Kids Games, Games for Kids. Kids Games for Download, Free Online Games for Kids. Teen Games, Family Games.

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Developing Problem Solving Skills in Children by Learning Checkers and Chess

Published

john

on June 13, 2009

in Articles, For Parents & Teachers and Tips

When young children discover the games of checkers and chess they have a head-start in developing their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Problem solving games like checkers and chess have many advantages over other types of games since they are very socially interactive (unlike video computer games that are especially popular these days.)

Having children play problem solving games like checkers and chess is a fantastic way for them to have a closer look at how their decision making determines the outcome of the game.

To convince children that they should try playing the games of checkers and chess, you might want to encourage them by suggesting that these games are a form of combat, instead of just simple game pieces and a checkered board.

The “Stop and Think” strategy of seeing things should be implemented at an early age so that children at all developmental levels can build the foundation for a lifetime of positive problem solving and critical thinking developmental skills.

Critical thinking and problem solving skills are vital at any age, and many family therapists would agree, if more people used the stop and think principal, fewer marriages would end in divorce.

A useful strategy for teaching your children problem solving skills includes the following five steps:

1. Identify the problem and have them finish the sentence; “The problem that I’m having is …..”
2. Consider 3 possible ways to remedies the problems with solutions.
3. Spent one minute for each of these options and decided if they are good or bad decisions.
4. Out of the three possible solutions, decide which one is your best option.
5. Employ your chosen option to the situation and see if it is successful.

A simple way to teach the five step strategy to young children is to apply it to the game of checkers. That way the decisions that they make in regard to the checker moves will in no way have any consequence in the real world.

The following exercise of allowing the young student to actually make the entire checker board moves for instance, before any opponent can make a counter move. Instill in them to always refer back to the old adage; “Consider all of your options.” that type of play can prove to be beneficial by removing any anxiety they my face in a real game or real life situation.

• The first move for the young player to consider will be to choose one move after considering three potential ones.
• Make that chosen move. Once they have committed to that move have them ask allowed; “Was that a smart move or not the best choice?” If the decision is made that it was not the best choice, have them make another move.
• Once again, make that chosen move, only this time have them ask themselves; “Now that I have committed to this move, what are the options that my opponent has to counter my move?”

Its best to have the kids think in terms of considering all of their options and to slow down and really think about the consequences of these moves, feeling free to go ahead change that initial move to one that they feel is more beneficial.

A suggestion to parents might be try this critical thinking exercise with your children at home by playing the game of checkers with them and allowing them the freedom of changing their moves even after they’ve taken their hand off of the checker game piece. This training exercise is best employed if the child is age 6 or older so the full grasp the concept of critical decision making. After each game if you closely observe, you’ll see the child’s decision making skills develop and become more refined.

Now the next step is to bridge the gap between the game of checkers and real-world scenarios using the terminology from the game, Like asking; “Is this the best option or maybe we should re-think our options.”

Bookmark and Share:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Sprouts

Published

on April 27, 2009

in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games

The 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:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Tic-Tac-Toe

Published

on March 27, 2009

in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games

Tic Tac Toe Game Where 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:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Trumps

Published

Online card games for Kids

on March 24, 2009

in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games

Trumps Game The game of Trumps is of northern European origin and dates back to the sixteenth Century and over time, has become Italy’s favorite card game. Throughout the years, Italians assigned Trumps a new name and is now referring as ‘Briscola.”

This game is generally played with two or three players but can be played by four participants in teams of two. A standard deck of cards is used with the eights, nines and tens remove leaving a total of 40 cards in play.

The dealer will be decide once each Participants in the game cutting the and the player that displays the lowest numbered card in the deck. Once this first dealer has been determined, turns will be taken as the dealer in a counter-clockwise direction.

Should there be four players in the game; teammates will sit facing one another and if there are three players one of the number 2 cards is removed from the game leaving a total of 39 cards in play.

In Trumps your objective is to earn the most points by performing “tricks.” The player to left of the dealer cuts the cards and then three are dealt to each. One of the left over cards that was removed from the deck is placed face-up in the center of the table and then the remaining cards in the deck are set on top of that card half covering it. This half exposed card is considered the Trump for that particular hand of play. The particular suit is considered the “trump suit” and all cards that are of this suit will trump cards that are of a different suit. Moreover, the lower valued card in this suit will trump cards of a higher valued one if it is of a different suit. An example of this would be a three of diamonds would trump a queen of clubs. This is an example of how the tricks are earned.

The action begins with a card being placed on the table by the player seated directly to the right of the dealer. He then picks up a card from the top of the deck to replace it the discarded one. The players that follow must use the same suit, should they have it in their hand. That player then draws a card from the deck to replace the one that he has discarded.

A player wins a “trick” when he puts a card with the most value and of the leading suit on the table (Dealer’s suit) or presents a trump card. Point values for the trump suit are as follows: Jacks are worth two points, Queens are three points, Kings are four points, 3’s are ten points and Aces are eleven points.

A hand is ended when all the cards are drawn from the pile and only the trump card is remaining. When the game is played in teams of two, one variation is to allow teammates to view each other’s cards to decide the best one to put in play. The player or team wins the hand when they have earned sixty-one or more points. Should each player or team earn sixty points, the hand ends in a draw. The number of hands played is decided beforehand by the participants involved in the game.

Communication of any kind between teammates is forbidden during the first round of play but from the second round on, teammates are allowed to communicate non-verbally with each other with pre-determined facial expressions. Caution must be employed to not allow the other team to figure out what you’re communicating.

Threes and Aces are referred to as “loads.” It is advisable to avoid playing these unless you are certain that both of them are held by your teammate. It is critical that you memorize all of the played cards and in particular, the trumps and the loads.

Card games download

Bookmark and Share:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Mancala A.K.A (Wari)

Published

on March 19, 2009

in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games

Mancala A.K.A (Wari) Manala is a very interesting board game which roots lay in ancient Egyptian culture and is still popular to this day. Throughout the African continent this game is known by many as Wari. The game is also known to have close associations to traditional tribal rituals in that part of the world. This game is a duel between two players and the action takes place on a rectangular game board which consists of two rows of six squares with additional squares placed at end for a total of 14 squares. Along with the game board, forty-eight game pieces are used.

The action begins with the players sitting opposite each other with the game board placed in the middle. All 48 game pieces are placed within the twelve adjacent squares providing four in each square.

Once it has been determined who will begin the game, this lucky first player will start by removing any four of his game pieces from any of his squares on his side of the table and divides them up evenly in the next squares in a counter-clockwise direction. The player is also permitted to invade his opponents square on the other side if the game board in the first two of the opponent’s squares, with your goal to gain as many of your opponent’s pieces in the hole’s of your opponent’s squares.

The action begins with each player moving all of his game pieces, on by one from one hole to the next. Once the last moved piece has ended up in an opponent’s square which contains only two or three pieces game pieces, those game pieces become captured and removed from the game. As the game pieces are captured, they are placed in the end hole to the player’s right.

When a player captures an opponent’s game piece, the consecutive pieces in order situated in an opponent’s row are also captured during the same turn. When a hole is left vacant, the hole is jumped and will be filled on the following turn by his opponent during the following turn. When a player finds that all the holes in his row are vacant and it is his turn, the game is over and.

The winner is determined when all the pieces remaining on the game board are added up and the pieces placed aside are added to the count as well. The player with the most pieces is the decided winner.

Mancala is a difficult game to understand but with practice and patience become more interesting as you develop more detailed strategies in this fast-paced and complex game. When considering strategy, you must always keep in mind the positioning of the filled holes of your opponent, with special attention paid to holes that have 2 or 3 game pieces. If you are able to threaten more of your opponent’s holes in order to keep him on the defense that is a huge advantage.

Bookmark and Share:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Ludo

Published

Downloadble board games category. Free Download!

on March 19, 2009

in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games

Ludo Ludo is a game of East-Indian origin and has roots in the game of Pachisi. Once this game was introduced to England, the rules were simplified and the game was changed slightly to move at a faster pace. Ludo is still very popular today and is popular among the sailors of the Royal British Navy.

This game can be played by between two and four players and requires a game board that has a playing area which is in the shape of a cross and squares in each corner. There are four sets of four game pieces with each set being of a different color and one standard six-sided playing die. Play begins with each participant placing his game piece in the starting position of the bottom left corner of the game board. Participants take turns rolling the die to determine who begins the game first. The first player can move either one or two pieces depending on the number that he rolls and each player’s ultimate goal is to get all four of his game pieces home to the center square.

To start a game piece in play, you must first roll either a one or a six. If a one is rolled, the player will start by placing a game piece on the first square but if a six is rolled, he can place two game pieces on the first square or one on the sixth house which is the sixth square in order from the start square.

The roll of the dice will determine the number of square in which a player’s piece will be advanced and a player can move however many spaces or pieces he see fit depending on the number that is rolled on the die. If a player rolls a six he automatically rolls the die again once he’s made his move. It is allowable for a player to have 2 or more of his game pieces on the same space but he is only allowed to move them one at a time.

You can eliminate the opposing player’s pieces by landing on a square in which they occupy. By doing this, you will send your opponent’s game piece back to the starting square, whereby he must again roll either a 1 or a 6 to get back in the game. If there are two or more pieces occupying one square these pieces are safe from attack other pieces are not allowed to land there.

In the final phase of the game, all players will be in the process of moving their game pieces along the central track towards the Home Square. To reach the home square the die must roll the exact number to land on the home square. The first player to get all of his game pieces to the home square is the winner

A player can attempt to employ some strategy by placing two or more of his game pieces within the same square near the end of the track. By doing this, his game pieces are protected from being sent to “square one” by an opponent landing on his square.

Play free flash Ludo game online

Bookmark and Share:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

The Fox & The Geese

Published

on March 18, 2009

in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games

Fox & Geese Game This ancient game was the creation of early Nordic hunters and was enjoyed by many once it gained widespread popularity in Italy during the medieval period, eventually reached England in the fifteenth Century and was met with much popularity and in fact it was one of Queen Victoria’s favorite pastimes.

This game requires two players, a game board made in the shape of a cross with lines of many directions creating thirty-three intersecting points. Game pieces include seventeen pieces which symbolize the geese and one piece symbolizing the fox. Once it has been decided who gets to play the fox and who plays the geese, the geese are arranged on the board accordingly and then the fox has the option of being placed anywhere he wishes on the game board.

The geese can prevail in this game by surrounding the fox and blocking all of his potential escape routes. The fox on the other hand, will is successful by eliminating twelve of geese since it would require more than five geese to halt his progress.

The fox always begins the game with the first move and can move in any direction forward or backwards to an open space. The geese on the other hand can move in any direction aside from backwards. The fox will eat a goose when he is able to jump it and land on an empty space and once a goose has been eaten it is removed from the game. As in the game of checkers, multiple jumps are possible as long as there are empty spaces to accommodate the landings.

Turns of each player must be taken and not skipped, even if this puts a player in an undesirable position. It might prove interesting to change the rule a bit and allow the geese to move backwards as well or even play the game with only thirteen pieces as in an earlier version of this game that was popular prior to the Seventeenth Century.

Making the jumps of the fox compulsory can add a whole new element to the game and can force an opponent to retreat to a previous position. The player playing the role of the geese has the ability to keep the fox in check by making sure he has made only the allowable moves.

See board games download category

Bookmark and Share:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

The House of Fortune

Published

on March 18, 2009

in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games

Similar to the Royal Game of Goose and Roulette, The House of Fortune is a game of Nordic origin and was made popular during the medieval time period. It is still played to this day in Switzerland and Austria. Players are awarded points and penalized depending on the square in which they land.

This game is played by two or more players and requires a game board, which is made up of ten squares that are numbered from two to twelve and the number four is left out. There are two standard, six-sided dice and playing chips for wagering used in this game.

The game begins with some sort of value being attached to the playing chips, once decided, the players are given a certain number of chips to start the game with, the object of the game to win as many chips as possible. The player that starts the game rolls the dice once and all the players have gathered around the playing table and then pass the dice to the player on his immediate left. On a player’s roll, he will put his chip the corresponding square to the number he rolled with his dice. If that square already has chips, he then takes those chips and then leaves one of his own.

If a four is rolled, then no chips are placed on the table with that roll and if a two is rolled he is allowed to move to the square of the “lucky pig” and collect all the chips on the table with the exception of the chips in the number seven square. The player moves to the square of “matrimony” should he roll a number seven, any chips on this square cannot be taken.

The player who rolls a twelve goes directly to that square which is known as the “King.” In this event, the player rolling the 12 stakes claim to all the chips on the table this also includes all the chips in square number seven.

As a player runs out of chips, he is out of the game and must leave the table and play continues until the winner is decided when a player ends up with all game chips and should there be any game chips at the end of the game, the last remaining player end up with these chips as well.

Your success in this game is purely luck with the roll of the dice and in no way can this be influenced by any factor. One way in which to make this game more interesting is to place the amount of chips that correspond the square in which you should land, for example; land on square 9, place 9 chips in that square.

See all board games for kids

Bookmark and Share:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Alquerque (or Windmill)

Published

on March 18, 2009

in For Parents & Teachers, Games & Activities and Indoor Games

Alquerque (or Windmill) An illustration of this game dating back to1400 B.C. was discovered in an Egyptian temple and many consider this game an ancestral version of modern checkers. Alfonso X wrote about it in the “Book of Games” in the late 13th Century and from that point forward gained in popularity throughout Europe. Alquerque was met with great appreciation, similar to that of Chess due to its level of sophistication and the level of intelligence and skill required for success in this game of anchient origin.

Two players are required in this game as well as a game board which is square in shape and has a total of 16 squares printed on it, two sets of twelve game pieces with both sets being of a different color. The game begins once both players have put their pieces on the intersecting points of the game board. The center of the board is left empty to accommodate the first move which is always made by the white piece.

Your goal in this game is basically the same as in the game of checkers in that you win by eliminating all of your opponent’s game pieces. The game pieces can be moved diagonally, horizontally or vertically to another intersecting point on the game board. If there is an opponent’s game piece next to yours and there is a space open on the other side of it, it is required to jump that piece. If for what ever reason you do not make the jump and take the piece, your piece will be “huffed” in other words removed from play. Jumping multiple spaces is completely acceptable in this game.

In this game it is an advantage to be the player to go second and if players should be at the same level, it would only be fair that player’s alternate who starts first. It is possible for this game to end in a draw, where in which both players are unable to make any more moves. In an earlier version of this game, it was allowed for players to move their pieces in a backwards direction to make the game more interesting.

See downloadble board games for Kids

Bookmark and Share:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page