10 Teacher Approved Travel Games for Primary School Kids
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Travel games are an essential on long road trips and adventures. Here are our top ten tried and tested travel games.
Educational Benefits:
Number Recognition: Uno involves matching cards by number, color, or action, helping children recognize and identify numbers as they play, reinforcing basic numerical concepts in a dynamic setting.
Color Recognition: Uno cards come in different colors, prompting children to recognize and differentiate between various colors, which is a foundational skill for early childhood development.
Strategy Development: Uno requires players to strategize by choosing which cards to play and when, teaching children to think ahead, anticipate opponents' moves, and adapt their strategies accordingly.
Pattern Recognition: Uno cards feature patterns and sequences, encouraging children to recognize and create patterns as they match cards and plan their next moves, fostering cognitive flexibility and pattern recognition skills.
Social Interaction: Playing Uno with others promotes social interaction, communication, and cooperation as children interact with peers, take turns, and engage in friendly competition, enhancing their social skills and emotional intelligence.
Turn-Taking and Patience: Uno teaches children the importance of taking turns, waiting patiently, and respecting others' opportunities to play, reinforcing essential social skills and promoting positive behaviour in group settings.
Critical Thinking: Uno encourages critical thinking as children strategise to outwit opponents, consider various card combinations, and make decisions based on the current game state, fostering logical reasoning and problem-solving abilities.
Grab some Uno cards here.
2. Junior Monopoly
Monopoly is a family fun favourite and the Junior version makes the game more accessible for children (and less of a marathon too!).
Educational Benefits:
Financial Literacy: Monopoly introduces children to basic financial concepts such as budgeting, investing, saving, and managing money, helping them develop essential financial literacy skills that are applicable in real life.
Math Skills: Playing Monopoly involves counting money, making change, adding, subtracting, and calculating percentages, providing practical opportunities for children to strengthen their math skills in a fun and engaging way.
Critical Thinking: Monopoly requires strategic decision-making as players weigh the risks and rewards of purchasing properties, negotiating deals, and managing their assets, fostering critical thinking and analytical skills.
Negotiation Skills: Negotiating property trades and making deals with other players in Monopoly enhances children's negotiation skills, communication abilities, and social intelligence as they learn to advocate for their interests and compromise with others.
Risk Management: Monopoly teaches children about risk management as they assess the potential risks and benefits of different investment strategies, learning to make informed decisions and adapt to changing circumstances.
Patience and Delayed Gratification: Monopoly involves long-term gameplay where success often requires patience, persistence, and delayed gratification, teaching children the value of setting goals, planning ahead, and persevering through challenges.
Social Skills: Playing Monopoly with others encourages social interaction, cooperation, and sportsmanship as children engage in friendly competition, resolve conflicts, and learn to win and lose graciously, fostering positive social skills and relationships.
Get your own Bluey Monopoly here.
3. Puzzles
Educational Benefits:
Cognitive Development: Puzzles help children develop critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and spatial awareness as they manipulate pieces to fit together.
Fine Motor Skills: Handling puzzle pieces, especially smaller ones, improves hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills in children as they grasp, pinch, and manoeuvre the pieces into place.
Patience and Persistence: Completing a puzzle requires patience and persistence, teaching children the value of sticking with a task even when it's challenging, fostering resilience and perseverance.
Shape and Color Recognition: Puzzles often feature various shapes and colors, aiding children in recognizing and distinguishing between different shapes and colors, which are fundamental concepts in early childhood education.
Memory Enhancement: Engaging with puzzles exercises memory skills as children recall where specific pieces fit or remember patterns they've encountered, enhancing their ability to retain and retrieve information.
Social Skills: Working on puzzles with others encourages collaboration, communication, and teamwork, fostering social skills as children discuss strategies, share ideas, and take turns.
Self-Esteem Boost: Successfully completing a puzzle provides children with a sense of accomplishment and boosts self-esteem, reinforcing their belief in their abilities and motivating them to tackle more challenges.
Grab our favourite puzzle here.
Education Benefits:
Pattern Recognition: Taco Goat Cheese Pizza involves quickly recognizing patterns and matching cards based on similarities, enhancing children's pattern recognition skills and cognitive abilities.
Memory Enhancement: Playing the game requires players to remember the sequence of actions and cards played, thus improving children's memory skills and ability to recall information.
Social Interaction: Taco Goat Cheese Pizza promotes social interaction and communication among players as they engage in lively gameplay, fostering teamwork, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
Quick Decision-Making: The fast-paced nature of the game encourages children to make quick decisions under pressure, improving their ability to think on their feet and make strategic choices in time-sensitive situations.
Numeracy Skills: Taco Goat Cheese Pizza involves counting and basic arithmetic as players keep track of the number of cards in their hand and calculate points, providing opportunities for children to practice numeracy skills in a fun and interactive way.
Attention and Focus: Playing the game requires children to stay focused and attentive to the actions of other players, helping them develop concentration skills and attention span.
Language Development: The game involves verbal interaction and communication, providing children with opportunities to expand their vocabulary, practice articulation, and enhance language skills as they describe cards and engage in conversation during gameplay.
5. Mathletics
Sometimes we can’t avoid screen time when we are travelling, so if the kids are going on to go on Ipads it may as well be educational right. The next two suggestions are online curriculum based learning platforms.
Educational Benefits:
Mathletics promotes active learning through interactive activities and challenges.
It provides personalised learning experiences tailored to individual student needs and abilities.
Mathletics offers immediate feedback, allowing children to identify and correct mistakes in real-time.
It enhances a child's problem-solving skills by presenting math concepts in engaging and diverse formats.
Mathletics fosters a competitive spirit and motivation through leaderboards and achievements, encouraging children to strive for improvement.
6. Reading Eggs
Reading Eggs helps kids learn to read with online books, reading games, phonics activities, and much more.
Education Benefits:
Reading Eggs facilitates early literacy development by providing interactive and engaging activities that support reading skills such as phonics, sight words, and comprehension.
It offers a structured learning pathway designed to cater to children's individual abilities and progress, ensuring they receive appropriate challenges and support.
Reading Eggs incorporates fun and colourful animations, games, and rewards to keep children motivated and enthusiastic about reading.
The program tracks children's progress and provides detailed reports for parents and educators, enabling them to monitor growth and identify areas for improvement.
Reading Eggs fosters a love for reading and learning by making the process enjoyable and accessible, setting a strong foundation for lifelong literacy.
7. Bluey 5 In 1
5 in 1 Bluey games Pack includes: Cheese 'N" Crackers (SNAP) Bluey's Battle (WAR) Go Fruit Bat (GO FISH) Grannies (OLD MAID) Memory
Educational Benefits:
Maths Skills: Card games involve counting, adding, subtracting, and strategizing, which enhance mathematical abilities.
Critical Thinking: Children develop critical thinking skills as they analyse different moves, anticipate opponents' actions, and plan their own strategies.
Memory Improvement: Remembering card values, sequences, and patterns exercises memory and enhances recall abilities.
Social Skills: Playing card games encourages social interaction, cooperation, and good sportsmanship, fostering communication and interpersonal skills.
Emotional Regulation: Learning to win and lose gracefully helps children manage emotions, develop resilience, and cope with setbacks in a supportive environment.
Grab our favourite Bluey Cards here.
8. Guess Who
An oldy but a goody.
Educational Benefits:
Observational Skills: Guess Who encourages children to pay attention to details and observe facial features, enhancing their observational skills.
Critical Thinking: Players must ask strategic questions to narrow down possibilities, fostering critical thinking and deductive reasoning.
Vocabulary Expansion: Describing and asking about characteristics of the characters helps expand children's vocabulary and descriptive abilities.
Social Interaction: Guess Who promotes conversation and interaction between players, improving social skills such as turn-taking, listening, and verbal communication.
Problem-Solving: The game presents players with a problem (identifying the opponent's character) and challenges them to find a solution using logical reasoning and process of elimination.
Grab a game of Guess Who? Here
9. Super Mario Whot! Card Game
Super Mario Whot is a variation of the classic card game Whot, themed around characters and elements from the Super Mario universe. The objective is to get rid of all your cards first.
Educational Benefits:
Numeracy Skills: WHOT involves numbers and shapes, requiring players to match cards based on numerical values and symbols. This helps reinforce basic numeracy skills such as recognizing numbers, counting, and understanding numerical relationships.
Strategy and Planning: To succeed in WHOT, players must employ strategic thinking and planning. They need to consider which cards to play, when to play them, and how to anticipate their opponents' moves. This fosters critical thinking, decision-making, and strategic planning abilities.
Pattern Recognition: WHOT cards feature various shapes and colors, which encourage players to recognize patterns and sequences. Identifying patterns on cards and understanding how they relate to gameplay enhances pattern recognition skills, an essential cognitive ability applicable in various academic and real-life scenarios.
Social Interaction: Playing WHOT promotes social interaction and communication among players. Whether discussing strategies, negotiating rules, or simply engaging in friendly banter, the game facilitates interpersonal skills, cooperation, and effective communication, all of which are crucial for academic and personal development.
Adaptability and Flexibility: WHOT rules may allow for different variations and interpretations, requiring players to adapt to changing circumstances and think flexibly. Adapting to new rules or unexpected situations in the game helps cultivate adaptability, resilience, and the ability to approach challenges with creativity and resourcefulness.
Get your own WHOT cards here.
10. Qwirkle
Educational Benefits:
Pattern Recognition: Qwirkle requires players to identify and create patterns using different shapes and colors. This enhances pattern recognition skills, which are essential in various areas such as mathematics, language, and problem-solving.
Spatial Reasoning: Players must analyze the board and plan their moves to maximize points while considering the spatial relationships between tiles. This fosters spatial reasoning skills, which are crucial for understanding geometry, navigation, and visual perception.
Critical Thinking: Qwirkle encourages strategic thinking and decision-making as players must evaluate their options, anticipate opponents' moves, and plan ahead to achieve the highest scores. This promotes critical thinking skills, including logical reasoning and problem-solving.
Color and Shape Recognition: The game involves matching tiles based on color or shape, helping players develop color recognition and shape identification abilities. This can lay the foundation for learning concepts such as color theory, geometry, and classification.
Social Skills: Qwirkle is a social game that encourages interaction, collaboration, and friendly competition among players. Through communication, negotiation, and sharing strategies, players enhance their social skills, including teamwork, empathy, and sportsmanship.
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