The holiday season is right around the corner and many of you have already started shopping for gifts. This year, I want to encourage you to look into fun and educational games for your child.

While we are immersed in a digital world, traditional games are a great way to spend time together – and sneak in a little learning too.

Here are 10 of my favorites to consider, in no particular order:

1. Monopoly is a classic game that can help your child with math, in addition to teaching him how to manage money.  The game involves strategy and thinking ahead, which can be challenging for our students.
2. Chess is a great game to encourage strategy and planning.
3. Memory now comes in your child’s favorite characters and helps to improve short-term memory and attention.
4. Rory’s Story Cubes is a pocket-sized creative story generator that allows your child to use his imagination while focusing on literacy development, and speaking and listening skills.  We use this game to also work on memory and flexibility.  Try it, the kids like it!!
5. Scrabble and Scrabble Jr. provide an opportunity to work on spelling and reading skills and planning.
6. Pictionary focuses on the meaning of a word through drawing, without using letters.  It also works on categorizing familiar items.
7. Penguins on Ice is based on ancient Greek Pentomino, featuring puzzle pieces that shift in order to fit into place. With simple challenges for beginners to complex puzzles that will test experienced players, this game is a fun way to develop logical thinking skills and spatial reasoning abilities.
8. Likety Quick is an amusing game where each player must use clues to come up with a word before one of the other players.  It focuses on word building and spelling pattern skills, and it requires a LOT of flexible thinking.
9. SET is a witty card game of quick recognition and deduction.  This game requires patience and perception.  I’ve played it with students as young as fourth grade and as old as high school!!
10. Duple is a quick-thinking game of symbol matching and word-finding.

This time of year can be hectic. Take a break with your child and play some games. He won’t even realize he’s learning!