Making Your Own Homeschool Games (And a Free Bible Trivia Game!)

 

Do you like to play games? Most kids do! At our house, we often play games as part of our school day. There are many games that you can buy to practice or learn different subjects. We have a lot of those, but we like to make our own games, too. Almost every subject can be made into a game. Here are a few ideas:

1. Use a board game that you already have. Make some question cards about anything you are learning. For example, you could make a set of questions about reptiles or the Civil War or planets. Write a question on one side of the card and the answer on the other side. Each player must answer a question correctly before he or she takes a turn.

2. Make a matching game to practice something you are learning. You could write a math fact on one card and the answer on its match. You could name an inventor on one card and his invention on the other or a vocabulary word on one card and its definition on the other. 3x5 inch index cards cut in half are a nice size to use. Place the cards face down on the table and take turns turning them over looking for matches.

3. Write historical events on cards. Write the date the event occurred on the back of the card. Try to arrange the events in sequence, then check yourself by looking at the dates.

4. Regular playing cards can be used for math games. Here's one idea. Take out all the face cards. Divide the remaining cards into 2 equal stacks. Play "War" with the cards to practice "greater than" and "less than." To make the game harder, flip 2 cards over on each turn. Add the numbers together (if you are learning addition facts) or multiply the numbers (if you are practicing multiplication facts). The person with the highest total collects all the cards for that round.

5. Divide a large sheet of paper into 9 rectangles. Write a number from 1 to 9 in each space. Toss 2 or 3 beans onto the paper, then add or multiply those numbers together. Take turns with another player to see who can reach the highest score. Write fractions in some or all of the spaces to make the game harder.

6. Give each player 10 number cards from a regular card deck. Roll a die. Each player uses any number of his cards to create an equation that will equal the number on the die. For example, if the die shows a 4, a player could make 2x2 or 6-2 or 3x3-5 or 2x6-8. Each player writes down his equations and the player with the most correct equations in two minutes wins that round.

Looking for more ideas?

Download a free copy of Old Testament Bible Match at Currclick or visit my homeschool games page to see some of the other  games I’ve created for our homeschool. Use them for ideas or even buy one that fits into what you’re studying.