Tag Archive for 'pencil and paper games'

Children Can Develop Skills in Problem Solving with Sudoku

Published
by
john
on June 14, 2009
in Articles, For Parents & Teachers and Tips
.

By nature, child’s mind is like a sponge when it comes to learning new things. The old school of thought is that as children reach certain ages, the way in which they comprehend new information changes in stages. However, new research has contributed to theories that demonstrate children do not learn in a linear or straight forward way as previously thought, but instead their learning varies as a result of individual factors or circumstances.

It has been shown that children in fact use many different methods simultaneously to comprehend new information and many of these strategies have been observed at a much younger age than once thought.

Once children have reached the age at which they enter school, they are prepared for developing more complicated methods of problem solving. When children reach this stage of intellectual development, in order to truly cultivate their problem solving skills it is extremely helpful to use of challenging puzzle games like; Sudoku.

The game Sudoku can be considered a logic based math game, but at first sight it appears more like a crossword puzzle due to its grid like layout. Sudoku is played on square 9 X 9 grid totaling 81 squares with each square again divided up 3 high by 3 wide sections. The game does not start off with an empty grid but instead numbers are pre-placed in chosen squares to be used as clues. It is up to the player to figure out where the remaining numbers should go.

What makes Sudoku challenging and unique is that the numbers 1 – 9 may only be used one time in each section, column or row. A decision must be made by the player as to where to place what number and in which square while still follow the rule of not repeating the order in other sections.

Many consider math the language of science and the subject is universally understood, not being bound by any language constraints, regardless of culture or geographic location. In the problem solving game of Sudoku, you solve for the grid through the use of; process of elimination and logic only. Each puzzle only has one right answer and range in difficulty from simple to very complex.

Children are able to apply many problem solving strategies through playing the Sudoku game puzzles like the “Guess and Check” method, which can be applied to so many other aspects of real world situations. Not only do these puzzles develop your reasoning and logic skills, they are great fun to play as well. There is no doubt that Sudoku games encourage creativity, they also inspire children to be more flexible in their Problem solving style.

An additional benefit to having children play Sudoku games, is that it helps foster a positive attitude regarding math and avoid any early age math anxiety that may develop, which could possibly hamper further development in this area.

Not only will the skills developed playing Sudoku benefit them in math and science, but it may also help with the problem solving skills necessary to excel in other academic areas and countless real world scenarios.

Bookmark and Share:
[del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Google] [Mixx] [Propeller] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] More »

Sprouts

Published
by
admin
on April 27, 2009
in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games
.

Sprouts GameThe game of sprouts was originally developed by math professors at Cambridge University in 1967. As simple as this game may appear, there are complicated math properties involved in solving the game and as a result, Sprouts has been written about in the magazine; Scientific American. Due to the complexity of Sprouts, it was the focus of study at the famous Bell Laboratory.
In its forty years history, Sprouts has never been popular as a recreational game but it has been popular in academic circles however, this all may eventually change as more people become aware of how challenging it is and will want to play sprouts recreationally.
To prepare for play, you start with a piece of paper and draw three random dots in an attempt to be the player who has the most bushy, tangled sprout at the end of the game. This is done while following four simple rules. It sounds easy, when you think that all you have to do is connect the dots, but the game is a whole lot more than meets the eye.
There are basically four rules that you must follow in the drawing of the sprouts; two dots must be connected by each sprout, existing sprouts must be not crossed over by newly drawn ones, with every new sprout drawn and new dot must be added along its length and each dot may only make contact with a maximum of three sprouts.
There has been one variation added to this game since its creation, this change has been to add plus signs in place of dots and has been referred to as Brussels sprouts. With every turn, a player draws a sprout that joins an arm of one plus signs to another.

Bookmark and Share:
[del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Google] [Mixx] [Propeller] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] More »

Tic-Tac-Toe

Published
by
admin
on March 27, 2009
in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games
.

Tic Tac Toe GameWhere you draw the line is entirely up to you in this fun, entertaining and easy to play game. All that you need to get started is a pen and paper and basic understanding of how to play the game. We all remember the simplified version Tic-Tac-Toe. Now a twist has been added; instead of the standard three, four marks in a row are needed to create a line. This can be in any direction vertical horizon or diagonal.

You start by drawing a ten by ten grid containing 100 squares or you can draw a larger grid with more squares if you prefer, that is entirely up to the players in the game and agreed upon before play begins. Different letters of the alphabet are assigned to each player which represents their personal mark.

The game begins with the first player marking any one square of his choice with his assigned letter in an attempt to line up four of his letters. If the participants in game decide to make the grid with more than just the standard 100 squares, the patterns become more complex and interesting. It might be fun to try playing this game on a standard sheet of graph paper and require six in a row instead of four to form a string.

For an added twist, why not agree before-hand to require two strings instead of the standard one to win and allow then to be joined at any point on the grid. You will see all sorts of interesting patterns developing; from T’s to L’s to V’s.

You can play Tic-Tac-Toe game online

Bookmark and Share:
[del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Google] [Mixx] [Propeller] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] More »

Headlines

Published
by
admin
on February 17, 2009
in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games
.

Headlines Kids Game1. A letter from the alphabet is said out loud by each player in order so that there are 4 letters. A second round is added if there should be more than 4 players, so that everyone has a chance to say a letter.

2. The letters are written by all the players on a piece of paper. There is one minute given for all the players in the game to create a headline with the 4 letter said by the players.

3. Players will use words which begin with the 4 letters provided from the each player in the game to create the headlines. An example of this would be if the letters are T, R,P,W then the headlines created could read; “Train Ride Proves to be Worthless.”

4. Once all players have read their headlines out loud, a vote is cast to select the funniest headline in the group. The writer with the most votes for their headline wins one point.

Bookmark and Share:
[del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Google] [Mixx] [Propeller] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] More »

The Detective

Published
by
admin
on February 17, 2009
in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games
.

The Detective Kids GameTake turns as the detective while trying to figuring out who the assassin is before other players in the group are killed.

1. A circle is formed with the players facing one another and then a count is taken. A small piece of paper is made by the first player for each player in the game. On one of the papers an X is drawn and on another an O is drawn.

2. The lead player then distributes one piece of paper to person in the group. The assassin in the group is the player who receives the piece of paper with the X marked on it. The detective is the player who receives the piece of paper with the O marked on it.

3. The newly assigned player can kill anyone in the group he wishes by merely looking at them and winking. Moreover, this assassin can make somebody his accomplice by merely sticking his tongue out at him. The player who is killed by the assassin must say out loud “Dead” to let everyone in the game know he is the murder victim. Once a player is an accomplice, he cam wink to kill another but is forbidden to make others accomplices by sticking out his tongue.

Bookmark and Share:
[del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Google] [Mixx] [Propeller] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] More »

The Storytellers

Published
by
admin
on February 17, 2009
in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games
.

This is a humorous word game requiring imaginative thought as each player takes a turn building phrases.

1. Each player receives a pencil and a piece of paper and is seated at he same table. A decision is made who goes first and in which order.

2. The game is started by with the first player giving a word that all the other players must write about. An example this of this would be; “Animal” all the players would then write a type of animal at the top of their page.

3. Once each player has written down a type of animal, they take their papers and fold them in a way that no one else can see what they have written down. Each player then passes their paper to the player to the right of them. The player, who is second in the order, says the word; “Did” as an example and all players would write down a verb to describe the action.

4. As new words are added to the paper, it is once again folded over.

5. Once each paper has worked it’s was around the circle of players and is received by the original player, each paper is opened and read aloud to the group. These short essays can be very humorous!

Downloadable  kids words games

Bookmark and Share:
[del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Google] [Mixx] [Propeller] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] More »

Crystals

Published
by
admin
on January 3, 2009
in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games
.

crystals1Your imagination and creativity are put to the test in this challenging game. If you are of school age and are just starting to learn geometry, then you will find this game very helpful with developing these skills.

This game requires 2 or more players

Required for play:

- Standard piece of paper divided into squares or graph paper (1) sheet.
- Pencils of various colors required for each player.

Start of game & your objective.

Initially, the game begins with one of the players setting up the game board on a piece of paper; from the center of the paper, a large square is drawn and within this large square many small squares are created. With a greater number of players more squares are drawn. An example of this would be; if there are 2 players then 20 squares are added, 3 player would have 30 squares.
Once it is established who goes first, each player in turn, colors a square with a pencil of their choosing in an attempt to form crystals of symmetrical shape. Your goal in this game is to create the most elaborate “crystals”

How the game is played

In order for a “crystal” to be counted, it must simultaneously possess symmetry on all 4 axes; vertically, horizontally and diagonally on 2 sides. To form a crystal, it must be made of squares that touch at the very minimum on one side. If the squares touch only at their corners, this does not count toward the formation of a crystal.

The game is ended once all the space needed to complete more squares is filled. Once this happens, the players decide among themselves how many crystals each player has formed and how many squares belong to each player. The winner is determined by the player with the most filled squares inside their crystal.

Tips

An effective strategy is to start by placing smaller squares inside various bigger squares. By doing this, you create a nucleus by which to build bigger crystals later.
A defensive move which would pay-off later in the game would be to intentionally create irregular crystals in an attempt to stop the other players’ advancement.

Bookmark and Share:
[del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Google] [Mixx] [Propeller] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] More »