I found one of the best games today- The Allowance Game!

We were at co-op, and our community of moms bring various things to give away, each week. It becomes an awesome collection of hand-me-down clothes, games, learning materials, and more! I spotted this game and instantly grabbed it. It was in perfect condition! I also saw that it was created by Lakeshore Learning, which means high-quality educational material.

If I were to create a game, this is the type I would create! (You can see my Story Elements Game, and DIY Board game planning template here!)

Why Use Board Games in Homeschooling?

Here are a few huge benefits we’ve seen, thanks to board games:

• Basic, universal board game skills: counting, taking turns, dealing with highs and lows of a “chance” style game
• Math & money skills: adding and subtracting with both bills and coins. The entire game is built around earning, spending and saving money, so each turn your child has a chance to collect or “pay” certain quantities of dollars and cents!
• Perks of multiple-age play: I played this game with my preschooler, 2nd grader and 4th grader yesterday. It was easy for my 4th grade son, but he still enjoyed it. He was able to “make change” and move through the game easily. He also pointed out strategies that my other two wouldn’t have thought of: for example, when my daughter had all $1 bills and the “bank” was running low, he suggested she trade in five $1s for a $5.
• Grow up with the game: Another perk to multi-age play is that over time, your kids can graduate into different roles! Similar to Monopoly, there is a “banker” in the game, so as your child ages they can graduated into this role.
• Salvage important money skills: in a world where coins are being discontinued and paper money is rarely seen, I really value this game! It is a high priority to me to teach my kids with tangible objects, including paper money /coins. My husband and I teach them financial literacy in numerous ways, and have started talking about how credit works, as well. However, for my preschooler and 2nd grader especially, it is extremely important they handle real tangible money, understand the math behind it and also internalize the way it comes and goes! (This is much more abstract, with a credit card).

Board Games Teach Skills & Strengthen Relationships

Have you heard of the Five Love Languages? I first heard about them when I was dating my (now) husband, and found them very helpful! I feel like mine have changed a little bit over time, especially now with four kids! I have also really enjoyed learning (or guessing) the love languages of my kids. Right now, it seems like quality time is one of their top languages (as it is for me).

I love to read aloud to them, and that is a huge “sub-language” for me. I think reading aloud is an enriching version of quality time. I also think playing games together is a great example of quality time! As my kids have gotten older, we have been able to add more and more games to our repertoire, and my husband and I have loved the funny inside jokes and memories made while playing these games.

Favorite Board Games With Kids

A few of our recent favorite board games with kids have been:

• Code Names (we recently added the Harry Potter version!)
• Priorities (my older two kids’ current favorite!)
• Quiddler (a card game with words, similar to Scrabble or Bananagrams)
• Trouble (back to basics! My preschooler loves this one)
• I Found It (many versions, we have the Disney and fairy creatures ones)
• Sum Swamp (another Lakeshore game we liked!)
• The Allowance Game (featured in this post)
• Sleeping Queens
• Gnoming Around

(These are not affiliate links. Purely suggestions of what we found fun!)

Fun Games For Homeschool Learning

Lastly, here are a few games or game-related things that I have created, to help my own kids!

DIY Board Game: this is probably one of my favorite projects of the year! I had both of my kids create their own board games. They have done so in the past, but this time, I wanted them to think carefully and plan their game out well. I created a DIY Board Game Planning Template, so that they could think through each step! We discussed each part of the PDF and I made sure they had “rough draft” version of their game, then a final draft prototype, before we began our final step!

I purchased these board game kits on Amazon. My son created a board game based on Calvin & Hobbes, and another called Star Wars Strategy. My daughter created hers based on her love of Capybaras; I blogged about it here!

If you love this idea, but don’t want to take the full plunge to the expensive kit yet, I created these FREE board game templates that you can print and use! They are colorful yet simple, and your kids can either keep them plain OR add their own characters, “chutes and ladders” type obstacles or surprises!

Lastly, I created a versatile Story Elements Game for kids preschool-5th grade! I wanted a fun way to review story elements with all of my kids at once. The beauty of this game is that you can play it over and over, for any story that you read! It could be a basic everybody book from the library, it could be a classic, it could be a chapter book read-aloud. Any book!

If you love the idea of this game, can see more photos and read more about how I used it, here! If you’d like to grab your copy for $2, you can purchase it on my TPT Store here

I hope this post has been helpful! If you have any favorite games, drop me a line here! Also, if you have an educational game you wish existed, maybe I can help! I love to create games. I’m currently working on one for upper elementary, about literary elements (alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, etc).

Cait