Kids can learn so much on the road. Every place we stop is an opportunity to visit different museums, historic sites, or national parks. Then there are all the practical skills like budgeting,
route planning, and vehicle maintenance. Although there is all this natural learning, some of us still want our kids learning more, but we want it to be fun.
The solution?
Gameschooling!
Games are chock-full of educational opportunities, from math and strategy to spelling and soft skills. However, most of us don’t have the space to travel with a full game room and game-stocked shelves. This is where gameschooling on the road can take a bit of extra creativity.
My Top Three Tips
Play Games that are Easy to DIY
There are so many games you can play with just a deck of cards, a handful of assorted dice, paper, a pencil, and some small markers (small Legos work; I don’t judge!). If you add in a book of card or dice games, you’ll have even more from which to work. (A
digital book can be easy to access without taking up more space or weight!)
Still other games are simple to DIY, like
Mancala. Or they naturally only use paper and pencil. By reusing game pieces and DIYing games, you can play a lot with only a few supplies.
Hang Games!
So many games have a lot of wasted space in the box.
Unboxing these games can save so much space. We stack the boards separately and everything else gets hung in a relatively small bag. Then, we use shower curtain rings to hang them from a sturdy bolt in a cabinet.
Do keep in mind that, as my family travels in a skoolie, we have a lot of solid wood we can hang things from. You might need to get a bit more creative with the flimsy walls of a commercial RV.
By hanging many of our games, we are able to bring probably four times the number of games we’d have room for otherwise.
Schedule Game Time
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of travel or the need to work to pay for said travel. This means that playing board, card, or dice games as a family can fall by the wayside. However, this regular family time is really good for reinforcing relationships and challenging our kids.
We have had several different routines over the years. We used to play a game first thing in the morning; before, after, or even during breakfast. I’ve heard of families who play games every Friday for their homeschool lessons. Lately, what has been working is playing a game as a family after dinner. It doesn’t matter when, as long as it works for your family and you’re able to stick to it, at least most of the time.
Playing Games for Specific Subjects
Math
The easiest subject to gameschool is math, particularly elementary math. Many games include math in the scorekeeping. A number of card and dice games include basic arithmetic just as part of the gameplay. (And I don’t care for most of the obviously educational games!) My kids have learned so much from
gameschooling math.
I remember reading about a
study in which researchers had kids play
Chutes and Ladders, counting on as they go. (If a child’s marker starts at 13 and needs to move 4 spaces, they count “14, 15, 16, 17” instead of “1, 2, 3, 4.”) However, in looking for that study, I found
so many that I could not locate the exact one! What I did learn was that the
evidence linking playing board games to numeracy is overwhelming. And if your kids are beyond
Chutes and Ladders? No worries; a wide variety of other games will still help them.
English/Language Arts
I usually break ELA down into reading, writing, spelling, and storytelling. There are other aspects, but it’s easy to learn grammar through reading and writing, for example. (And you want parts of speech? Nothing beats
Mad Libs!)
Spelling games abound. My family has tried many, and while I love the feel of
Bananagrams in my hand,
Scrabble is probably the most versatile. You don’t need them all, though; one is plenty. Just choose what you think your kids will enjoy the most.
Storytelling games are a favorite of mine, and often really easy to do with minimal supplies! Plus, writing out the wacky stories you come up with can be very fun and motivating for some students. Some games include a small amount of writing in the game play, too.
Reading game instructions has been really good at improving my kids’ comprehension and scanning skills. Try handing the instructions for a new game to your child and ask them to find how many cards to deal out and the hand limit. These can be so difficult to find in instructions, that my family has taken to highlighting them!
Science
There are many
science games available, from general science like in
Totally Gross! to subject-specific games or games that happen to incorporate a scientific principle. Some games are made to teach a concept or skill, while others do it by accident. However, we always have fun with these games.
History
I have noticed three different types of
history games. There are the games that cover a specific aspect of history, like
Axis and Allies. Games like
Mancala are really old and can be a way to access and approach history. Finally, there are a few games that cover history more generally, like
Timeline. We have enjoyed some of each and they have been a great supplement to the history we learn through traveling and our homeschooling.
Soft Skills
Every game works on at least some soft skills. Soft skills are things like leadership, communication, executive functioning, empathy, or strategic thinking. You can’t really place them in a specific subject and they’re hard to quantify, but they’re often the most important factors to determining success. When your kids are applying for jobs as adults, it’ll be soft skills that make the difference. Playing board games can help them get there.
My family loves to pull out cooperative games, so we have quite a few to choose from.
Cooperative games are great when stress levels are high (long drive day?), communication has been a challenge (anyone have teenagers?), or big changes have made emotions fragile (the travel life is wonderful, but it’s full of changes!). Playing a cooperative game helps us slow down, relax, and reconnect as a family.
At the end of the day, gameschooling can be a great addition to roadschooling. The flexibility of both complement each other to help students have a well-rounded education.
