I love to make learning fun!  Why not?  Why make learning boring?  Why not make learning fun and joyous?



I spent to many days as a child with sore fingers from writing so much, and a sore back from sitting in a chair for hours all day trying to do school work that didn’t really matter. I loved school as far as talking to friends and my teachers and I loved science class. But I did not like sitting at a desk pressing hard with a pencil to write out “stuff” that just seemed like “busy work”.  So I just have to spice things up with my own kids.  Learning just has to be fun!



I try to include as much play time, games, park time, outdoor activities, and hands on activities for my kids as I can. We do some pencil and paper learning, and we include some computer, books, etc., but the majority of our learning comes from lots of hands on activities.   I want them to be “doing” while they are learning.  Is it easy for me?  No.  It requires being involved, planning, playing, and doing lots of stuff together.  But the rewards are worth it!

Thankfully, there are great resources for homeschoolers to learn by doing!  I am so pleased to share another great product with you called Jeepers Peepers.



This is a fun learning game.  It comes with: 
            6 pairs of silly glasses
            6 clue cards
            101 picture cards
            an electronic spinner
            colored bing chips
            and a full color guide book



They couldn’t wait to play this game.



You just want to be silly when you put on these colorful glasses.  Go figure!  These little darlings make me so proud!



The game is played by one player placing a picture card they have not looked at into the holding slot on the glasses.  The picture card faces the other players, but the person wearing the glasses can not see it.  The player asks “yes” and “no” type questions of the other players to try to figure out the picture. 



This game is great for building deduction skills and communication skills in your kids.  There are 6 clues on the clue card to help your child think up questions about the picture. The cards a very heavy duty.  They are easy for younger children to hold and use.  But is fun enough for kids and adults of all ages.



There are 5 main categories the 101 pictures cover.  But you can also divide them into more categories like person, place, thing, inside, outside, hot, cold, alive, not alive, and so many more.

For example, the player may ask questions like: “Is it a person?; Is is a place?; Is it a thing?” Then they might ask questions like “Is it outside?; Is it in the house?; Is it in the living room?; Is it in the bathroom?; Is it in the kitchen?; Is it a food?; Is it an animal?; Is is a circle?”


Eventually, by following the clues from the “yes” and “no” answers from their peers, they may figure out it is not a person, or an animal, it is inside the house, in the kitchen, it is a circle, it is a food.



Then the player knows to ask further questions in that specific area, such as: “Is it eaten at breakfast?; Is it eaten at supper?; Is it eaten raw?; Is It cooked?; Is it green?; Is it white?; Is it red?; Is it one ingredient?; Is it lots of ingredients?” and eventually they can figure out it is a pancake.



My kids love playing this game. They already have told all their friends and they neighbor kids too.  It is super duper funny to see the players in their silly glasses and pictures they have on their head.



Jeepers Peepers is a product from Super Duper Publications.  I am amazed at all of the quality learning products they have to offer.  


Jeepers Peepers is a really fun, silly, laugh out loud, learning game for ages 5 and over.  It retails for $29.95.  You can also buy ad
ditional glasses and clue cards.  They offer free shipping too.  Right now they are offering a 30% off coupon code “BLGJP30” that is good until August 31, 2012. 

Be sure to check out what others on the Homeschool Crew had to say about this product.
 

Want a fun way to practice fractions with your kids?  Try this mathematical card game called Fractazmic! 

 

Information from their website:

Fractazmic Decks Include:
60 Math Learning Cards
Each card clearly numbered
Each card clearly labeled with the fraction and reinforcing graphic.

What makes Fractazmic Decks Special:
Quickly learn to convert and add fractions.
Reinforces relationship between fractions and measurements.
Shows real world use of fractions.

Fractazmic Cards Help Make Learning Math Fun:
Measurement
Fundamental Mathematics
Second Language
Memory Skills
Eye Hand Coordination

 

The game is designed for kids in 1st through 8th grade, but can be used with any ages.  The game is played with 2 to 4 players and retails for $6.95    It can be purchased through the I See Cards website.    This game, as well as their other math games, would make a great addition to any homeschool math program.  This would make a great gift too.

The deck of cards contains three colored sets.  Each set has a visual picture, tenths are green with a liquid bottle measurement, twelfths are blue with a dozen eggs measurement, and sixteenths are red with a measuring stick measurement.  The visual aids are a big help.  It is just like looking a slices of a pizza or pie to learn fractions.  If the fraction is 1/2 of a dozen, you see an egg carton with six eggs in it, etc. 

I played this game with my 11 year old son.   He dealt out 7 cards for both of us.  For our game, we had a draw pile and turned a card over to start a discard pile.  From the cards in our hand we tried to add/combine the fractions to equal a whole, or one.  This is called a “hand” in the game.  Each player takes a turn drawing a card, trying to make a “hand” and discarding a card.  The game is over when one person runs out of cards, and the winner is the player with the most “hands”.  

I found this game to be challenging for both of us. I am not strong in some aspects of math, including converting fractions.  I am hopeful, with more practice, this game will improve both our fraction math skills.

There are other games also listed to use with the cards.  Here is a link to a 30 page booklet with games listed for Fractazmic and several different I See Cards decks including a popular math game called Pyramath. 
http://www.iseecards.com/iseecards/book/math_success.pdf

and here are two videos explaining some of the games you can play with the Fractazmic Deck. 

Rummy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dushk1SHMIo

Trap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKm7dnjWWSs&feature=related

 




I received the Fractazmic Deck Of Cards free in exchange for writing an honest review of the product.  If you would like to see what other TOS Homeschool Crew members had to say about this product, please read the stories and links posted here.

The Reading Game is designed to help you learn to read and learn to read better in a fun and hands on way.  It is for kids ages four and older.  It retails for $24.95  

 

The reading game can be used as a supplement to almost any standard curriculum.   It was invented by the same creator as Wordly Wise.  It meets the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy for Kindergarten and First Grade.   We found it useful for preschool through third grade.



For each book, there is a set of reading cards to play a matching / memory game with.  Each set of cards teaches the new words from the story.  



Here is a video demonstrating how the card game is played.




Each story book is based on a fictional character.  Each book tells a story and teaches 30 words to your student.  And by completing all six books, your child will know how to read 180 words.

Book 1: Skunk
Book 2: Snake
Book 3: Bear
Book 4: Penguins
Book 5: Unicorn
Book 6: Zebra

There is a free “Educators” page with a pre-test and post test assessment  on the Reading Game website, that you can use to see where your child is functioning at.  There is also a free test sentence review worksheet.

We worked our way through each book, doing a new book every other day.  Day one, we read the book and played the game.  Day two we re-read the book and played the game again.  Day three we moved on to the next book and repeated the process.

 

Once you read all 6 books, and have mastered the reading and memory card game for each book, you can lay out all the cards and practice reading and matching them again on a larger scale by putting them all together.  You can also play a phonics game with matching sounds.

My oldest son, age 11, acted as the tutor, and assisted three of my other children ages 4, 6, and 9
in playing the Reading Game.  They enjoyed learning to read the words from the story and playing with the cards.

This is a great supplement to a reading and phonics program and I do recomend this product.



I was given a free copy of the Reading Game in exchange for an honest review.

 

If you would like to see what other TOS Crew members had to say about the Reading Game, check out the article and the links posted here.

We recently had the opportunity to review Say Anything Family. 

 

Say Anything Family is a silly game of speaking whatever comes to mind when you are asked a question from the card pile.  Some of the questions include things like “When socks disappear in the dryer, where do they go?” and “What would be the worst thing to add to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” 

There is no correct answer.  Instead a “most liked” answer is chosen by a judge.  One of the players is designated as a judge and secretly chooses which answer they like the best.  The rest of the players have to guess which answer the judge chose, and place tokens on their choice.  They can place tokens on more than one answer.  They can win upto 3 points if they guess the correct choice.  For each round, a new judge is chosen.  The game is over once everyone has asked two questions.  The player with the most points wins the game.

The game is recommended for for ages eight and up, and does require skills such as being able to read and write.  The game comes with question cards, answer boards, dry erase markers, select-o-matic, score board and is recommended for 3 to 6 players.

Several of the North Star Games are available online and through various participating retailers.  Say Anything retails for $19.99 and can also be found at stores such as Target, and Amazon.


What we thought?

We played this game with four players, (boy 11, boy 9, boy 6, and mom 41).  We honestly tried to get into the way the game is played, but it just did not seem to “click” for my family at this time, and I think it was just because the game questions are open ended, and requires more abstract thinking.  We will try this game again at a later time as the kids develop more in these skills.



I can see where this game would be fun to play at a party, and especially with a group of teens or young adults.  However, this game was more ambiguous for my kids to get the hang of, because the answers are not based on any specific truth, but based on what the judge likes.  For each round of questions and answers, the judge changes, and you don’t know if your answer will be liked or not. 

I would recommend this game for families with teens, groups of older teens and adults for a party setting, and a group setting for couples (date night).  I would also recommend this game for group of older kids who need to get to know each other better.  But I would not specifically recommend the game for a family setting with younger kids (younger than teens), because they are not able to process why someone likes one answer over another, and why all the answers are different and there is no correct answer.

My family recently sat still for several hours for a “game day”.  We do this every once in a while, and it is a lot of fun.   This time we sat down purposely to try out a game that was given to us called the Wits & Wagers Family game.



 


Wits & Wagers Family is a trivia game that is super fun, and best of all, it is easy to play.  The kids caught on to how the game is played really quickly.   I started off playing the game with my oldest two boys ages 9 and 11.  
 


Basically, you read a trivia question, right down your best guess and put it in the middle of the table face down, when everyone has answered, line up the answers face up and place a wager (meeple wooden figure) on the guess you think is the closest to the correct answer.   You can place your meeples on your own card or on someone elses.  You can win upto four points if the guess you place your meeples on wins.



Read the answer from the trivia card and mark down the points on the score board.  The player who reaches 15 points wins the game. 



You can play this game with three to five players or teams.  All of the answers are in numerical format, so any child can play and make a guess.   It is recommended for ages eight and up, because of reading the trivia cards.  However, an adult or older child can read the card for the younger child and the younger child can still write down their numerical guess and place their own meeples based on their skill level.

So that is what we did next.  We let the younger kids ages 6, 4, and 2, join us ( the six year old was his own player as long as you read the questions and answers, the 4 year old on a team with an older brother, and 2 year old on a team with me) and they had just as much fun playing as we did.  It required some assistance and a little more patience on our part, but it was do-able.

Just two days later, we had the game out on the table again.  This time just the three older boys played while I worked on another project.  Terrific!  They could play and enjoy it together.  I really felt this game supports good behavior in the kids.  First they had to cooperate with each other.  They had to share jobs such as reading the trivia cards. They had to trust the one making the marks on the score board.  They laughed at each other’s answers sometimes, or at the fact they were way off, or that they were right on target.  It challenged their reading and thinking skills, and kept them listening to questions and answers, and actively writing and erasing answers (good to keep boys active).  This game is definitely staying on the school shelf for the kids to pull out during free time.

The Wits and Wagers Family game includes 150 trivia cards, 5 dry erase pens, 5 dry erase answer boards, 10 meeples, and a score board.  It is available online, and through various retailers.  It retails for $ 24.95, but prices may vary according to retailer.   It is available online and at participating retailers.

There are over 300 trivia questions in this game and all the answers are numbers.  For example, a question might read “How many miles per hour can a Cheetah run?” or “How many feet are in a mile?”  Some of the questions are not so hard, but most questions are challenging, and some are more difficult.

This game is loads of fun to play for people of all ages.  I highly recommend setting aside some time to play games with your family.  I would love to arrange my schedule to include a regular family game time each week.  I know it would be beneficial.  But even if we don’t get it done each week, just getting it done sometimes is a great way to spend some special time with your family.

I was provided with a free copy of the Wits & Wagers game in exchange for an honest review. 

 

If you would like to see what other homeschool TOS Crew members had to say about this product, please see the Wits & Wagers link up posted here .