One of the best ways to keep “school” going during the summer is by playing games. It also serves as a way of filling the hours of June, July and August in which your children constantly seem to utter, “I don’t have anything else to do, Mom. What can I do now?” Moreover, it’s an opportunity for family time in a relaxed atmosphere (unless you have a super-competitive streak in you, of course). Playing games can keep skills that you’ve been honing throughout the school year in a sharpened state so that resuming school in the fall seems polished and prepared from the outset.

There are a wide range of games that would qualify as “educational,” and yet they are approachable and fun for the summer months. Here are a few of our favorites:   

• Number Games = Skip-Bo (Ben can count to twelve forward and backward now), Dutch Blitz, Rummykub, Five Crowns, Tri-Ominoes, Monopoly or Monopoly Jr., and Uno (of course).
• Geography Games = Ten Days in Europe, Ten Days in the USA, Ten Days in Africa, etc.; The National Geographic Geo Bee Challenge Board Game.
• Science Games = Discovery’s Photo Trek Exploration Game, Herd Your Horses, and Brain Quest (science divisions, in particular).
• Word Games = Boggle, Scrabble, Letter Flip, Apples to Apples, Snatch or Pick Two, Catch Phrase, and Huggermugger.
• Deductive Reasoning and Memory Games = Clue or Clue Mysteries, Mindtrap and Mindtrap II, Memory (whether it’s the Winnie the Pooh or the classic version), and Mancala.
• Physical Activity Games = Twister (Yeah, we didn’t know where else to put one of our all-time favorites, so we created a category for it.)

The amazing thing about most of these games is that we have found a majority of them at Goodwill, Salvation Army, or Volunteers of America thrift stores! When we can pick up a new-to-our-family game for under two dollars, we’re all over it.

What are some of your favorites? And what else do you do during the summer to keep your children’s minds honed and ready for use when school resumes? Instead of show-and-tell, let’s have share-and-tell. And let the games begin….