Tutoring Games: Tips for Making Tutoring Fun

Should I Use Games When Tutoring?

Playing games with kids is a great way to help them practice academic skills, like math facts and phonics. Since games are often fun, interactive and colorful, kids may be more willing to play games than to complete worksheets and other activities. Tutoring is usually limited to one or two hours at a time, so it may be most effective to use games as a review after providing focused lessons and practice problems.

Three Fun Tutoring Activities

Concentration

Start with a stack of 18 or 24 index cards, depending on how much information you want to cover in the lesson. Then, use a pair of cards to write down corresponding information, such as vocabulary words with matching definitions, states and capitals or math facts.

Flip all the cards face down and place them in three rows of six or eight. You and your child will take turns flipping over two cards at a time. If they match, the player takes both cards and another turn. If there's no match, it's the next player's turn. Once all cards are gone, the player with the most wins.

Peer Review

Editing someone else's work is great practice for understanding grammatical and structural errors. Just as teachers have students exchange papers for grading in the classroom, you and your child can exchange homework assignments for practice.

Spend 10-15 minutes responding to the same writing prompt. Then, exchange papers and review. If your son or daughter has errors, you can walk through the corrections with him or her. You should also take a look at how your child has corrected your work. If appropriate, you should make mistakes on purpose to see how your son or daughter corrects them.

Jeopardy

While Jeopardy is a game, it's also an effective review tool. If your child has an upcoming exam, this is a great activity to help him or her review. Create your own version of this game by using a poster board and index cards for the categories and questions. Because the game is point-based, it will work best if you're able to find one or two other family members to participate. Once you've got the game set up, follow the same rules as the show. You can act as the moderator, reading questions and awarding points until the end. The player with the highest total is the winner.