We received a copy of Highhill Educational Supplies' fast pace, math game, Speed! to try out and review, this week.I noticed Cindy over at Love2Learn2Day already has a review of the game up (you can check out what she had to say by clicking the link). I found I agreed with most of what she had to say, mainly that -
1.My children seemed to enjoy the game.
2. It comes in a very sturdy box (always a plus for a board game, in our house).
3. It's a great way to review, and speed up children's skip counting.
4. It left me with a deep desire to play Dutch Blitz (a game I hadn't thought of since my college days).
The box contains eight individual card decks. The game is played with one deck at a time, and each deck is for practicing a different level of skip counting from counting by 2's through counting by 9's. It is a two player game, but because each deck represents a separate game, multiple players can play at the same time, tournament style.The game moves very quickly, with players trying to slam all of their cards down in numerical (descending and ascending) order, before their opponent gets a chance to play their cards. The first player to play all of their cards is the winner.
Once children become familiar with the order of the numbers in each deck, they are supposed to move on to multiplication practice with them, by laying the cards out in order, and then answering questions like, "What is the first number in two speed" with the answer being 2, or 2x1 is 2, continuing on through 2x10. We haven't tried that yet, as only my two youngest still need to learn multiplication, and it will take them a while of playing Speed! before they have all of the skip counting mastered well enough to move on.In truth I'm not sure about using the game for teaching the multiplication facts, the method seems a little bit awkward to me. But, it is a fast paced, enjoyable game, that definitely helps to pick up the speed of children's skip counting, which certainly can't hurt their multiplication skills.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
4 comments:
That would be awesome for skip counting! I need to check it out.
I played Dutch Blitz once (despite living in PA nearly all my life) and LOVED it. I bought it...haven't played it since.
My daughter could probably play the game with lower number decks. She does need practice with skip counting and perhaps the tactile element of the game would help her visualize the skips. The price seems a little high though for a card game.
Looks like a fun game that needs to come to our house! =) Always love games that are fun but re-emphasize something they have learned during lessons.
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