Game Investigation

Our game investigation came about in the most organic and natural way possible, and it was the perfect fit for my particular group of kindergartners this year. One day someone brought a game to school in the share sack, and then all the kiddos gathered around after snack to play it. The following day our next sharer also brought in a game, and the same thing happened. It only took two days to VERY clearly see that this group of kiddos already had many of the social skills required for successful game play and that they absolutely loved doing it too.  

The countless benefits of playing board games are well researched and documented. Board games help develop...

• math skills - number recognition, grouping, counting, detecting patterns
• literacy skills - letter and word recognition, writing, sequencing, vocabulary development 
• social skills - communicating, sharing, taking turns, patience, being a good sport
• cognitive skills - problem solving, strategizing, decision making, critical thinking, logic and reasoning skills, cause and effect
• ability to focus and persevere
• friendships and a sense of belonging and community through shared fun

As I often do with investigations, I filled our room with related items (games) to test out their interest and make sure it would stick. Needless to say, it stuck in a major way. Without any prompting from me (I literally just set out a few games on a shelf), they began taking the games out each morning, every day after snack, and every single choice time.

They would grab a game, invite a friend, spread around the room, and play, play, play.

This group of kiddos gets along with each other incredibly well, and their problem solving muscles are already strong even though it's still early in the school year. The only problem I continually noticed occurred when friends agreed to play a game but then one walked away in the middle. So, as a class we sat down and came up with some ground rules to help ensure our game playing sessions would be a success. I was especially impressed with their solution to the walking away problem - they decided it's okay to leave and do something else, but you have to find a substitute to take your place. We also practiced using the phrase "good game" over and over again, so much so that it became part of the mindset with which they approached game play in our classroom.  

Once I was certain this interest wasn't going away any time soon, we sat down together to begin thinking and sharing everything we know about games...

I gradually added a few more games to our shelf,

and then I began letting the kindergartners become the teachers/experts. Several kiddos each day were assigned the task of bringing a game to school and teaching classmates how to play it.

Not only did this activity build even more excitement about game-playing, but it gave each kiddo an opportunity to build confidence while practicing their communication skills. They were so excited and proud to teach each other! 

Each day we followed up our game playing session by categorizing and webbing our newest games.  As the variety of games increased, so too did the categories on our web.  Charts like this are so important for helping make the kindergartners' thinking visible, and each time we revisited our web their thinking could solidify and then expand.

I found a way to integrate our daily read-alouds into our game investigation as well. There was a real interest in playing (and learning how to play) checkers and chess in our classroom, both of which involve a lot of strategizing and thinking ahead. Laura Numeroff's stories are filled with examples of cause and effect, so they helped get our brains thinking more clearly about how one move directly causes or enables a consequential move (either from you or your opponent). We spent a lot of time reading and rereading her books to both notice and predict causes and effects. As always, her stories were big hits with the kindergartners.

Playing games requires a vast amount of critical thinking and problem solving skills, but not even close to as much as designing games requires! So, for our first game related project the kindergartners stretched those little brains by planning and designing their own board games. In order to make the task more manageable and concrete we spread out all our traditional board games to notice and list what they have in common. I knew that figuring out what a game needs in order to work AND be fun would be a crucial step in helping prepare the kiddos to create their own games. It was also an important step for helping develop our game related vocabulary, and our chart served as an important reference for the kiddos throughout the project.

They planned, 

and then they began making their games. I am always blown away by how hard (and long!) kindergartners will work on a project when they are motivated, invested, and busy doing what they do best...making things. They worked on their games across an entire week, planning, creating, testing them out, and making them better and better. At this point in the school year our design cycle has become second nature to the way they undergo project work, yet I continue to be impressed by their willingness to conference with a teacher or friend to help figure out ways to make their creations even better. What a valuable lifelong skill to have acquired at such a young age!

The amount of critical thought, planning, strategy, revision, perseverance, and creativity that went into creating each of the games was beyond impressive!

Once they had planned their game, created their board, cards, spinner, and/or dice, made their players (many chose to use paper, wooden blocks, and/or clay), tried their game on their own, tested it out with a partner, and then reworked things to make it even better, they were ready to design their box, name their game...

and dictate their directions to me. 

I almost ran out of time to include the direction step before Thanksgiving break but squeezed it in at the last moment, and I was SO thankful that I did. Listening to each kiddo explain their game out loud helped each of them think through the sequence and clarify any remaining confusions, and it also helped me recognize and appreciate just how much hard work and thought had gone into each game. WOW!

We celebrated our hard work with a class-wide game party, and then each kiddo got to take their new game home to play with their family over Thanksgiving break. Luckily for me parent-teacher conferences were the very next day, so I got to hear from many parents about the game-filled excitement at their house the previous night.

Prior to Thanksgiving break all free moments in the classroom had continued to be consumed with game playing, so I knew the kindergartners weren't ready to let this investigation go. So, we jumped right back in post-break despite having had a week off school. I brought in a few new types of games to help grow our web, and my own children each brought one of their favorite games (Headbanz and Mancala) from home to teach to my students.

By now our game shelf was full of all types of games, and the kindergartners continued to play, play, play...

One of my big takeaways from a book I read over the summer (The Importance of Being Little, by Erika Christakis) is that we grossly underestimate young children's cognitive capacity for thinking deeply. One of my main goals this school year is to find as many different ways as possible to pose the kinds of questions that require deep thought and much conversation. In order to stretch my game-players a little further, I posed a challenge question - "What make a game a game?" It took us several whole class conversations and a lot of back and forth to hone in on a final list.  

Once we had agreed on what makes a game a game, they were ready for their next maker-challenge - to design a new game they would play with their buddies at our final playdate before winter break. The only stipulation was that it couldn't be a board game with a traditional path like they had designed before. In order to help prepare for this challenge we spent some time listing all the games we had learned to play and thinking about how each of those games could serve as inspiration for a similar (yet different) game of our own. 
The planning began...

and was followed by lots of creating. Once again, their desire to work hard and focus for long blocks of time across an entire week was astounding!

They added more details and continued to make their games better and better,

and then they began testing their games out on friends. There were matching games, Uno-type games, a marble-ramp game, a chess-inspired game, Build-the-Elepahnt inspired by a cupcake game, a Christmas inspired game, and more. 

As the big day neared we excitedly prepared for our fourth grade guests. We put the final touches on our games, practiced telling our directions aloud, created a huge "Welcome to our Game Celebration" banner, and set everything up around the room.  
Our guests finally arrived, and it was officially game time. Having a real (and beloved) audience for their games had definitely added a sense of urgency and excitement to the creation process.

I'm pretty sure this group of kindergartners could happily keep playing games forever. However, I had noticed that playing games was the only thing many of them were doing during choice time. I sensed they were ready for a little nudge to begin expanding their repertoire of activities in order to keep building their creative muscles. So, on our very last day before winter break I let them know the games wouldn't be on the shelf (for a while, at least) after winter break. That news was met with gasps and of course some last minute game playing...

The games might not be on the shelf anymore, but the lessons learned will surely remain. Over the course of six weeks I witnessed my students grow their math, literacy, and social skills on countless occasions and in numerous different ways. The cognitive growth that I noticed, however, was quite possibly the most remarkable of all. The kindergartners grew their problem solving, strategizing, decision making, critical thinking, focus, perseverance, and logic and reasoning skills not just by playing games, but by working so hard to create them as well.    

Now that we've completed our third interest-inspired investigation of the school year, I'm thinking we'll go a different route after winter break. Can't wait to try out something new! Stay tuned...