Best Educational Games: Play to Learn!

Overview

Players move their pieces through a maze to claim their treasures. The catch: with each turn, the players must slide a row in the maze, attempting to create a path to their own treasures while foiling their opponents.

• Ages: 5 and up. This game is fun and challenging for adults as well as kids. Children younger than five can join in with a little help, too.
• Quick set-up and instructions. Simple game play and few rules make this game easy to pick up.
• Adaptable play. Labyrinth can be played competitively or cooperatively, with players either racing each other or working together to collect all of the treasures. To adjust the difficulty for younger children, simply give them fewer treasure cards. This allows older players and younger players to play together while working at different levels.

What We’re Learning

• Cause & Effect. With each turn, players must move a row in the maze, connecting and disconnecting paths across the board.
• Strategy and Flexible Thinking. As players plot their way to their treasures, they must also adapt as each of their opponents moves the maze, forcing them to make constant adjustments to their strategy and keep an eye out for new, quicker paths.

This classic strategy game is also available in a 3D version and a Harry Potter edition!

Overview

The penguins’ pirate ship balances precariously on a wave, and your is mission to get all the penguins on board without tipping the ship! This game comes with sixteen pieces to balance, but each piece is a different shape and weight.

• Ages 3 and up. The box says ages 5 and up, but any child with a reasonably steady hand can play.
• Set-up and instructions. An adult may need to help assemble the wave when this game is new, but otherwise, set-up is a snap and the only rule is don’t rock the boat!
• Adaptable play. Don’t Rock the Boat can adapted for cooperative, competitive, or solo play.

What We’re Learning

• Center of Gravity and Balance. Naturally, this game teaches the notion of balance, but the design of the ship also encourages kids to explore what happens when an object is placed closer to the center, farther to the edge, out on the plank, or even up in a crow’s nest! Children quickly learn that the tiny anchor can balance even the heaviest pieces if it’s placed far enough from the ship’s center of gravity.
• Patience and Persistence. When playing this tricky game, children learn to move slowly and carefully. The slightest misstep can send the whole ship crashing down, but it’s so much fun that they won’t be able to resist giving it one more try!

Overview

Work together to build a path to the treasure, collecting the three keys along the way. But be careful! When you draw a card, it might be another piece of the path OR it might be an ogre! Try to get all the keys and reach the treasure before the ogres do!

• Ages 3 and up: The box says ages 5 and up, but this is my three-year-old’s favorite game! The simple rules and team play format make it an easy game for varied ages to play together.
• Set-up and instructions: To set up play, you can randomly place the three keys and the “Ogre Snacks” on the board, or you can roll the dice, which include a letter and number to indicate where these objects should be placed. This ended up being a great way to introduce our kids to a grid system, but be prepared to provide some adult assistance the first few times your younger children play.
• Cooperative play: Peaceable Kingdom has come out with some very fun and creative cooperative games, and “Race to the Treasure” is no exception. If your kids get stressed by competitive games like “Candy Land,” here’s an alternative that gives them all the fun of racing but brings the players together to defeat an imaginary foe.

What We’re Learning

• Decision Making & Strategy: Each time a player draws a card, they have to decide how best to connect it to the existing path, including making judgments about how to orient each piece and which goals to pursue.