With the Japanese school year winding up and my classes winding down I thought that rather than finish my elementary school lessons with the usual couple of review lessons I might instead try a board game. Over the last two weeks then I've been bringing in Settlers of Catan for the older kids, dividing their classes into four or five teams, and letting them play out a simplified version of the game.
We don't use the robber or development cards, and to make team play more interesting each student is given a role (harvester, trader or builder), and they must represent the team in that particular phase of the turn. To encourage greater participation all teams take turns gathering produce (i.e. roll dice one after another), then all teams trade in a plural session, then all teams build.
It has gone down really well, and it has been educational to see how the Japanese kids adapt to the situation.
Social dynamics in Japan are quite interesting, and this game stretches some of the children's ideas about co-operation and competition. While team members must co-operate with one another to understand the game, their roles within in, and their team's overall strategy, each team must also co-operate with other teams to a certain extent. But this co-operation of course is actually fuelled by self-interest, and once the kids see this underlying tension they start to get into the play and enjoy themselves. The division of labour allows students to try out different roles throughout the game session, and the role-playing itself subverts the normal pecking order in each class.
It has been nice to see the quiet kids, the shy kids and the no-one-expects-much-of-me-so-I'll-daydream-or-be-disruptive kids actively participating in an activity and having their contributions valued.
One particular kid who has had a bad year turned out to be the leader in his group and it was good for him and perhaps for his homeroom teacher to see that established patterns of behaviour can be changed by taking different approaches.
Anyway, it has been a worthwhile experiment - even if there was not always a great deal of English being used - and I think I'll try something similar again.
Prufrock's Wargaming Blog
Showing posts with label games for kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label games for kids. Show all posts
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Kids' project: toy soldiers
Today I put the last protective coats on some toy soldiers the kids have been working on.
They started painting them a couple of Sundays ago and did some more last weekend (though in the spirit of the Elves and the Shoemaker I would do a little more at night...).
Here is how they turned out.
Very shiny, very green.
Hopefully the kids will enjoy them in their finished state, and fingers crossed that two coats of PVA and three coats of Tamiya topcoat will keep some of the paint on them for a while!
Monday, November 23, 2015
Introducing the boy to wargames
Our wee lad has recently started taking an interest in the hobby room and 'dad's stuff'. He asks to play Dungeon Quest, sets up and moves around some plastic Orcs, and when yesterday he saw Luke and I playing our games sat in a watched for a bit. Although I had to tell him not to touch a couple of times he was pretty good around the figures, so I promised that he and I would have a game today (a public holiday, yay!).
Accordingly, when my wife and the girls went out with O-chan for a stock up on winter clothes we set up a little board and got some 6mm models out, because he had been particularly impressed by the tanks on display yesterday.
He got to place trees and things wherever he liked, and then I gave him a measuring stick to use for movement and we'd dice to fight. He loves rolling dice and gets just as excited when he misses as when he hits.
The rules were that we got five vehicles each, he would hit on a 5 or 6 and I would hit on a 6.
He quickly picked up on how to use the measuring stick.
And was like an old-timer by the end of his first turn!
Second game he got to choose some different models to use, and for the third we added in a plane on his side which rolled two dice and hit if both were 5s or 6s.
He loved it, won all the games, and got very excited when I accidentally rolled a pile of 6s in the last game to almost win it. When he triumphed by the skin of his teeth he jumped up and said 'yes' and was a happy little camper.
Lots of fun for dad, too. He's only four, so if this continues we might have a real gamer on our hands!
Accordingly, when my wife and the girls went out with O-chan for a stock up on winter clothes we set up a little board and got some 6mm models out, because he had been particularly impressed by the tanks on display yesterday.
He got to place trees and things wherever he liked, and then I gave him a measuring stick to use for movement and we'd dice to fight. He loves rolling dice and gets just as excited when he misses as when he hits.
The rules were that we got five vehicles each, he would hit on a 5 or 6 and I would hit on a 6.
He quickly picked up on how to use the measuring stick.
And was like an old-timer by the end of his first turn!
Second game he got to choose some different models to use, and for the third we added in a plane on his side which rolled two dice and hit if both were 5s or 6s.
He loved it, won all the games, and got very excited when I accidentally rolled a pile of 6s in the last game to almost win it. When he triumphed by the skin of his teeth he jumped up and said 'yes' and was a happy little camper.
Lots of fun for dad, too. He's only four, so if this continues we might have a real gamer on our hands!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Quick (and extremely derivative) Ancients rules
As I try to work myself back into gaming mode again I've been going back to an idea I had a couple of months ago for a kid-friendly, language independent miniatures game.
The plan was to base the rules on Commands & Colors and to have the table layout give the players most of the information they need to be able to play.
Infantry units would be represented by four bases and have four strength points, cavalry would be represented by three bases and have three strength points, elephants and war engines by two bases and have two strength points.
Four-figure bases would roll four attack die, two-figure bases two attack die, and so on. Missile fire would be restricted to troops armed with javelins, slings or bows, with one attack die lost if units moved before shooting. For each strength point lost, units would have to roll a die pre-combat. If a one was rolled they would lose one attack die.
Non-missile units would hit on fives or sixes and missile units would hit on sixes, whether using close or distance combat. Leaders would either add an extra die or allow hits on fours. Ones could, in some cases, cause a retreat.
Movement would be regulated by a hex grid such as a I normally use for true C&C games.
Activation would be by d4 roll, with one pip allowing a single unit to activate and two pips allowing a line of connected units to do so.
Players would be represented on table by leader figures and might be able to fight hand to hand against enemy leaders if they wanted to, a la Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
To win the game you'd need to kill a certain number of enemy units.
If used with my students I might allow a few extra rules: if they were able to remember to use certain sentences, for example, they might be able to roll an extra attack die, or move one hex farther than usual.
The main thing though is to have something fun and accessible for the cousins / kids' friends to play when they come to visit.
The plan was to base the rules on Commands & Colors and to have the table layout give the players most of the information they need to be able to play.
Infantry units would be represented by four bases and have four strength points, cavalry would be represented by three bases and have three strength points, elephants and war engines by two bases and have two strength points.
Four-figure bases would roll four attack die, two-figure bases two attack die, and so on. Missile fire would be restricted to troops armed with javelins, slings or bows, with one attack die lost if units moved before shooting. For each strength point lost, units would have to roll a die pre-combat. If a one was rolled they would lose one attack die.
Non-missile units would hit on fives or sixes and missile units would hit on sixes, whether using close or distance combat. Leaders would either add an extra die or allow hits on fours. Ones could, in some cases, cause a retreat.
Movement would be regulated by a hex grid such as a I normally use for true C&C games.
Activation would be by d4 roll, with one pip allowing a single unit to activate and two pips allowing a line of connected units to do so.
Players would be represented on table by leader figures and might be able to fight hand to hand against enemy leaders if they wanted to, a la Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
To win the game you'd need to kill a certain number of enemy units.
If used with my students I might allow a few extra rules: if they were able to remember to use certain sentences, for example, they might be able to roll an extra attack die, or move one hex farther than usual.
The main thing though is to have something fun and accessible for the cousins / kids' friends to play when they come to visit.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Games in the classroom
It's coming up to the end of the school year here in Japan and a few of our long-term kids students are leaving. They tell us it's because they can no longer fit English classes into their increasingly busy schedules, but maybe it's just that I stink as a teacher!
Whatever the reason, the incontrovertible fact is that some of them are going, so as a wee last-class treat I brought out my copy of DungeonQuest today and spent the last ten minutes of each lesson letting them play.
They would all simultaneously draw a tile and move, and if a tile looked a touch dangerous I would 'oooh' and 'aaaah' a bit and get the student affected to roll a die. If they rolled lowish I would bring out a creature (World of Warcraft board game: I've never played you, but your figures make good monsters!) for them to fight, and they'd have to beat its score on opposed dice before they could continue moving.
If they came to a locked door they would need to roll to get through it; a trap and they'd need to roll to jump over it; a spider web roll to escape it, etc.
To continue the illusion of it being an English lesson I had them each make sentences describing their action each turn: "I go here!"; "I fight the monster!"; "I jump the infernal pit!"; "I swing my trusty blade and disembowel the goblin chief, spilling his entrails all over my textbook!", etc.
When they got to the treasure trove in the centre of the dungeon they had to fight the boss monster, a large green Balrog lookalike (thank you again, World of Warcraft!). After the monster was slain (and of course it always was), they would roll dice to collect treasure, and whoever got the most gold would be hailed most triumphant.
They loved it, and it reminded me again how much fun games can be, especially when you make up the rules as you go along. And you know what, it works: they chatter away using English, hardly even realising they are doing it, and end the lesson wanting more.
Sometimes - only sometimes, mind! - teaching can seem like the best job in the world.
Whatever the reason, the incontrovertible fact is that some of them are going, so as a wee last-class treat I brought out my copy of DungeonQuest today and spent the last ten minutes of each lesson letting them play.
They would all simultaneously draw a tile and move, and if a tile looked a touch dangerous I would 'oooh' and 'aaaah' a bit and get the student affected to roll a die. If they rolled lowish I would bring out a creature (World of Warcraft board game: I've never played you, but your figures make good monsters!) for them to fight, and they'd have to beat its score on opposed dice before they could continue moving.
If they came to a locked door they would need to roll to get through it; a trap and they'd need to roll to jump over it; a spider web roll to escape it, etc.
To continue the illusion of it being an English lesson I had them each make sentences describing their action each turn: "I go here!"; "I fight the monster!"; "I jump the infernal pit!"; "I swing my trusty blade and disembowel the goblin chief, spilling his entrails all over my textbook!", etc.
When they got to the treasure trove in the centre of the dungeon they had to fight the boss monster, a large green Balrog lookalike (thank you again, World of Warcraft!). After the monster was slain (and of course it always was), they would roll dice to collect treasure, and whoever got the most gold would be hailed most triumphant.
They loved it, and it reminded me again how much fun games can be, especially when you make up the rules as you go along. And you know what, it works: they chatter away using English, hardly even realising they are doing it, and end the lesson wanting more.
Sometimes - only sometimes, mind! - teaching can seem like the best job in the world.
Monday, September 17, 2012
DungeonQuest with the kids
Today was a public holiday so with the kids starting to get restless mid-afternoon I roped them into a game of DungeonQuest.
If you don't know of it, DungeonQuest is an adventure game based around going into a dungeon and - you might have guessed it - finding treasure. Each player starts in a different corner of the game board and must make his or her way to the dragon's lair in the centre by - here's the trick - drawing dungeon tiles. These tiles show a room, corridor or tower, with between one and four possible exits. When you enter a room you will, depending on what kind of tile you turn up, have to pull a card of some description, which might cause an encounter with a monster, set off a trap, uncover some loot, and so on.
It's a bit too fiddly for the kids to play properly, so we used some dad's rules, which boiled down to two key elements: the kids' characters can't die, and they must have fun.
To this end they got to choose a character figure and start on the corner of their choosing. Each turn they drew a tile and moved onto it. We didn't use any cards or complicated stuff; it was fun enough for them just trying to put their tiles together in a way that would get them to the treasure chamber.
Every second or third tile they drew I would reveal a monster figure and place it in the tile they'd just pulled, yelling "It's a (insert name of mythical beast), quick, roll the dice!" and the child in the hot seat would roll until they scored a 5 or 6.
Foreheads would be wiped in exaggerated fashion and exclamations along the lines of "phew, that was lucky!" would be made.
Once both kids made it to the central chamber (their old man was still floundering about near the entrance...) four monsters suddenly appeared, and they had to take turns rolling the dice until all of the creatures were dead.
Both kids seemed to have a great time and immediately wanted to play again. Not only did they enjoy it, but so caught up in it were they they forgot to get into their usual grizzling match about who got to take first turn, who won and so on.
You wouldn't think it, but a game involving violent conflict made them much more cooperative and agreeable than a game involving matching cards, scoring points for picking up cheese, or saying words correctly. Maybe there's a lesson in that...
Anyway, judging by the enthusiasm exhibited today, I think this game is one that we'll be able to come back to a few more times yet.
If you don't know of it, DungeonQuest is an adventure game based around going into a dungeon and - you might have guessed it - finding treasure. Each player starts in a different corner of the game board and must make his or her way to the dragon's lair in the centre by - here's the trick - drawing dungeon tiles. These tiles show a room, corridor or tower, with between one and four possible exits. When you enter a room you will, depending on what kind of tile you turn up, have to pull a card of some description, which might cause an encounter with a monster, set off a trap, uncover some loot, and so on.
It's a bit too fiddly for the kids to play properly, so we used some dad's rules, which boiled down to two key elements: the kids' characters can't die, and they must have fun.
To this end they got to choose a character figure and start on the corner of their choosing. Each turn they drew a tile and moved onto it. We didn't use any cards or complicated stuff; it was fun enough for them just trying to put their tiles together in a way that would get them to the treasure chamber.
The adventurers on their quest...
Every second or third tile they drew I would reveal a monster figure and place it in the tile they'd just pulled, yelling "It's a (insert name of mythical beast), quick, roll the dice!" and the child in the hot seat would roll until they scored a 5 or 6.
Foreheads would be wiped in exaggerated fashion and exclamations along the lines of "phew, that was lucky!" would be made.
Once both kids made it to the central chamber (their old man was still floundering about near the entrance...) four monsters suddenly appeared, and they had to take turns rolling the dice until all of the creatures were dead.
Oh no, it's four creatures flogged from World of Warcraft: the Boardgame!
Both kids seemed to have a great time and immediately wanted to play again. Not only did they enjoy it, but so caught up in it were they they forgot to get into their usual grizzling match about who got to take first turn, who won and so on.
You wouldn't think it, but a game involving violent conflict made them much more cooperative and agreeable than a game involving matching cards, scoring points for picking up cheese, or saying words correctly. Maybe there's a lesson in that...
Anyway, judging by the enthusiasm exhibited today, I think this game is one that we'll be able to come back to a few more times yet.
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