a very {easy to make} review game

Reviewing material is just an everyday part of our homeschool.  Phonograms, sight words, math facts, Latin/Greek roots, spelling words…all require frequent reviews of the material to achieve mastery.  However, that can get a bit boring for both the kids and the teacher.

We try to play many games in our homeschool to take the hum-drum out of the review.  If I can, I like to make it seasonally themed too. 

Since the little ones are doing a unit study on all things gingerbread (more on that soon), I searched Pinterest for some cute gingerbread games.  And boy howdy, there were some cute, cute, cute printable activities. 

The only problem for me is that they required a lot of color ink to print.  Even if you set it to “quick copy”, they would just use up a whole lot of ink.  And color ink cartridges are pricey!  Honestly, I am a bit stingy with the color ink around here. 

But I wanted to make a cute review game so I pulled out what I had around the house:  a colored file folder, markers, and index cards.  I’ve come to learn that my kids aren’t concerned whether the review game is one that will win an award for the cutest game board ever.  They just want to have fun while learning. 

Now before I show it to you, you have to promise me one thing.  Promise me that you won’t laugh at my game board.  Because while my husband is an artist and some of my kids follow in his footsteps, I am not an artist. 

Ok, since you’re not going to laugh…here is the game board that I created in about ten minutes on Sunday night.  (It was getting really late.  I told myself if I had more time, I could have made this way cuter!)

You didn’t laugh…did you? {smile}

Just a simple gingerbread man drawn on a file folder with a little path following the outline, and places to begin and end and Voila! you’ve got the easiest game to construct that makes review time fun!

We’ve had a blast this week practicing sight words and spelling words.  And not once has a child told me that the game board was not pretty enough.  Actually they’ve begged me to play it everyday! 

So while I love those cute games you will find on Pinterest (and if I discovered an endless supply of color printer ink, I would print out every single one of them), it is sometimes easier, cheaper, and still just as fun to use a few materials around the house to make a learning review game!