Board Game Education

We were supposed to have Game Night with our friends tonight, but coronavirus... Carlie and I are in a state of mourning.

As I mentioned the other day, one of my quarantine goals is to learn some new board games. Sometimes we buy new games and never take the time to learn to play them (as much as I love strategy board games, I don't enjoy the process of learning them. It hurts my brain), so I'm trying to get caught up on our game supply. I currently have three left on the shelf that I need to learn: Swashbuckled, Castles of Burgundy, and Terraforming Mars.

Another game-related goal I have during this time of social distancing is to teach my kids some new games. My kids may not emerge from this pandemic having mastered common core math, but gosh darnnit! They will have board game skills! A few years ago I wrote about some of the life skills that can be practiced by playing board games. I'm such a believer in this! And as I've been teaching new games to my kids, I feel even more enthusiasm about it. And it's not just life skills, but all sorts of miscellaneous education.

This week I taught Nick and Daisy how to play Pandemic, and it was a great way for them to increase their understanding of what is happening in the world right now. I have such a love/hate relationship with Pandemic. We play it in its simplest form and hardly ever win.

I also taught Daisy how to play Wingspan this week (Nicky has known for a while).

The cards in this game feature bird types. Each card has the name of the bird, a map of where the bird may be found, and the bird's habitat, diet, and wingspan.

We are becoming ornithologists quite by accident. I've never been a bird enthusiast, yet, now, I find myself almost caring about birds. I never would have expected this!

Last week Scotty and I taught the kids how to play Dead Man's Draw. 

This is a great game for practicing risk-taking and process of elimination. Another great game for practicing process of elimination is Love Letter.

An additional perk of Love Letter is that it's one of the easiest games to learn! As you can see, it features a busty princess. If you don't like that, there are other editions of the game (The Hobbit, for example) with less cleavage. 

This morning I taught Nicky and Daisy how to play Settlers of Catan. Nicky has played Catan Jr - which is pretty great - but this was his first time learning the original Catan game. 

(Sidenote: I decided that for a post-pandemic goal, I need to invest in a new Catan game. We have the original game from when it was first released - when it was titled Settlers of Catan rather than just Catan. We kind of stole it from my mom and step-dad. But they're divorced now, and I decided as a child of divorced parents, I get to keep Catan as consolation. Our expansion sets are newer versions with updated artwork, so its all mis-matchy. Our rule book is also gone, and even though you can look at the PDF online, it's a royal pain in the tuchus).

Please don't assume that all goes well during these times of board game learning. Nicky was infuriated all through Catan and Pandemic and now claims he hates them both. Daisy is usually too distracted to understand the games, but she still wants to learn how to play (Pandemic is way beyond her skill level, but I knew it would be). The more we play, though, the better they get, and they understand more each time. My first time playing Wingspan with Daisy, I wanted to claw my eyes out. The second time, she did immensely better, and I could see that some things were starting to click. 

We'll see which game is next and whether Nicky ever gives Catan or Pandemic another chance. I probably need to work sportsmanship into my homeschooling curriculum.