Family Fun (and Learning?!?) Over the Holidays
by mrajraspn08
December is the month of holidays, which means family, fun, and...school? Fortunately, keeping up on lessons can still be relaxing with puzzles and games from our Tools collection.
As you eat holiday candy and sweets, you can play the game Cacao. But that's not chocolate...is it? Use this game as a starting point to think about how chocolate gets from the cacao plant to the yummy candy you're eating. As you establish workers and markets, you can learn the basics of how the market works. You want to store some of your cacao, but not too much, and why do you think some is worth more than others, anyway? You can even discuss history and culture while playing--there are sun worshipping tiles in the game, why and how do you think this culture (or others) worshipped the sun? And what is the history of plantations and how they were run?
Then, while you're wrapped up in your quilt in front of the fireplace, get out the game Patchwork. While looking at this game, I started researching quilts and found interesting and unexpected history and cultural lessons there. For example, you could look up the story quilts used by African American slaves, or the history of Amish quilting. Who knew there were so many variations? Once you've made your quilt, try to think if it looks like one of the quilts you've learned about. Does it tell a story? Was it used in a Native American ceremony?
Who knew playing board games could be the basis of so much learning!
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