In my last post I shared a few simple games that doesn’t require a lot of preparation and that can be adapted to many different learning situation.

This game here, Toss Up, does require some preparation and can be used to review a topic at the end of a chapter or unit your child is working on. It is one of these games that you can take the time to put together that you can then use many times for any subject or content.

Although the post describes it as a classroom game and with the aim of learning new content, you can easily adapt it for home to help your child revise any lesson.

Changes I would bring when playing this at home with one or two children only:

• Rather than playing in teams, questions are answered as individual players. You as an adult get to answer questions too, but may have one chance for the right answer and your child more chances to make it fair. Or your child might get a multiple choice type answer while you don’t. (Side note: Don’t expect to get all answers right! Many times kids are better than us because they’ve been learning the stuff while we don’t remember it very clearly from our own school years!)

• You may also make it harder for you to toss the ball into the cups, just so that your child gets a little advantage in getting some more answers as he may be less skilled than you (at tossing & at answering the questions).

• I wouldn’t put any numbers in the cups. I would put the questions directly in, may be written on a folded piece of paper.

• To make up the question is simple enough, just go through your child’s book/copybook and take questions from there. Older children can even participate in making the questions with you.

• I would also keep the game simpler without points, stingers or life lines. Rather, each player that answers a question correctly gets to keep the piece of paper and the one who gets most at the end wins the game.

Another way to use this cup board is to put on fewer cups but have each one target a category or chapter of a bigger topic.

There are probably quite a few other creative ways this game can be adapted and used for some fun learning experience.