It’s been about a month since the country has shut down because of COVID-19. And I know that all of a sudden parents across the country were thrust into “crisis”schooling their kids. Some are calling it homeschooling, but homeschooling is a thought process. How do I know? I am a home-school mama through and through for four of my own children and now I’m schooling two littles. So…
Let’s play games.
When you are homeschooling your kiddos, just about everything is fair game. Anything can be turned into an opportunity to learn- it just takes a little bit of creativity. One of my favorite ways to teach is to play games. My kids are all older now, but playing games is definitely one of my favorite ways to teach– for kinesthetic learners, it’s also the best way for them to retain the information.
You may not know it, but I actually nanny a few little kids now. And one of our favorite things to do is chalk and create our own games. It was always one of my go-to moves when I was homeschooling my own kids. We would make up our own games and have some hours of learning and laughing.
Learning doesn’t need to involve tears, it should bring joy!
The goal of a parent or home-school mama is to instill lifelong learning! Now, I can use some of my Chalk Couture products to help these younger kiddos create so many fun and happy games! And sometimes they might even remember they are having a school lesson.
So let’s talk about the Chalk Couture Chips. These are 3” round double sided surfaces that you can chalk on. They come in black and white, so you could even think about a great game of GO! And there are several ways you can use them to create educational games for your kiddos.
Memory
You can create your own memory game by using 12-24 coasters. Remember the game called Husker DOO? Well, have fun crafting your own and then play it for hours to come! I recommend 24 to make the game a little bigger.
You can chalk a number of things on the chips such as numbers, letters, or pictures. Not only is it fun to play memory with your children, but it’s also fun for them to make the game with you. The best part is that you can start with letters and if you want to change it to pictures or numbers you just wipe them clean and create something new.
Spelling Game
For this game, I recommend you use at least 24 chips. But since there are 26 letters in the alphabet, it’s great if you can create all the letters. (Maybe put the X and Z together and the Q and Z together they would choose which letter they would like to use for the word) Once you and your kids create your chips it’s time to spell. You can use these chips for them to recognize letters as you call them out or spell words. You can also have your kids practice their sight words by helping them to spell and sound them out!
Math Games
For this game, you can use 12-24 chips. Once again, I recommend 24 because it makes the game a little bigger and easier. This time instead of chalking letters you can chalk numbers. You will then use these numbers to create simple math problems for your kiddo to solve. You can also do simple number recognition with someone who is just learning their numbers.
One of our faves for the older kids (ages 6-17) is the game of 24. You can find some info on that game here 24game.com. There are so many math things you can do. What about asking them “Show me the Law of Identity” and then they would simply say A=A or 5=5. Taking your basic facts and applying the math is amazing. Can you share with them the Commutative Law? You remember a+b=b+a or for multiplication it would be ab=ba.
Remember that as a parent, you are really re-learning with your children!
How amazing is that? And THAT’S the beauty and mindset of being a home-school mama! These are just a few ways you can use Chalk Couture products to create fun, educational games to help you make it through this new chapter in your life. The best part is making the chips for the games is only half the fun! I actually have a few videos on my Facebook page with these chips. You can click here to head over to the page and check them out.
I would be happy to help you decide what you need to order to create your own game. I am a wealth of home school knowledge and would love to help you create fun ways for you and your kids to make through this “new normal.”