LEARNING GAMES FOR KIDS

The school year is upon us and so many parents will be homeschooling for the first time. I have purchased several learning games perfect for preschoolers up to first graders. There’s so many fun ways to teach spelling, counting, sorting, sight words and even basic math.

As you probably know by now, I will be homeschooling Charlie due to COVID-19. The situation is still terrible in Miami, so she will be doing Pre-K3 at home. Luckily, her second birthday party had been 2 Cool for Skool theme (a play on our school bus conversion we called 2 Cool 4 Skool Bus) so we had tons of school decor and custom signs just sitting in the garage still. My parents house had a small spare room they weren’t using, so we built her a real classroom just in time for school to start. It came out so cute and I can’t wait to share it with you!

But first, let’s talk learning games. I decided to go with a Montessori approach for homeschooling her. She’s quite smart and ahead in most areas, but I definitely want to spend this year making sure she learns as much as she can, while making it a great experience. I set up an area of learning games all displayed for her to choose from. I purchased clear bins to keep everything visible, organized.

Anyway, on to the important stuff… the learning games we bought and have loved so far. These are perfect for kids approximately ages 3-6. Let me tell you why I love each one.

Alphabet Soup Game

This game is so much fun for sight words, spelling and sorting. Each soup can has several items that begin with that letter (and the word is written out on the back side of each cutout) and you figure out what the item is and what letter it begins with. For now I only let my daughter do 4 or 5 cans at a time to not overwhelm her but for bigger kids there’s plenty of words and items to sort.

Fly Swatter Sight Words Game

This is great for several kids learning sight words together. There’s a lot of sight words to pick from of different levels. The way it works is you call out a word and the first person to swat that fly gets the point. Such a fun way to encourage learning. 

Magnetic Alphabet & Organizer

Love this set of magnetic letters because it brings several of each so there’s actually enough letters to spell different words. Each letter has its own cubby in the organizer and it comes with capital and lowercase letters. It also brings a magnetic mat. My daughter loves it and has always picks it as the first thing she wants to play with. Who knew spelling could be so fun?

Monkey Balancing Game

This is a great game for all different levels. The monkey balance brings weighed numbers and little monkeys. The number will balance when the equivalent number of monkeys are on the other side which teaches kids counting. There’s also cards that help teach basic math. They can add or remove monkeys to learn how addition and subtraction works. 

Spelling Puzzles

These are little puzzles that have a photo of it and the spelling for it. They’re all 3-4 letter words. The photo helps them put the puzzle together while learning how to spell it.

Osmo Little Genius for the iPad

Osmo is a great system to encourage learning on the iPad. The Little Genius Starter Kit has several fun games that encourage critical thinking and learning, while making it so much fun. It goes along with an app that has interactive characters that ask the child to use pieces to create shapes and another one with characters that have different attire that they put on them to tell a story. 

Muffin Tin Sorting Game

Here’s another great one for sorting, but it’s also great for counting, colors and even motor skills. At the bottom of each muffin tin you add a little card, the options are just a color, a number or a combination of both and then the child uses the little scooper to collect the muffins and place them in the right spot. There’s also dice which can be thrown to select the next color and number combination.

Wood Blocks Spelling Game

This little wood tray with letters is great for learning how to spell. You pick a card and put it on the stand. The betters are covered when it’s on the stand, so your child then has to look through the blocks to find the right letters to spell that word. This is great because it’s a tiny item with tons of learning.

There’s so many great learning games, but these are our favorites so far. If I find any other great ones, I promise to add them. And if you know of any I need to add to my collection, please leave me a comment telling me about it! Wishing you guys a great school year full of fun and lots of learning. Happy teaching!