kids, especially those old enough to already roll their eyes at a family board game night, running for the hills, thinking that things will be more work and less play. Educational board games don’t have to be a tedious endeavor however, and there are many out there that don’t scream educational at first glance but that have the ability to boost your child’s brainpower without them even knowing. Here are a few to try, some of which you might already have at home.

1. Equalz: Math is a subject that many teens turn their noses up at, especially when they’re at home and don’t have to be doing it. This game aims to make it a little more fun. The pack of cards for the game contains the usual number cards as well as those with addition, subtraction, division, etc on them. During each round, players try to combine these cards in as many ways as possible to reach a randomly chosen target number. Players will be required to use some serious mental math skills to win.

2. Set: Created by a famous geneticist, this game hopes to test players’ visual perception. The game play revolves around sequencing cards by similarities and differences, with players having to call out sets of three cards from 12 that are laid out on the table. Players must compete against each other to recognize these sets and call them out as soon as they see them.

3. Scattergories: This is one game that you might already have in your home. It isn’t touted as an educational game, but it can give you and your family’s brains a good workout. Players role a die to randomly select a letter from the alphabet, then work against the clock to fill out a form with words meeting given criteria that start with that letter. Teens and their parents will be challenged to come up with words as well as build creativity in answers that might stretch the boundaries of acceptable.

4. Anagramania: In this game, players will receive a clue that hides within it an anagram for the answer. Players race to be the first to figure out the clue and advance their game piece to the end of the game board. If you don’t feel like the clues are hard enough, more difficult packs can be purchased that will challenge the vocab and spelling skills of your whole family.

5. Nymble: Boost both vocab and critical thinking skills with this past-faced game. Play begins when nine letters are chosen through the role of a die. Players must then race to create as many words as possible out of the chosen letters. The play doesn’t end there, however, as the game also asks players to come up with synonyms, antonyms, homonyms of these words, with bonuses being given for suggestions where both words are found in the selected letters.

This post was contributed by Kelsey Allen, who writes about the graduate school scholarships. She welcomes your feedback at KelseyAllen1010 at yahoo.com.

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Rachel Toasted Me in Scrabble

I had the Z, Q, X, J, and K, and two of the S's. I even got a U with my Q. Rachel had both blanks and the other two S's.

But I never had letter synergy. I had Q and U ... and I, I, U, A, and E. I can do something with that, but not much. And Rachel scored most of her points with two, three, or four secondary words off of each word she played, using my letters to earn her points.

Rachel: 377, Jon: 304

Scrabble; fear it.

Game 2.0

Microsoft releases a version of an operating system. Then they work at it making it better and release an update. And so on. Microsoft is still selling Windows, but Windows today is not the same Windows from 1990.

Some board games also evolve internally, or are adapted and developed by others, in the same way that features from operating systems, browsers, and word processors develop in-house or by building on the competition. Games move online, mechanics from other games make their way into existing ones (like the latest versions of Risk), or other companies make competing but better products.

So why did Hasbro update Risk, but leave Monopoly's rules alone? Why are we still playing the same Chess, Scrabble, and Battleship, when, with rare exception due to compatibility, no one uses computer applications that are older than ten years? Sure, evolution leads to a numerous dead-ends for every viable step forward, but nonetheless there are steps forward.

I don't think it's just bad marketing. I don't think it's just a monopoly on the toy shelf.

Many games are bought for other than entertainment purposes: ritual games (like Snakes and Ladders and Mancala), keepsake games (like Monopoly version XYZ), pretty games (like Chess sets).

Also, there is a perception that "new" games are only niche products. Yet, 38 of the top 100 games at Amazon are "new" games, counting various Scene-It's, Cranium's, and Killer Bunnies expansions (and Settlers of Catan and expansion, Race for the Galaxy, Blokus, Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Dominion and Dominion Intrigue, Lost Cities, Carcassonne and expansion, Wits and Wagers, and others).

Of the remaining games, many of them are new licenses for older games (like Spongebob Squarepants Operation, or Beatles Monopoly); a licensed game is bought for its toy value, not its game value. They don't really count.

New games are likewise 32 of the top 100 board games at Target (more party, less strategy games), 26 of the top 100 "games and puzzles" at Walmart, and 24 of the top 100 "games and puzzles" at Kmart. On the other hand, they're only 7 of the top 49 at ToysRUs.com, and 2 (if you push it) of the top 24 at boardgames.com. I think these guys simply don't stock many newer games.

Thirdly, there is a perception that people only play board games to teach kids a social activity that parents or grandparents played when they were younger (doesn't everyone play video games, now?)

That doesn't hold true for music, mostly. It certainly doesn't hold true for video games, though there is a small reactionary movement in that direction. It rarely works for movies, with certain exceptions. It kinda makes some sense for books - there are many great recent books, but we're not going to stop reading Anne of Green Gables or Little House on the Prairie any time soon, I hope.

In other media, if you discount movies shared as rituals or keepsakes (nostalgia), you're left the timeless classics. One therefore hopes that the games that endure are timeless classics.

In some sense, Chess is a timeless classic. But it's really not more of a timeless classic than the same game on a 10x10 board with two "Prince" pieces on each side. Monopoly is a timeless classic, but there are tons of ways to make it better, and tons of games that build on the concept and make it better.

A large number of people stick with what they know in board games, but not with other things in life: video games, music, movies, clothes, books, and so on. This resistance to evolution is troubling and unnatural.

The Surprising Benefits of Good Musical Taste

My favorite singer of all time is Cindy Kallet. She is a singer-songwriter-guitarist from Maine. Her guitar playing is fantastic, her voice is rich and warm, and her songs capture the vivid sense of the rocky shores, seas, and forests of New England.

I can't say enough about her first three albums: Working on Wings to Fly, 2, and Dreaming Down a Quiet Line. Right now she's doing collaborations with another musician Grey Larsen, and they have a new CD Cross the Water.

Although she has performed and taught guitar playing across America, outside of a narrow folk music scene she's unknown. She's not a superstar, and, in fact, doesn't devote all of her time to her music and promotion. She's a "soccer mom".

Which happens to be very good, for me. Why? Read on ...

Whenever I visit the US or Canada (or anywhere else), I look up events in the areas I will be staying: music, theater, festivals, game clubs, and the like. Much of the regularly scheduled culture in Israel is not in my original language, and the scant English speaking events we get from abroad are expensive, or simply few and far between.

I don't get out of Israel that often. So I drink up as much culture as I can in the places I'm visiting when I do. I do a lot of web research. I usually know far more about what's going on in an area than my hosts do.

When I went to the first BGG.con back in 2005, I found a number of events that were happening in Dallas over the week. One was a U2 concert. I love U2, and if ever I was going to go to a rock concert, U2 would be it. But tickets were sold out, and in any case expensive ($80 or $100 or so). Lots of other big name events events also were happening that week: expensive, crowded, sold out.

Another, much less publicized event was a house concert by Richard Berman, a folk musician. I had never heard of him, actually. But I listened to some samples on his website and decided that this would be the best use of my time and money. Entrance was only $10 and he played for a few hours. And he fantastic. Actually, as with many folk musicians that shine in house concerts, he was far better live than he is on his recordings.

Which brings us to this year's trip in November. I scanned the event calendars for Cincinnati, the theater and club schedules, and the tour dates for my favorite musicians, especially the ones that I had yet to hear live. I found some interesting theater events and the local game club schedules for Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus.

To my surprise, I also found that Cindy, who tours so rarely that I have never gotten anywhere close to her in the dozen years I've been looking, would be performing on Friday and Saturday in Louisville, KY area, on one of the two weekends I would be in the Cincinnati area. OMG! Louisville is only two hours away from Cincinnati.

But ... I'm a sabbath observer. If she performs at 8:00 pm on Friday night, I can't hear her, and at 8:00 pm on Saturday night, I can't possibly get to the concert in time even if I leave directly after the sabbath goes out.

Oh no! A tragedy.

Now here's where we come to the title of the post.

If this were U2, or any other popular, well-known superstar band, that would be that. You can't ask U2 to change their concert time or add another performance to their tour schedule.

But this is folk music we're talking about.

So I wrote to Cindy through her website:

Is there any hope, any hope at all, that you will be giving a morning or noon performance on [Friday] Nov 13 in Louisville? And not only at 8 pm? *whimpering doggy eyes*

Not expecting much, but hoping for a reply, at least. This is what I got back:

Your whimpering doggy eyes have led Grey and me to the conclusion that we need to do a house concert in the Cincinnati/Oxford area on the Thursday or Sunday surrounding our Louisville and New Harmony concerts. How does that sound?

OMG!

Yehuda

Shabbat Gaming

Anagrams

Yael is a friend of mine and my wife's for multiple reasons. She's brilliant, beautiful, creative, and charismatic. She recently published a fantastic book that took ten years of research: Nehama Leibowitz: Teacher and Bible Scholar.

And she's also been a Settlers of Catan fanatic for the last five years or so, ever since I introduced her to the game. For a long time she didn't want to play any other games; she would only play SoC with her friends on the other side of town, and didn't come to the game group. Only recently I've gotten her to try Amun Re, which she also liked and which she asked to play Friday evening after dinner.

Unfortunately, I don't actually have a copy of the game, and it was only two of us and late (Rachel went out to walk the dog). So we played Anagrams. She was good, which is good.

Anagrams and Set are two games that I'm pretty good at, sometimes too good at. I don't like to win either of these two games by too much, as it's discouraging to play them unless you feel like you're playing with a reasonably matched opponent. If I'm winning by too much, I will sometimes slow down a bit and let my opponent catch up. I didn't have to do that with Yael.

Only these two games, really; maybe sports, too. I think it's because they're straight measurable ability based games that hit a certain area of the brain. After it's clear that you're faster than the other person in that particular area, there's really no point in continuing.

Of course, I've also met people who can beat me in either of these games; I don't mind that at all.

By the way, Yael is - incredibly - still single. Time's a-wasting, guys.

Robo Rally

I had promised to introduce Tal's friend Nechemia to a board game, and Nadine also stayed after lunch. Robo Rally was the right length of time and weight for the occasion.

I chose a simple board with a few tricky spots, and three flags. I was liberal with "reprogramming" in the first the rounds, and we played with infinite deaths and no options. It was a little repetitive, but still quite fun.

Nechemia won without ever getting a single point of damage, as he took a slightly different route than the rest of us did. Silly and fun game, if it doesn't go on too long.

Puerto Rico

Nadine, Rachel, and I played our final game before Rachel leaves for the US (Rachel will still be here two more shabbatot, but we won't be able to play on them). I switched Small Market's and Construction Hut's costs.

Playing third player, I had to decide whether to spend 2 for Small Market on round 1 phase 2. I opted to pass in favor of Construction Hut, which I would otherwise never buy. Nadine, as first player took Indigo Plant.

Round 2 then went rather crazy. Rachel took builder again, and Nadine took Small Market with her manned quarry. I took Craftsman and Nadine left me both Trader and Captain for round 3 with two coins. I took Trader and felt like I now had a decent start.

I got a coffee monopoly, and never produced more than 1 coffee and 2 corns the entire game. Nadine had tobacco, Small and Large Markets, and Discretionary Hold. Rachel had Small Market, Small Warehouse, and lots of the three cheaper goods.

My strategy was to trade coffee and build quickly. I ended three big buildings.

Last move of the game, I had to decide whether to man my third big building and also Nadine's only big building. It would give me 5 points, but I didn't know how much it would give Nadine. Or, I could take Settler and a plantation for 2 bonus points (for Fairgrounds). I opted to man the buildings.

Final scores: me 45, Rachel 43, Nadine 42 . If I hadn't manned the buildings, final scores would have been: Rachel 43, Jon 42, Nadine 38.

Blood and Fungus

Dropping books off at a book swap yesterday (nothing interesting to take in exchange, but I took three for appearance's sake), I found myself beside a blood drive, and so donated blood. I don't donate much blood; I used to have very low blood pressure, and giving blood would make me faint and woozy. But I've gained weight since then, so decided to give it another try. I now have 120/80 BP.

You know that instant of pain when the needle first pricks you, after which you don't really feel it? Well, the first of three workers stuck the needle in me and the pain didn't go away. For two minutes I felt pain like a knife cutting slowly through my skin. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.

First worker apologized and sent me to a different station to try the other arm. Second worker prepped me, and then got called away to assist someone who had fainted. Third worker then called me to his table, and everything proceeded as normal. Now I have bruising on the arm from which I didn't actually give blood.

Hope they actually can use the blood for some good.

Later in the evening I took Tal out to her favorite fast food chain: Tal Burgers. Being the Nine Days, we couldn't eat meat. I was less than thrilled with the server guy whose pants were down below his worn and sheer underwear; seeing him from behind, I decided not to order anything on a bun. We settled for salads with portabello mushrooms.

Obgaming: Tal, Rachel, and I played a Scrabble game without keeping score, which drove Rachel crazy. It plays very quickly.

Session Report, in which we play San Juan and Caylus after long absences

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: San Juan, R-Eco, Stone Age, Caylus, Dominion, Antike.

I win both Caylus and Antike. Yay me. Abraham and David are fearsome opponents for each other.