Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
Do you love including games in your homeschool? We do. After all, learning should be fun. Right? Adding the right games to your homeschool is not only fun, but it also makes learning more memorable, too. This is why I was excited to review the geography game Continent Race by Byron’s Games.
For the past several weeks, my kids and I have been playing the Continent Race. It is a geography game for kids ages 7+. I was a little skeptical about how educational it would be. After all, I have seen many games claim to be geography games, but many leave a lot to be desired. However, I found the Continent Race definitely makes learning fun AND is the perfect way to learn about the countries of our world.
Continent Race – Geography Game
Background
It may seem hard to believe, but a six-year-old boy named Byron created the Continent Race game. Shocking isn’t it?! At the time, Byron was dealing with a long hospital stay for an illness. While in the hospital, he decided to create a game other children could play while staying in the hospital, too. He took his love of geography and encouragement from a special person in his life to create this game.
The Object of the Game
The object of the game is very simple: be the first to collect the required number of country flag cards from the continents to win. It’s that simple. It does, however, have an easier and more challenging version to it.
The Geography Game Pieces
Game Board
The game comes with a colorful game board which is a map of the world. On the board, the countries are labeled, and each continent or group of continents is given its own colors.
Cards
The game comes with a large deck of cards.
- 205 Country Flag Cards
- 3 Antarctica Wild Cards
The Country Flag Cards have the name and flag of a country. The basic cards are color-coordinated with the continent group, so you know what continent they are located on.
The Country Flag cards have their own special cards, too. They have Mystery cards and Challenge cards that you use to play a more advanced game.
Continent List
The game includes five continent lists with maps on the back.
These lists are helpful in finding countries and determining where they can be found on the larger map.
Name Pronunciation (optional download)
One tool Byron’s Games provides is a pronunciation guide for the country names. Some of the names are tough to pronounce, so I printed off the guide to help us learn the names.
I really like the guide. However, I wish that it didn’t have an orange background because it uses a lot of ink when printing. I felt it was useful, though, and I printed it off anyway.
How is this an Educational Geography Game
You may be wondering, “How is this game educational?” Great question! Let me share what makes this game more than a fun game to play.
- When kids discard a card at the end of their turn, they need to say the name of the country and the continent it is part of.
- In order to win the game, the last step is to say the name of each country and point out its location on the game board. This is where the Continent lists and maps come in handy.
I LOVE how that the game has children saying the names of the countries and continents and later pointing them out on the map. It reinforces the names and locations, which I believe will help kids learn things better. Kids read, hear, and point. This is a nice multi-sensory approach to better enhance learning.
How We Used the Game
My family used this game in two ways: as part of our homeschool and part of our family game night. It is perfect for both.
In history, we have studied world history. I found this game a nice way to incorporate world geography. My kids have started to better learn where countries are located, which piqued their interest to learn more.
My son is working on a world geography program. I am incorporating this game into it so he not only learns the information about the countries but begins to learn where they are located.
Another great thing about this game is it is FUN! We have used this game as part of a family game night. The kids don’t think of the Continent Race as a boring educational game. It is a fun option for something to play on the weekend.
I’m sure Continent Race will be a fun game your family will love. Oh…and it’s educational, too.
To find out what other families think of Continent Race and other Byron’s Games products, click the link below.
You can follow Byron’s Games at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ByronsGames
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ByronsGames
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byronsgames/
