Inside: To create indoor boredom buster ideas for your kids, use these games that sneak in learning and fun for both younger kids and older kids.
My kids are often bored the second screens are turned off.
We are lucky to have a house of toys, crafts, games and puzzles.
We’re also lucky to have an outside space full of toys and games and things with wheels.
So when my kids are bored, I often redirect them to our stack of games in the corner of our family room.
And as a former teacher, in our stacks of silly games, we also have a ton of games that sneak in a little learning as they play.
We get our kids these alphabet gifts that help kids learn their alphabet as they play.
We also get them science-themed gifts to bring more STEM and STEAM into their lives.
And we often get our kids to read more with this movie book club and write more with this fidget spinner activity.
Because when we fill our kids’ shelves with things that are both fun and educational, they serve a dual purpose.
And these games are so much fun to play, our kids don’t even realize they’re learning.
Which is one of the best, and most authentic ways to learn.
Games to Sneak in Learning for Young Kids
These are all great to help kids with turn-taking, fair play, cooperation, and to build good sportsmanship skills. Playing games help our kids be good winners and good losers.
But they also sneak in other learning skills.
Candyland– colors
Zingo– matching
Spot It– matching
Memory– memory, matching
Memory Faces– memory, matching
LadyBug Game– counting
Hi Ho Cherry-o– counting, adding, subtracting
Guess Who- asking/answering questions, using attribute clues
Chutes and Ladders– counting, counting on
Boggle, Junior- spelling, cvc/ccvc/cvcc reading
Perfection– shapes, spatial reasoning
Alphabet Bingo- letter identification, sound identification, following directions
Games that Sneak in Learning for Older Kids
These are all great for problem-solving and strategy building which is great for building a growth mindset in our kids. They also continue to help build good sportsmanship skills. But they do way more than just that.
Zingo Sight Words– sight words, reading
Scrabble Junior– spelling, reading
Spelligator- spelling, reading
Set-categorizing, problem solving/strategy, attributes
Uno- number identification, color matching, strategy
Catan– problem-solving/strategy, counting
Rummikub-strategy, problem-solving
Blokus-problem solving/strategy, geometry, spatial reasoning
Boggle-spelling, reading, creating words
Mancala– counting, problem-solving/strategy
Battleship– problem-solving/strategy, graphing/coordinates
Quixx– strategy, addition
Yahtzee– counting, strategy, probability, matching
Adding Bingo-adding, following directions
Multiplication Bingo– multiplication, division
Money Bags– coin recognition, counting, making change
Pizza Fractions– fractions, adding fractions
Mathable-addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,
A Virtual Escape Room for families- problem-solving, reading, addition
This is perfect for kids ages 9-13 (younger kids can help but won’t be able to do it on their own, older kids can be more independent with it). Parents can facilitate or join in and help…my kids had an absolute blast (and so did my hubby and I) and they worked so well together towards a common goal…to escape Harry Houidin’s secret room in 60 minutes! All you need is a printer, scissors, glue and a pencil! Helps encourage problem-solving skills, math skills and reading!
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