Home >> Games & Cards >> Kids Games

How to Make a Game for First Graders With Tagboard

First grade students work toward expanding their experiences and introductory knowledge in reading, adding, subtracting and socially interacting with one another in the school setting. Playing purposeful games with first grade students is an effective way to practice skills necessary to master objectives in these areas. Ashlee Anderson, of St. Mary's College of Maryland, conducted a study and found that students who spent time playing educational board games performed better on post-assessments when compared with their pre-assessment scores. Using a piece of tagboard, a game can be constructed to help move first grade students toward a broader understanding of the focus skills.

Things You'll Need

Tagboard
Markers
Scissors
Pencil

Instructions

- 1
  
  First grade students practice skills when playing a purposeful homemade game.
  
  Turn the tagboard horizontally and sketch a barn in pencil on the top center portion of the tagboard. Draw a fence that extends from the barn's sides to both edges of the tagboard, creating the backdrop for a farm scene at the top of the board game. Sketch cows, horses and pigs behind the fence. Sketch chickens and roosters sitting atop the fence railings. Write the word "Winner" on the barn door. Draw one sheep and one pig back-to-back at the bottom, center portion of the tagboard. Create pathways of connecting circles for both the sheep and the pig to move along the edges of the tagboard and along the fence to reach the barn door. Begin with a circle at the sheep and pig's faces. Draw connecting circles along the bottom of the tagboard to the bottom corner. Continue drawing circles up both sides of the tagboard, along the bottom of the fence and end both pathways of circles at the barn door. Write the words "Farmyard Fun -- Get Your Animal to the Barn for Dinner" in the center of the gameboard.
- 2
  Select an objective or skill set to quiz students. Write questions or equations pertaining to the objective on a set of index cards. Write "Stuck in the mud. Lose a turn" on four cards. Write "Ride the tractor. Move ahead two spaces" on four cards. Color the game board with a set of markers.
- 3
  Instruct two students to place the stack of question cards upside-down between themselves. Students place one game marker on the sheep and one game marker on the pig. Begin play by turning over a card and reading the prompt. Correct answers result in the game marker moving forward one space. Incorrect answers result in a missed turn. The first player to reach the barn is the winner.

Kids Games