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Make a Game of Things

I've been spending some time tutoring a 3rd grader who is struggling with basic math facts.  For weeks, I was trying to use flash cards to hammer home basic multiplication and addition, and it just wasn't working.  When I saw him yawning repeatedly, I knew that the technique was simply too darned boring.

I decided to spice things up a bit by making a game out of things.  Here are some games that seemed to work well:
  • Flash card train ride (3 out of 5 stars): Place several flash cards in a row and have the kid pick a destination where he'd like to travel.  Have him complete the row of flash cards with no mistakes to travel to the destination.  Of course, you should then tell him it's a round trip, so he needs to also complete the flash cards quickly in reverse order.
  • Blackjack (5 out of 5 stars): Hopefully, his parents will not get mad at me, but I actually taught their kid blackjack.  Then, I dealt the cards, and we had a friendly competition.  The kid had to add both his cards and mine, and he had to decide whether to hit or stay (an added bonus of teaching him some probability).  The effects here were awesome.  We didn't gamble, of course.  We simply kept a tally of his hands won versus mine.
  • Dice (5 out of 5 stars): Blackjack was great for addition, but dice helped with both addition and multiplication.  In this game, we each had 2 dice.  We decided whether we were adding or multiplying, and then we rolled our dice simultaneously.  The fastest person who added up (or multiplied) his dice won that round.  Of course, I made him double-check my work, and I did not work at 100% speed, so my partner would stay interested.  In this game, we also just kept a tally of wins, and I could honestly see a big improvement from the start to finish of one session alone.  I'm thinking of buying some 10-side dice for next time!
Of course, these games are most appropriate for parents helping elementary school students, but my main point applies more broadly here.  And that's to keep things fun!  When you're stuck studying something rote or something boring, find a friend and/or turn it into a game.  Figuring out a way to make it a friendly competition will keep you focused and learning for much longer.
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