Customer Reviews

Games for Learning: Ten Minutes a Day to Help Your Child Do Well in School - From Kindergarten to Third Grade

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The parenting section of my local bookstore contains several shelves of workbooks designed for parents who want to help their kids with schoolwork. The books are nothing more than page after depressing page of the same dull exercises most kids get plenty of already in school. I assume they must be selling well, or the store would not order so many of them. But looking at those workbooks makes me want to cry. I think it is wonderful that parents want to help their children do well in school, but the parents who buy those books are getting cheated (and so are their children). The last thing kids who are struggling need is more worksheets. And they are even less useful for kids who are ahead of the curriculum and need more challenges.

The games in this book provide an antidote to the worksheet pushers. I am a huge fan of Peggy Kaye's books (She has three more in this series: Games for Reading, Games for Writing, and Games for Math, and all of them are excellent). Whether you are trying to find a way to help a child who is behind in a certain subject or skill, or looking for challenges for a kid who is ahead, this book has some fun ways to help. The best thing is that she has several games for every skill, because she recognizes that children like different things and learn in different ways. So if a game for a skill you are working on falls flat with your child, there are plenty more to try. A few of the games require a little investment of your time, like making playing cards or game boards, but a lot you can do without any advance preparation, and several are so no-fuss they are perfect for car trips, or time spent in a waiting room.

This is a first rate book, the best of its kind by far.

I'm a very busy mom of four kids. I've read lots of this type of books and ususally came away feeling like a failure for not doing all of those complicated or time consuming activities to help my children. This book is GREAT! The activities are quick and easy and require few materials. (usually pencil and paper, cards, dice etc.) This are also quick distractors for in the car, at church or while stuck in a waiting room. If you only buy one book, buy this one!

This book has many helpful, fun and task specific activities that work for children during their most formative years. I have found this book to be invaluable. The games are beneficial for teaching and reinforcing specific skills, and they are entertaining enough to keep kids interested. Most of all, the games really work! The games don't take much time or extreme effort, but they pay off extremely well. If you are the parent or teacher of young children, you will find yourself referring to this book again and again.

Whether you are tutoring, a classroom teacher, homeschooling, or a parent you will find this, and Kaye's other books, chock-full of great ideas to enhance learning. The best part is how FUN these activities are and how easy she has made it for you to implement them with any child.

This book is a real find. It is full of inventive and fun little games that teach skills needed for reading and math in such a way that children have so much fun they don't even realize they are learning. Kaye introduces each game with a description of the student and the learning problem she designed it for, and there is a key next to each game with suggested grade levels, both of which help the reader to pick out the best games for their kids or students. She aslo explains what each game teaches.

I bought the book because my daughter was having some trouble with reading and math in Kindergarten. I've tried out a few games and she enjoyes them while it provides us with quality time together. I've also learned from the directions some key tools for how to approach children and learning tasks so that they feel like fun, not a task, for example, Kaye recommends that we play the games with the child, taking turns and participating equally.The book has also helped me to understand where my daughter is coming from at the age of five, what kinds of developmental issues are common, and how to recognize where learning is occurring. Though I'm a college professor, I didn't have a clue how to teach a child or what was age-appropriate. So, the book not only helps me educate my daughter, but it is educating me about teaching and learning, and the games are easy to fit into a busy schedule.

As a mom of a kindergartener and a preschooler, who works outside the home, and maintains the home the rest of the time, I constantly felt too tired to play with my kids. Most kids games are so boring for an adult that I'd be falling asleep or lose my patience when they couldn't follow the rules or get too goofy half-way through the game. I also did a poor job feeling like I was teaching them anything to help them do well in school.

The games in this book are perfect for a tired parent to play with little or no advance preparation required. No hunting up paper plates or craft sticks or glue or paper lunch bags. Just think of a word to rhyme with or grab a sticky note or an index card or an old grocery store receipt and write a letter on it and hide in in plain sight and ask your child to find the sound for that letter.

Some good games for playing while waiting in a restaurant or doctor's office like draw a letter and have your child trace around and keep it tracing around it so you have a series of rings shaped like the letter. Secret sentence helps improve memory and makes your child feel special because they have a "secret" with mom or dad for the day.

I feel great because I'm interacting with my kids more in a way that doesn't tax me and I know I'm helping to sharpen the skills they need for learning at the same time. They love it because Mom is playing with them and the games are fun. Playing these games are often the best 10-20 minutes a day I have with my kids. That it will help them do better in school makes it even more valuable to me as a parent.

I used this book when homeschooling my son many years ago. I just bought it for my sister who will be homeschooling her daughter this coming year. It is a great way to "make your own" curriculum and very inexpensive too! Great ideas using simple material that help kids learn; in 10 minutes and fun for them. I highly recommend this book as well as all of Peggy Kaye's Learning books.

The book is as described, "Ten minutes a day...from kindergarten to third grade". I bought the book thinking it might have games that I could use with my almost three-year-old son. I think that the ideas in the book are terrific, not games that I would think of on my own. I will definitely be using this book when my son is older. But, for other over-achieving parents like me, save your money and buy this book when your child is older. There are over 80 games in this book, I think it is a great value. The games are useful for all parents, whether you homeschool or your children attend traditional school.

This book definitely incorporates a lot of activities that reinforce skills you would use in math, science, reading, etc. I do think that some of the activities you could definitely come up with on your own. Needless to say, a good book for those parents out there who are at a loss of what types of activities will foster their kids learning experience.

This book is fantastic, and is the functional opposite of all those repetitive drill- and workbooks. The "games" are unique and ingenious: low-tech enough to do on the fly, but fostering solid math and language skills. The author divides the book into subjects (logic, math, language, science), and then groups the activities in each subject according to grade level. From my experience with the book (mainly math and language), Kaye's games are appropriate for each grade level, and can be adapted to teach slightly younger children. My kids love playing any kind of game, and the book has become my go-to resource when one of them needs a little extra help understanding concepts learned at school. The time spent playing with your kids is an extra bonus.