Skip-Bo Junior

As I said in my previous post, I really love using games with my English Language Learners!  This week we tried a new game called Skip-Bo Junior.  Wow!  My kids had a blast with the game and much laughter was heard in the room.  My older students (upper elementary) especially got into the game.  You would have thought we were in Las Vegas or something! 

Skip-Bo Junior is wonderful game for teaching the concept of sequence, especially numerical sequence.  We discussed "sequence" before the game and we came up with examples (alphabetical order, months of the year, days of the week and numerical sequence of one through 10).

 

But, I had to laugh at the comment of one of my older students!  After we had talked about the rules of the game and reinforced the idea of numerical sequence of 1-10, Pretty Nails Girl looked at me and piped up.

"Mrs. Gumby!  Are we learning vocabulary words???"

Oh yes, my dear...Mrs. Gumby is sneaky that way!  Heh, heh, heh!

In Skip-Bo Junior, each player is dealt a stockpile of cards and then attempts to win by playing all the cards on building piles in numerical sequence from #1 through #10. The first player to get rid of all of their stockpile cards first wins! Skip-Bo Junior is great fun for ages 5 and up, and comes with simplified game rules and appealing, kid-themed graphics.

Sequence for Kids

There are so many wonderful board games available for children to play.  I like including games in my lesson planning because I can incorporate a lot of enjoyable practice for my students in speaking, reading and listening in English.  Some of the games I use are Chutes and Ladders, Battleship, Scrabble Junior, Monopoly Junior and Guess Who. 

Recently, I heard about Sequence for Kids.  I found a set at school and borrowed it from a colleague.  Wow!  What a great game!  I "test drove" it with two third graders last week. 

First, I copied the instructions.  I gave each student a copy and a highlighter.  We took turns reading the instructions and highlighting important text.  As we read the rules, I placed the board, the cards and the game chips on the table.  We spent time examinining the items and discussing the rules.  We also talked about strategies on how to win the game. 

The next day, I had the game spread out on the table and ready to go.  We briefly discussed the rules and started playing the game.  It was fun to watch the students as we played.  They were quite the strategists, even though they hadn't played the game before.  I know that next week, they'll be begging to play the game again on Friday Fun day!