Squared Up

Holly got another game for her birthday that has been great fun to play with, Squared Up. We had originally come upon this game at the Seattle Pacific Science Center one visit, she and I played it for a long time. Then we stumbled upon it again at a specialty toy store in which she expressed she'd like to own this game. So, for her birthday I ordered up a copy - it is a fun game!

The goal of this game is to shake the little cube tray and create a pattern (each player has their own). Then you are to recreate that patter as fast as you can by sliding the pieces around... which can be really tough! You are actually using the center nine cubes as your patter, which you see when you shut the little screen to share your finished game. This game is wonderfully challenging, colorful, fun, fast moving and keeps her interest... all while building some logic skills. I highly recommend it!

Q-Bitz Game

I try to incorporate a lot of games into our learning, to spice things up and honestly -- you can learn a lot from games! We own a ton of games, they are used well in this house and I am always on the look out for something a little bit different.

This year for Holly's birthday she got a couple of new games. Q-Bitz is one of her new games that we have already spend a good period of time enjoying. This is a great puzzle game that works on some logic skills, pattern recognition, memory skills and general math.

The game has four little wooden boards with 16 different patterned dice. You flip a card with a pattern on it and race to see who can complete the pattern first (or enjoy alone). Then you can spice it up a bit with rolling your dice to complete the pattern or using your memory to complete the pattern. It is challenging and fun - a hit for us for sure!

If you are enjoy games or are a fellow home schooling family or instructor this would make a great addition to your learning!!!

New Dice

We recently added new dice to our math and game collection. The dice will add a fun new level of addition and subtraction for Holly... with even higher numbers to introduce. I am loving these dice because they have a plus/minus sign one that Holly can add to her play. Here is just a sample of one math sheet she worked on. A fun way to practice math!

Addition & Dice

Today Holly practiced writing number sentences using dice. We discussed all the parts of an addition number sentence and then she rolled dice to create various sentences. The reason we did this exercise and will again to is reinforce it from memory, basic addition through practice and then how to write a numeric sentence. Most math books for her age it is all written out for her, this way she is practicing math without the work done. She enjoyed this a lot as it was more like a game then a practice sheet.

Silly Sentences

Holly loves games, loves them!!! We picked this game up for Holly over the holidays and boy has it been fun! We play it as a family and I have pulled it out during designated 'school time'... always a good time.

This game is introducing simple sentence structure through silly words. It is a fun way to introduce or review nouns, verbs, articles, prepositions and adjectives - in our case a lot of introduction. Holly understands what a noun is so far and is starting to understand verbs. If you are looking for a fun way to review sentence structure and encourage reading this game is great. Best part, I picked it up at Borders with a coupon... not too shabby!

Cool Mosaic Game

I had picked this game up for a recent road trip we took. Holly spent several hours playing with it in the car and since being home several more hours. Honestly, I think it has had more use then many of our more 'main stream' items.

It is a magnetic mosaic tile game or puzzle. It has a few films of designs you can follow. Place it on the metal black lid and then follow the pattern, placing all the magnetic mosaic pieces on. You can also create your own designs or try and figure out some other ideas they share on your own. This game really works your fine motor skills, is creative, artistic and fun!!! I have fun with it.