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No matter what your homeschooling style is, gameschooling can add a fun element which helps kids retain more than just facts.
Playing American history games can help them gain an understanding of the why, how, where, when, and who of history through learning geography, trivia, strategy, and general information.
Today we are focusing on some American history board games to add to your homeschool day.
I have drawn deep from the Amazon well and found games to cover quite a few major periods of American history and they’re ones we’ve used too.
From the first people that set sail on the soil of the new world to revolutions, Civil War within America, westward expansion to a cover up at the Watergate hotel, your kids will love them.
American History Games
You can play them at home as a supplement to your history lessons or in place of a lesson some days for a fun break.
They are a great tool for co-op days as well.
And small card games can be great for waiting at restaurants or doctor’s offices.
Additionally, look at some of the topics your child can learn about.
Political History
Social History
Economic History
Religious History
Diplomatic History
Art History
Women’s History
Science/Medicine History
Food History
Environmental History
Then there are academic skills as well. Look at this list below.
reading fluency
comprehension
problem solving skills
critical thinking, reasoning
self regulation
verbal communication skills
increased vocabulary
social skills, patience, resilience, logic,
and a lot more skills that come with board game play whether its trivia, strategy, or role playing.
Did I also mention that a lot of these games below will also teach civics, geography, math and science? Yes! yes!
Other Fun History Games Resources
Too, look at these other fun history games resources:
FUN FACTS: Get ready for a fun card game that teaches about famous discoveries, people of the Revolution, and African Americans in history! This kids card game makes learning history fun for all ages!
FUN FACTS: The American Revolution was a serious time in history when thirteen colonies joined together to break away from the British Empire. In this kids card game, adults and kids can have fun learning the history of our great North America! Topics include Life before the war, Heroes, and the Battle for the Sea.
FUN FACTS: History can be a tough subject to make fun for some children. The Civil War card game takes fun facts beyond dates and timelines to make it an interesting and engaging subject to learn about. Famous Battles, Heroes, and 'Life As..' topics make this a fun kids card game.
A simple deck of cards for playing whatever card game you like but this one features American historical figures and comes with a book to tell about each. But you can use these for other things too…Can’t decide who to learn about next? Draw a card to pick. Take out one of each figure and have your child line them up in timeline order. Call out a historical fact about one of the figures and have your child flash the matching person.
Fifty-two portraits adorn these 55 cards of this stately deck. The four suits are periods of U.S. History-Colonial, Federal, Civil War and Frontier. These include a detailed biographical booklet and rules for various card games.
FUN PARTY GAME: American Trivia features two-sided cards, with 1,000 questions that cover five categories: Geography, History, Pop Culture, Sports, and General trivia. Making this a great party game that can be played by a wide range of ages.
STRATEGY GAME: Build your tracks across the United States in this fast-paced and strategic board game. Connect iconic North American cities across a map of the 20th-century USA and build your train routes to earn points
A very important part of history was the Underground Railroad, players of this cooperative game become abolitionists raising money and helping escaped slaves to freedom.
Learn about the events, the people, and the politics of one of the biggest presidential scandals in history in this two player card game. One player is the Nixon Administration and the other is a journalist gathering evidence.
MADE FOR ALL AGES - This fun card game is designed for the whole family. It's perfect for bonding with kids, chlidren, teens, adults and grand parents. Bust it out during a reunion and watch everyone dive in! Perfect family games for kids 4 and up!
For the child that is wild about military history this is a great strategy game that you will want to add to your collection. Lead your little troupe of plastic army men to battle with accurate historical terrain and objectives.
Is there anything they haven’t made into a Monopoly game? Properties are named after famous battles and there are WWII facts on the backs of the property cards as well.
The Colonists is a strategy game where you work to establish and develop a new colony. While it does not specifically teach about American Colonies it gives a good understanding of what was needed for one.
In the face of the political instability and financial turmoil of the American Revolution, only one individual always came out on top: Alexander Hamilton. Pit your survival instincts and spending savvy against all the founding fathers (and mothers) in this historic action card game whose simple objective is as old as Ameritocracy itself: get all the money or die trying.
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As a history lover I find dates meaningless; I totally sympathize with home educators and kids alike who hate anything school-ish, but I especially feel your pain when learning history. With these 15 history ideas for homeschooled kids who don’t like school, I know you’ll find one or two fun things you can use.
The first tool I use to bring history to life are (1)lapbooks.
I’m not the craft lover. However, I found a way to use lapbooks for my kids which benefited them and brought history to life.
Using lapbooks as a way to feed a kid’s passions and adding enrichment has been one of the best ways I’ve taught my kids.
I came close to giving up lapbooks because I over worked it. We almost went from lapbook lovers to lapbook haters. Read how I fought back and made lapbooks suit our purpose. My tips are here at Beware of the 3 C’s of Lapbooking. Don’t make my mistakes for beginner lapbookers.
Click on UNIT STUDIES on my site for the drop down menu where I divided the lapbooks by time period.
Another way to teach your kids is to do what kids naturally like which is to read (2) stories or to be read to.
15 History Ideas for Homeschooled Kids
You can present history stories in at least two ways.
First, you can use laid out history curriculum like Story of the World which has a reader and hands-on activities to go along with each period of history.
Additionally, history just doesn’t come from stories, but it’s learned through (3) field trips.
If your kid is turned off to books because he learned from boring books, then take field trips in person and take virtual field trips.
Taking a trip through a cemetery brings enough mystery into learning history for the day.
Walking through the house of a pioneer family or visiting a one-room schoolhouse gives your child a picture of what life was back in the day. A tiny spark of love for the past can be ignited from a fun field trip.
Too, a (4) geography twist makes a wonderful slant on history.
We used the Ancient Empires to learn about continents and not only did we learn about countries we found interesting, but we learned their history while having fun with a group of other homeschooling families.
In our co-op each family chose a country, created a pizza box display, came in costumed dress for the country they represented, and made a delicious recipe to share with others.
What I like about Case of Adventure is being able to focus deep on just one country through a story and lapbooking and notebooking type of activities.
Another interactive way to learn history is to (5) look real close at your own circle of family and friends.
Use what you already have at your disposal. Most people, even acquaintances, love to help educate kids.
Interview people who are from other countries or who lived through certain periods of history. It can be your parents, grandparents, or extended family member or even a friend who is well-traveled.
My kids interviewed my mom who grew up picking cotton and farming; they interviewed a close family friend of ours from Africa. The friend of ours from Africa cooked my kids soup from her country and showed them handmade objects in her house from her native country.
Speaking of connections, another friend of ours was an international flight attendant. I got creative again. There is no harm in asking.
We ask her to take pictures of each country she visited and pick up a few mementos. She was happy to oblige and told us it gave her something to do on the layover. We gave her a few dollars to spend.
She couldn’t bring back a lot from different countries since her suitcases were small, but candy and key chains make great mementos to study about from other countries.
We still have our kimonos from Japan. The items from Japan were some of the ones my kids really loved. Mementos gave my kids something to hold and look at which cemented cultural awareness and love of people and history.
Homeschool History Unit Studies
Did I mention the pictures she took of the local people, food, and costumes made for a fantastic study? We couldn’t wait for her to get back from each flight.
Japanese fan
Chopsticks
Japanese kimono
Cool keychains
Another slant I took with my kids which they really loved was to look at a period of history through a (6) real person or (7) event/place which piqued my boys’ interest.
Feed and fan a history love for your kids by basing your teaching on your kids interests.
An example of how I did this was our Wyatt Earp unit study for a history character and the FBI for an agency or interesting place to learn about.
Choosing a character or event/place has a helpful side benefit. Your topics and time period are considerably narrowed. Your child and you have a starting point for learning history.
Narrowing your focus only to the time period of your history character and learning where he lived and traveled, what was life like during his lifetime, and significant events in his life ties history to a real person. It’s a life study.
This same outline of how to teach history focusing on a person applies to a place. The FBI unit study topic was narrowed down to when it came to existence and events during modern times.
Homeschool History Media and YouTube
In addition, (8) media and/or YouTube channels can revive the love for learning history.
If you have Prime Video then Drive Thru History is another option for an older learner.
Timeline – World History Documentaries is another channel for older learners. From the site: “We’ll be exploring the mysteries of ancient Egypt, shedding light on the dark ages of medieval Europe and examining the First and Second World Wars.”
Liberty Kids on YouTube is another big hit for fun history.
The Armchair Historian another great twist on history. From the site: “The Armchair Historian is a history channel specializing in animated military history.” Pretty cool.
Studying (9) art history is another unique way to study history.
If you have an art lover or even a kid who loves to draw, they’ll tolerate history with a focus on culture.
Art is the way persons or cultures of the past express emotions about day to day life whether it’s appeasing their gods or crafting items for everyday use. It’s a great angle to teaching history.
Learn history though a movie like Star Wars to learn about battle tactics and apply to modern day.
Learn fictional history from a novel like Lord of the Rings. Learn about Middle Earth and bring history alive through fiction. The Lord of the Rings has it own geography, history, languages, and legends.
Finally, the last fun way to make history fun for the kid who is most challenging to teach is to use (15) history games. You can learn so much from board games and they don’t have to cost a lot.
