Board Games: Frog Publications

So there are a million and one cute little board games that you can find on TPT and print off.  They can be specific to a skill, adaptable, or use cards that you create.  While I love these, I really love my boards from Frog Publications.  I know several teachers that have used their Drops in the Bucket daily review.  I always have to stop by their booth at teaching conventions and conferences specifically for their game boards though.  If you don't normally stop you really should.  They have always given me a game board, set of example cards, die, and a couple pawns.  At my last convention, I even talked one of my friends into stopping at the booth and grabbing a gameboard (because I'm a little obsessed) and giving it to me since she wasn't interested.  She came back and told me in no uncertain terms I wasn't getting it because she was keeping it.  That was that.  She fell in love with the boards too. They are adorable! On top of that, they are also about the size of two pieces of paper.  That means more room for pawns and more space than most of the TPT ones.  Plus they are already laminated and extremely durable. If they can withstand the torture my kids dole out on my manipulatives and centers they can withstand anything.

Frog Publications has classroom sets that you can buy with pre-made cards covering all kinds of skills and the directions for the game are all the same.  You want to talk about easy for centers?  They've got it done for you.  Plus, I like to make my own cards and games to supplement.  Do you want students practicing math facts? Add in a set of flashcards with the board and they can practice their math facts.  Working on sight words?  My students loved having to flip over a card and say their sight word in order to move on the board.  Give a spelling list to your students and one student gives a word that the other has to spell correctly to move.  That is a center they can be engaged in.  They can even learn sportsmanship while in the center. There is no end to the number of ways you can use them.  Don't forget your fast finishers.  Keep some of your games in an extra box and they can grab a partner and start playing.

If you are interested in having resources for your parents, Frog Publications also has a Parental Involvement pack.  I haven't used this, but the games follow the same guidelines and it includes the self-checking cards.

Like I said, you can find plenty of game boards, but Frog Publications does the work for you and creates cards that focus on the skills that you teach in math, reading, and grammar.  Add in the durability and these are definitely products that you want to check out.