My kids have been playing an extraordinary amount of Monopoly lately. It wasn't so long ago that we pulled it from the shelf of games reserved for "grown ups". Dan and I have a shelf of games from when we were first married with no kids. Monopoly was there along with Scrabble, Clue, Pente, and Master Detective. These were the games I brought with me from home when we got married. We didn't play them much aside from Scrabble. Then there are our group type games like Pictionary (Ok those were mine too) and Trivial Pursuit stuff like that. Now they are old enough to start enjoying those older "kid" games and we pull them off and introduce them now and then.Our kids love Monopoly, Jr. We have a dinosaur version, but one day we thought you know...they are ready for the real deal and we pulled out the Monopoly game. This one was mine when I was their age so it's the a 1980s version of the game. Nothing fancy...you would not believe the versions you can get now.
They play this so often that if they are left idle for more than a few minutes, someone suggests playing a game. Did you know that you can auction off properties if someone lands on them and doesn't want to buy it? This gets the properties sold really quickly allowing you to get down to real estate business. R9 is a formidable foe. Girl can play the Monopoly! The game pictured above was begun before church this morning and is still there waiting.
I think we can all agree that Monopoly is a great way to practice math skills. But which ones exactly? Well, I decided to put our older kids to work to give me the list. We did a math journal entry on Monopoly Math.
E11's list
R9's list
What sorts of math skills do avid players use?- addition and subtraction- check the list for specifically when and how these skills are used
- multiplication and division- used in a few ways. Check the list
- using percents- when calculating the interest owed on un-mortgaging property
A month or so ago, my kids had the chance to play Monopoly Electronic Banking Edition with some homeschool friends. Did you even know this game exists?? It uses modern icons for playing pieces- one is a Segway! You deal in millions of dollars and use a debit card only. You purchase things like stadiums. Instead of Railroads and utilities, you have airports and internet/cell phone providers. All pretty slick, but with the use of the banking machine there is a lot less math going on.
Do your kids play Monopoly? What is a game your kids play often?
10 comments:
My kids love monopoly. They have the newer version, but we play both. Personally, I prefer the original version. ;)
Keep up the great work, Heather. Your blog is awesome.
Thanks Michele!
So they have the electronic version? It might be a fun diversion for my kids.
Yahtzee is our favorite math game and so is Mexican Train Dominos. Yes, we have both Monopoly games and prefer the older one in which math skills are emphasized.
Debbie, Yahtzee is another favorite here. I personally grew up playing tons of Yahtzee!
My kids are still little enough that Uno is considered a math game in our house. :) Except for employing any sort of strategy, my 4 year old can play it on his own!
My older two are getting pretty good at Yahtzee. And card games like War and Go Fish are popular around here.
My daughter and I play both versions of Monopoly. I like the newer game pieces especially the laptop.
The new playing pieces look really fun Kisha. I'm definitely drawn to the Segway!
We love Monopoly! What a good idea to incorporate it into the math journals.
This absolutely rocks!
Why thanks Shonda!
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