Weekly Tip- Make Learning a Game

Do you have to fight with your child to study, read, or write? You may need to ask yourself, would I run kicking and screaming if I had to do this task? If the answer's Absolutely, maybe, or possibly... it's time to rethink the approach. The solution... Make it fun! You can study the same material but in a more interesting way. Here are some examples.

1. Clean the Plate- This is a technique for teaching sight words. You'll need cheap paper plates and a marker. Write a different sight word largely on each plate (do about 20). Spread time out across the table face down. Set a timer for 30 secs (more or less depending on the child). When you say go, the child must flip a plate and read the word on the front. If they know the word they keep the plate and move on to the next word. If they don't know the word. They skip it and move on to the next word. When the time is up, the can count the plates they've earned. When they play the game again, their goal should be to bet their old score. They can also play by competing against someone near their age and skill level.
2. Multiplication match- This game will help with multiplication fact fluency. You'll need 2 colors of index cards and a pen. Simply write one fact on each of 12 card (the first color). Then write each solution to those facts on a separate index card (the second color). Then turn them all face down and organize them neatly into rows. Then your child is to flip one card of each color. If the fact matches the solution, he or she gets to keep the cards. If they are not a match, your child must put them back and try again. The game ends when all the cards are matched up.

If you have other ideas for games that have worked for you, please post them as a comment below.