Trash to Treasure {and other simple} Review Games

We thought we’d share a couple of simple review games now that we are about six weeks in…

Trash to Treasure Review Games

This is a set of games created from either a) stuff that was not being used or b) stuff that would have otherwise been thrown into the trashcan.

Egg Toss Game

We eat a LOT of eggs, and when our chicken-farm friends run out of eggs for us, many times we’ll buy the 5-dozen box of eggs at the supermarket… which led to this game.

This has been a big hit in our home.  It would likely work just as well with a dozen-egg carton or a dozen-and-a-half carton.  I’ve caught our 7-year-old using this game to practice memory work on his own.

The Toss-the-Trash-in-the-Bucket Game

I know it’s ridiculous I even include this one, but there is something exhilarating (and simple!) about wadding up a piece of paper and throwing it into the wastebasket.  Our stack of paper trash became a way to practice memory work. We cut the papers in half to make it last longer.  Then, in my best sing-song voice, I tempted my son.  “Tell me the countries of Northern Africa, Levi, and you get to have this piece of tra-ash!”

Flashcard Peek-a-Boo

Once upon a time (once?!? ha!) I went a little nuts at the $1 bins at Target.  I have so many different sets of flashcards now:  addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, U.S. Presidents, phonics, Music, Landmarks, Geography…. et cetera.

Given that we weren’t really using them in their current state, I decided to use these as a double-whammy for learning.  The only problem I had was choosing which set to use!  I left the decision to Stephen who asked for U.S. Presidents.

Unlike the above games, this one took a bit of set-up to do.

The plus side is that our children are starting to recognize the Presidents, and they love to read about each one, too.

Also, be sure to check out our Coffee-Can Popsicle-Stick games…

…and games for learning Latin noun declensions, Latin verb endings, and John 1 Latin vocab!

Use-What-You-Already-Have Review Games

…but, honestly, I prefer not having to go through all the set-up for games.  Usually, I will go to our game shelf or toy bin to find something that we can use for review. Here are some of the games we’ve played at home to liven up review time.

Nerf-Gun Subject Shoot:  Child shoots and teacher asks a question from that subject’s memory work.

Target Practice:  Child answers a question, then throws a dart to determine points. (Our dartboard is magnetic – there’s no way we’d do this otherwise.)

Bowling:  We have 7 bowling pins with a letter denoting the subjects: T, H, S, M, E, L, G.  I set them up with space between them to keep from knocking them all over.  If more than one is knocked down, I simply choose out of those subjects which memory work I want them to recite. (Bowling can also be used as the incentive for answering a memory work question:  answer the question and you get to bowl.)

Whiteboard Race:  This is another ridiculously simple one but works especially for Latin.  Instead of buying marker boards for each child, I place a piece of cardstock inside a page protector.  They race to write out the conjugations or declensions. (Same thing for multiplication facts.)

Dice:  There are so many ways to use dice. I purchased this set from Dollar Tree, and it’s been useful for playing math games as well as memory work games.

Math Games:  Adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing.

Board Slam or Uneven Odds: Roll three dice and use the basic operations (including exponents) to get as many numbers as possible up to 36. Download a Board Slam template here.  [I made this template about a year ago – our oldest son really likes this game. We have a copy of this in the cover of his notebook. ]

Example of how to play:  Roll 3 dice.  If the numbers are 2, 4 and 5, you will use the basic operations to calculate as many numbers as possible using those three numbers:  2+4-5 = 1, 2+4+5 = 11, etc. Cross out each number.  

Assign the roll:  Assign specific people or actions or voices to each number rolled:

Roll a…	Who says it…
1	Girls
2	Boys
3	Front Row
4	Back Row
5	Roller gets to lead
6	Everyone

Roll a…	Say it while…
1	Jumping
2	Clapping
3	Jogging in place
4	Marching
5	Skipping
6	Standing on 1 foot

And then there’s Jenga, Toss Across, Connect 4 Shot, Hedbanz, Trivial Pursuit, and Candyland… there are so many different games we enjoy that are simple to convert into a review game.

 In fact, while on a roadtrip to Louisiana, we used LEGOs for a review game…