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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Win Educational Games Worth $65 - Give Away!

I have a real fondness for games in the classroom.  O.K., that's not exactly true... I LOVE using games in the classroom.

Games meet so many learning goals.  They give children the opportunity to:

  • Develop cooperation and collaboration skills
  • Practice being graceful losers
  • Practice being humble winners
  • Exercise impulse control
  • Practice memory and concentration
  • Read and follow directions
  • Fully engage in an activity for an extended length of time
  • Learn and practice critical thinking and strategy development
  • Practice math and literacy skills
  • Enhance and practice their oral language skills
  • Engage in a fun and stress-free activity
Really good, high quality games do almost all of these things each time a group of children play with them. Really, really good games also become a regular rotation in our centers on "Fun Friday" afternoons because they also meet Common Core Standards.

I received a box in the mail yesterday and yes, you guessed it- it was full of fabulous, high quality games from Blue Orange Games.


These games meet all the high-quality games criteria.  Apart from the games themselves, I must mention that they all come in tin containers.  That's right, no more broken game boxes on your classroom shelves.

For those of you with little ones still struggling to learn their numbers and letters, you can't go wrong with Spot It Numbers and Shapes and Spot It AlphabetSpot It Numbers and Shapes also teaches color recognition.  Spot It Alphabet has three ways to play.  When I play the game with little ones I have them find the match, say the letter name, and the letter sound.  You can keep these games rotating in your centers all year and the kiddos will never get bored!

The tin "rounds" keep the cards and directions in great shape and don't use much of your precious storage space.

If you have the "curriculum cops" roaming your halls be sure to label each game tin with the appropriate Common Core Standard.  I like putting the standards on a mailing labels and sticking them on the bottom of the tins. 

Spot It! Numbers & Shapes
K.G.2; K.CC.3

Spot It! Alphabet
R.F.K.1d; R.F.K.3.a; S.L.K.6c

Two excellent math games by Blue Orange Games are Bendomino and Pixy Cubes.  Bendomino plays like regular dominos BUT with a fun little twist, the tiles are curved so they must both match and fit in order to connect them.  The game introduces strategy, critical thinking, and beginning geometry to your students.  The tiles are beautiful, sturdy, and fit perfectly in the tin container making clean up a breeze.

Bendomino
K.CC.1; K.CC.5; K.CC.6; 1.OA.3; 1.OA.6; 1.NBT.4; 2.OA.2; 2.NBT.5

Pixy Cubes is a great way to introduce spatial reasoning to students.  The game easy to learn and has multiple versions of play, some are competitive, some cooperative.  All of the versions are great fun. Pixy Cubes is a great way to support beginning geometry skill, creativity, concentration and memory, and logic and reasoning.  It's perfect for your students ages 6 and older.

Pixy Cubes
Common Core Standard: K.G.6; 1.G.1; 1.G.3; 2.G.1;

I don't want to forget about language arts and neither did Blue Orange Games.  Their game Tell Tale has 120 delightful image cards that your students will use to create stories.  The cards include images of characters, settings, objects, and emotions.  Talk about endless "story starters" for students ages 5 to 12!  For those of you that have fairy tale units Blue Orange games has a Tell Tale Fairy Tales version (perfect for children ages 5 to 9).

Tell Tale

Common Core Standard:  W.K.3; W.1.3; W.2.3; W.3.3


Now for the really exciting part of this blog.  Blue Orange Games and I have teamed up to give one lucky winner all five of the games that I have reviewed.   I will be sending the winner Spot It Alphabet and Spot It Numbers and Shapes.  Blue Orange Games will send the winner a copy of Tell Tale, Bendomino, and Pixy Cubes.  Entering is  easy, so enter soon and be sure to tell your team mates about the give away.  These games would be great to share among grade level teams.

And the winner is :



Congratulations Rachael!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Have a great week!
Granny (Cindy)

50 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I agree... Flash is on my wish list! I also love to play games at home with my hubby and grand kids :)

      Cindy

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  2. I am a new follower! These games look great and I would love to win them for use in my PreK classroom!

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    1. Thanks for becoming a new follower. Many of Blue orange games are perfect for pre-k's. Have you seen their Pengoloo and Froggie Boogie games?

      Cindy

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  3. The chickyboom looks like a very cute game. Kids would love to balance the scale.

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  4. I think that game also looks like a BLAST!

    Cindy

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  5. I think Spot It would be my favorite game to check out - it would be great for my students' visual perception skills!

    Kara
    Spedventures

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  6. Spot It is a really fun game with numerous versions. The original Spot It is also great fun for grown ups :)

    Cindy

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  8. I would really like to have the Spot It game to help my students work on looking for details.
    Karen Arnold
    nonnie_zan@hotmail.com

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  9. Yes- that game would really help them develop that skill and have great time to boot! Thanks for entering the give-away.

    Cindy

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  10. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I am so glad I hopped on over, Your blog name is fantastic and I can't wait to read more:)

    Pengaloo looks like fun. A memory game can be overlooked in first, but memory muscles need to be exercised too:)

    Tammy
    The Resourceful Apple

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  11. I also think Pengaloo looks great. They have so many great games :)

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  12. I love the game "Spot It". It is great for visual discrimination!

    Andrea
    Reading Toward the Stars

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  13. I really like the Bendomino game. It looks like it'd be a lot of fun across many ages and both genders. Thanks for the contest!! Sara (smeyer06@yahoo.com)

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  14. There are so many Blue Orange games that I would love to have!! My students love Double Shutter! I would love to try Pixy Cubes!

    Aimee
    aimee@vanmiddlesworth.org
    Pencils, Books, and Dirty Looks

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  15. Love this, Cindy! I would LOVE, Spot It! Numbers and Shapes.

    Irene
    mrsleeby@gmail.com
    Learning With Mrs. Leeby

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  16. I'm totally crushing on the Froggy Boggie game and wish I had seen it sooner (next week is Life Cycles!) Thanks for turning me onto these great games Cindy, you are so right about the value of playing games in the classroom (right now they are struggling with the humble winner/graceful loser concept for sure). Thanks for the great opportunity!

    ~Jessica
    Fun in PreK-1

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  17. Is the competition open to US residents only?

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  18. I love the "curriculum cop" tip! So brilliant! I also LOVE games!

    Aimee
    Primarily Speaking

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  19. These look like great fun games.
    My little one is crossing her fingers;)

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  20. Opps I forgot to say that I love Spot It Basic English. I noticed they also have the game in French and Spanish. I'd love it if they would make it in German.

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  21. What an awesome giveaway! I love using games with my little guys. They need A LOT of practice with taking turns and being graceful losers!

    Lisa
    The Lower Elementary Cottage

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  22. Probably Flash, but I'd have to look further. Thanks for the chance.
    susanlulu@yahoo.com

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  23. I think Spot It! looks fun! Liz
    lparce@hotmail.com

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  24. I have played Spot it! and love it! ilovekdgt@gmail.com
    Sara
    Polka Dot Kinders

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  25. I'm partial to the game Spot It -- I just LOVE it!

    Rae
    Mindful Rambles

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  26. I like the Tell Tale Fairy Tales or the Spot Its!

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  27. I'm a freak for penguins so Pengoloo!! Thanks!!!

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  28. What an awesome collection of games. My students would love Keekey the Monkey game. Love your blog! I look forward to your posts. Many thanks for the idea of wrapping trinkets in scrapbook paper! I had a crimper for years that I never used. Last Friday I started having students pick a wrapped treat if they stayed on green all week, weren't absent, and not tardy. It was a BIG hit! Hopefully this will help encourage more positive behavior since the last few months of the school year can be tough.

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  29. I am so glad the wrapping trinkets idea worked for you- I really like using it also!

    Cindy

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  31. Wow! They all look fun! I really like the idea of the Alphabet Spot It game!

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  32. Sumoku would be one of my top ones...but then it wouldn't be the only one I love!

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  33. I really like all these games! The Alphabet Spot It Game would really help some of my struggling students. It is the one I pinned also! Thank you for hosting this giveaway!

    Heather Salsman
    Teaching Through Turbulence
    teachingthroughturbulence@gmail.com

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  34. I like Keeky the Rocking Monkey! tjulch@mpsomaha.org

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  35. I am a new follower! Thanks for introducing me to this website full of fun educational games! The Spot-it game looks like it would be fun. It would be useful for my kiddos at the beginning of the year with shape and number recognition. Thanks for hosting this awesome giveaway! :)

    Regina
    Kinder Krazy

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  36. I think my firsties would love Bendominoes. Of course they would love all the games but I think the fact that the dominoes bend would just tickle them.
    cbartram@kitcarsonschool.com

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  38. I like Bendomino and Keekee the Rocking Monkey. I can see using both of them in my classroom.

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  39. They all look really good. I would choose Sumoku, my students could use some extra addition practice.

    Amber
    ambs98@nc.rr.com

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  40. OK - my kids would love Pengoloo - it would be fun and they love penguins!

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  41. This contest is great - I really like following the different blogs and finding the amazing activities. The Blue/Orange games would be great for my Pre-K classroom this year and my new Kindergarten classroom next year! These games work on multiple skills.

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  42. Awesome games! Hope I get lucky! Thanks!
    Suzanne Grisham
    sgrisham@white.k12.ga.us

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  43. These games look awesome! :) Thanks!

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