Brain Food

100+ Games That Make Kids Think

Paul Fleisher, Patricia Keeler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000490794
• Subtopic: Education Teaching Methods

Be the one to make a difference in your students' thinking! With more than 100 games to choose from, Brain Food is your one-stop source for exploring the fun in learning. This compilation is filled with new as well as traditional brain games, and most need little more than paper and a pencil to get you started. Each game is classroom tested and tailored to encourage cooperation and teamwork as well as deductive logic. The book includes:

• word games,
• math games,
• logic games,
• memory games, and
• much more!

One exciting aspect of this book is that it has a bit of an international flavor. It is filled with fun games from around the world that challenge and stimulate young minds. From the Japanese strategy game Hasami Shogi, to the traditional African game Wari, to the deductive game Witch Hunt, to the word challenge Wordbuilder, these mind-stretching tools encourage complex thinking skills.

Games by their very nature require thinking. With Brain Food you'll get teaching tools such as Alphamazement—a game of strategy that challenges both visual and verbal skills by having players connect letters of the alphabet in a zigzagging maze. Or, try the traditional Maori game Mu-Torere to enhance visual and mathematical skills.

Grades 4-12

A Few General Notes

Choosing Who Will Play First

Most games require players to decide who will play first. Probably the easiest way to do this is for the players to agree on someone to be first player. One of the players may volunteer to go first, or suggest someone else for that honor. Of course, that doesn't always work. Fortunately, there are many other options for choosing; following are just a few:

Flip a coin. Pick a hidden object in one or the other hand. Play rock/paper/scissors. Roll dice—high or low number plays first. Pick a card—low or high card plays first. Pick scrabble tiles—closest to A plays first. Youngest player plays first.

Whatever method you use should be quick, noncontroversial, and random, when appropriate. In subsequent rounds of the game, it is often a good idea to have the losing player go first and the winning player go last.

Tokens

Many of these games call for the use of game tokens. Any number of inexpensive and readily available objects such as beans, seeds, pebbles, coins, checkers, small erasers, shells, nuts, washers, or bottle caps will serve the purpose.

Word Games

A few standard rules apply to most word games:

• ■ Use the best, most comprehensive dictionary you can find as judge. Use it to decide whether a certain word is a real word or is spelled correctly.
• ■ Don't allow proper nouns or the adjective form of proper nouns. For example, neither France nor French may be used in a game of Ghost or Matrix.
• ■ Don't allow words and phrases from languages other than the language in which you are playing the game unless the words have become part of that language. Bonjour and gracias would not be permitted in a game in which you are using English only. However, words such as rendezvous and fiesta would be. As always, let the dictionary be your guide.
• ■ Don't allow abbreviations, contractions, or acronyms. Words must be spelled out completely. Doesn't, he's, Tues., NY, or P. S. should not be accepted. Neither should NASA, MOMA, or POTUS.

Pronoun Gender

In writing this book, I've been faced with the familiar problem of choosing which pronouns to use. Unfortunately, English doesn't have third person singular pronouns that refer to both sexes. I use the plural whenever possible and alternate between masculine and feminine pronouns in other places.

Spatial Orientation and Strategy Games

DOI: 10.4324/9781003233350-2

Dots

Number of Players	2 to 4
Object	To create the most squares by drawing lines between adjacent dots on the playing board
Materials	copies of game board (page 6)
	pencils or pens
Playing the Game	1. Players decide who will play first. After the first game, the loser of the previous game goes first. Each player chooses a symbol—such as initials—to write inside completed squares.
	2. Players take turns connecting two adjacent dots with either vertical or horizontal lines.
	3. When a player draws the line that completes a square, she writes her symbol inside.
	4. Completing a square gives a player another turn. A player continues with mo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• A Few General Notes
• Chase Games
• Capture Games
• Checkers Variations
• Chess Variations
• Maze Games
• Other Spatial Orientation and Strategy Games
• Mathematical Games
• Mathematical Operations
• Factors and Multiples
• Deductive Logic Games
• Word Games
• Spelling Games
• Anagrams
• Long Words
• Other Vocabulary Builders
• Puns and Other Word Play
• Dramatic Word Games
• Rhymes and Homonyms
• Miscellaneous Word Games
• Memory Games
• Visual Arts Games
• Bibliography
• Alphabetical Index