Old favorites for your next family game night

Going back to school is the perfect time to bring the family together for fun, laughs and learning with family game nights. Pull out these classic games to keep the kids (and adults) entertained with some fun filled learning.

Playing Cards & Cribbage Board

Teach your child the game of cribbage on your next family game night. This is an excellent game to develop mental math skills. While playing, players are using mental math by adding on, looking for number patterns, and using logic and strategy. Don’t remember how to play? There’s plenty of places to look online; one place we found was “How to Play Cribbage” on wikiHow.

Memory

If you don’t have the official game, grab a deck of cards and create your own game. This builds great visual memory skills for all ages, and can be easily modified for the whole family. If you have preschoolers, pull out only red pairs with the numbers one through five on them. If you have primary school-aged kids, allow them to make pairs with like numbers without having to match the color. For older family members, make the rule that the match has to be the same number and the same color.

Yahtzee

This family favorite is suitable for all ages. It’s a wonderful opportunity to teach probability. What are the chances I will shake five dice and they will all turn up with the same number within three shakes? What’s more likely, getting four-of-a-kind or a sequence of five? In addition, skills such as strategy, pattern finding, sequencing, and mental math are all being used.

Checkers

Pull out the checkers board and teach your child a game they can enjoy for a lifetime. One of the many skills checkers teaches children is directionality—forward, backward, diagonal, and side-to-side movement. You’re also teaching planning and anticipating. If I move here, how will my opponent move on her next turn?

Start a back to school family game night tradition for hours of enjoyment (and learning) for the entire family!

Did you know?

New SRI study finds DreamBox increases math test scores

SRI International conducted a study around the progress of close to 600 students attending Rocketship Education. The study, Evaluation of Rocketship Education’s Use of DreamBox Learning’s Online Mathematics Program, was commissioned by Rocketship Education to measure the impact of online math learning on its students’ academic growth.

The results? Students who had greater access to DreamBox Learning achieved significant gains in overall mathematics scores. The study found that Rocketship students who received additional online math instruction through the DreamBox Learning program scored an average of 2.3 points higher on the NWEA mathematics test than similar students who did not receive the added online instruction time. For the average student, these gains would be equivalent to progressing 5.5 points in percentile ranking (e.g., from the 50th percentile to the 55.5th percentile) in just 16 weeks.

Read the full SRI study