My Funky First Grade: The Lost Art of Board Games

September 12, 2019

The Lost Art of Board Games

Every year before school lets out for summer break our students have Game Day. They are allowed to bring a board game from home and the kids play games all day with a spelling bee and math bee mixed in as well. The children look forward to this day with much anticipation.

A few years ago my coworker and I started noticing that the kids didn't know how to play the games or even how to interact with each other during Game Day. With the popularity of video games and tablets, kids weren't socializing or even interested in those games. We decided it was our responsibility as teachers to change that.

There is so much value in playing with board games:

basic math
language/communication
socialization
logic
strategy
cooperative learning
winning gracefully
losing with dignity and kindness
......and the list goes on......

I started out by using smaller simple board games during center time at my small group table. I would work with four kids at a time playing a simple game I created. We worked on taking turns, going in order, rolling dice, moving the correct number of spaces and so on... When we got to the end of the game and there was a winner we discussed the proper way to act if you won and the proper way to act if you didn't win. It only took a day or two for the kids to be able to play without my assistance.

The games started to catch on and the kids really enjoyed playing them. When it was rainy or cold outside they would ask to play our games during recess. I had to create new games to keep up with them because they genuinely had a great time and got along so well. That made this teacher's heart so happy!

Let me encourage you to teach your students how to play board games. You don't have to spend a lot of money on them. There are many available on Teachers Pay Teachers that can be printed on card stock and use your own dice and mini erasers for playing pieces. I've listed a few below that I have available with links under each picture. At the end there is a free set of clip art where you can create your own games. Enjoy!!