Christmas is upon us, and in a few days your little students will be opening up lots of presents.  If you are like most parents, you probably spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the best gifts are.  I concede my little got the latest things, but they also got good old fashion games. 
     There are several reasons for that.
           1.  I like playing games with my kids, even now when they are adults.
           2. Helps your little students learn how to win and lose.
           3.  Games like memory, help students to increase their short and long term memory.
           4. Games such as memory, helps with visual discrimination, and therefore reading and writing.  One game along this line is "I Spy Memory Game" published by Scholastic.  I really like it,because the pictures are not identical, and therefore makes the students really look at the pictures.
           5. Most games out there from Memory through to Risk, involves problem solving, reading and math skills.  A math skills games I really like is "TENS", published by Waddingtons.  This is an excellent game for reinforcing addition skills.  The kids love it, its easy to understand, and it helps them to learn all those addition facts that add up to 10.  The extra nice part is that adults don't have an advantage.
          6. A deck of cards is the most versatile  game tool you can have in your house.  Watch for further postings that will give you ideas on how to use a simple deck of cards to help with math skills.
      Which ever games you choose be sure it is going to be fun, so that your student is going to want to play.