PlayGames2Learn.com - Baked in STEM

Baked in STEM / STEAM

In connection with education, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Add in Arts (not just Fine Arts) and you have STEAM. STEM / STEAM are not a way of learning, but a high-level set of categories in which learning is desired. When our children are attending school either in the classroom or at

PlayGames2Learn.com - Games from Our Brains

Games from Our Brains

As often as not, when we play a game, we aren’t taking a box from off our shelf – we’re playing games from our brains. “Extinction Event” always comes to my mind when thinking of an example of a non-traditional game that just popped into being. It spontaneously spawned from equal-part desires to teach a

PlayGames2Learn.com - Outdoor Play & Game Design

Outdoor Play & Game Design

During the summer, especially with the current circumstances, parents can find themselves standing in for absent playmates. This is a great opportunity to be an example of good sportsmanship, to recognize effort and individual improvement, call out good ideas and teamwork, and so much more. It’s also a good time to draw out creativity and

Pretending to Pretend

Pretending to Pretend

Our daughter used this phrase “I am pretending to pretend” in a poem she recently wrote titled “I Am”. She couldn’t say where the inspiration for this line came from, but it made me think of the times when she had a class that didn’t go the way she thought it would. In these cases,

No Balls In The Kitchen

No Balls in the Kitchen!

Playing with balls inside the house is quite a thing for us. When our daughter was younger, she was not able to control the balls as well as she can now – it was a common occurrence for them to get away from her. Our kitchen is the kind you can walk through from one

Start Small - Introducing Board Games

Introducing Board Games – Start Small

Introducing board games to your young children can be an “iffy” thing – especially with the more involved games. Long gameplay Strategy, thinking long-term Need to do well, need to win Rules complexity, reading comprehension Player versus player (alliances, stealing, hurting or killing) These are all challenges to ability, attention span, and appropriateness.  But, you