background preloader

Game Day Fridays

Facebook Twitter

12 Works of Literature Recreated in LEGO. Give a bibliophile a set of LEGO, and she'll think outside the box. These creations, inspired by library mainstays, prove that LEGO bricks are more than just child's play. 1. Harry Potter LEGO builder extraordinaire Alice Finch constructed a scale representation of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for BrickCon 2012 (BrickCon, an annual event for LEGO enthusiasts held at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, just wrapped its 2014 session on Oct. 5).

Finch’s Hogwarts took home both the People’s Choice and Best in Show at BrickCon 2012. Finch and her completed castle: As the first room Finch completed, the Great Hall set the scale for the entire creation. Dozens more photos of Finch’s Hogwarts can be found on her flickr account. 2. A year after completing the world’s largest LEGO Hogwarts, Alice Finch teamed up with fellow LEGO mastermind David Frank to create a replica of Rivendell, Middle-earth’s elven paradise. A detailed view of Elrond’s library: More photos here. 3.

Detailed view: A Beautiful Visual on The Importance of Games in Learning. Games are very important for learning and James Paul Gee has empirically proved this in his wonderful book " What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy". Gee argues that games,particularly video games, require the players to learn and think in ways at which they are not adept. He further states that games provide a life enhancing experience for learners and they also revolutionize the routinized ways of learning through fusing learning and play. You can learn more about Gee's book in this post I have published a few months ago. Regarding the importance of games and why they are good for learning, I am sharing with you the graphic below from Pixkelearning which visualizes some of the pluses of playing games for learners.

Check it out and share with us what you think of it. Check out the full graphic from this page. Creating a Life-Size ‘The Game of LIFE’ for Teen Read Week. In March 2013, School Library Journal reported on the creation of an Arkham Horror board game by La Vista Public Library’s Teen Advisory Board (TAB) as part of its 2012 Teen Read Week (TRW) celebration. The TAB’s leader, youth librarian and advisor Lindsey Tomsu, a 2013 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, recently got in touch with us and let us know that for Teen Read Week 2013, the group created a life-size version of The Game of LIFE.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the game? Was it part of your TAB’s application to get the second YALSA/Dollar General Teen Read Week grant? Well, The Game of LIFE is the game everyone associates with the tiny cars you fill with little peg people! My teens were pretty mixed between those who had played an older version and a newer version of the game and those who knew the game but had never played before. The grant enabled us an opportunity to spend time over the summer playing the game for “research” purposes!

How did you tie in reading to the game? The Power of Play. The pendulum swings back and forth in education. Waiting at one end of the arc is a myopic focus on academics and accountability, often in the form of high-stakes testing. Fueled by a fear of “falling behind,” learning environments that encourage exploration and experimentation are pushed aside in favor of early academics, more homework, and correct answers on bubble sheets. In the US, we are currently awakening from such a pendulum swing to the realization that all work and no play is more than just developmentally inappropriate; it is counterproductive to the kind of academic excellence that is rooted in deep understanding, creativity, and the ability to think critically.

The MIT media lab believes so strongly in the importance of play that it has created the Lifelong Kindergarten Group, tasked with the mission to legitimize and elevate the type of playful exploration once found in kindergarten.1 What do we mean when we speak of play? Professors Dorothy Singer, Roberta M. Educator Dr. Because Play Matters - Game Design Portfolio for Scott Nicholson.

Because Play Matters - Blog. 24-year long game of tag: Friends who flew across the world to avoid being 'it' By David Mccormack and James Gordon Published: 17:34 GMT, 27 October 2013 | Updated: 18:39 GMT, 26 November 2013 A group of 40-something men have spent much of the past 30 years engaged in one of the longest running and most elaborate games of tag ever.

The idea of a bunch of grown men traveling the country attempting to tag each other may sound strange, but it has helped to foster an enduring friendship between the ten buddies. They call themselves, The Tag Brothers. The high jinks started back in high school when as teenagers they would entertain themselves by playing the schoolyard game during breaks at Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, Washington. The tag brothers: A high school game of tag is continuing more than twenty years later between a group of friends who fly across the world and dress up in disguise to avoid being 'it' Who's it? The perfect bromance: The friendship between the ten men has endured since they were at school in the 1990s Game on! Reunions were rare, and missed. Teamwork, Communication Skills & Get to Know You Games/Activities | P… Search Activities & Games | PeaceFirst. A Gaming Connection.

TPiB: Hunger Games Monopolgy (from Kearsten) Do you have teens that are crazy for The Hunger Games and Monopoly? Why not put together this HG Monopoly game as a Teen program in a Box? This was a pretty easy program to plan, and although the prep is intensive (thank goodness for our teen volunteers), it is easy to package and send to our branches as a program in a box.

We've included downloadable PDFs with all the images we used for our materials so you, too, can enjoy this fun interactive game! What you need: Game Board (20 posterboards halved, plus colored paper and place name print-outs) Inflatable DiceProperty Cards (printed on cardstock)Monopoly money (borrowed from another Monopoly game, or, if you print your own: 20 each of $500 and $100, 30 $50, 50 $20, and 40 each of $10, $5, and $1)32 houses, 12 hotels5 math challenge cards, 5 science challenge cards, 5 trivia challenge cards (cardstock)Gift bags with parachute images taped to them (these can be reused, as long as you have people to refill them inconspicuously. Enjoy! Teen Read Week Dollar General Literacy Spotlight, Lindsey Tomsu. Loving Lovecraft: Nebraska Teens Host Life-Size ‘Arkham Horror’ Game. Three cheers for Miskatonic University! That’s the rallying cry of the La Vista Public Library (NE)’s teen advisory board (TAB)—who, under the exuberant guidance of youth librarian and advisor Lindsey Tomsu, a 2013 Library Journal Mover & Shaker—turned its 2012 Teen Read Week into a massive celebration of the works of H.

P. Lovecraft, complete with crafts, workshops, and a life-sized version of the complex, cooperative Arkham Horror board game based on the Cthulhu Mythos. The event was so successful and engaging that the teens hope to repeat it every year. “I like complex board games for teens because they teach a variety of different skills in a fun setting,” Tomsu tells School Library Journal. In Arkham Horror, up to eight players take on the roles of investigators in 1920s Prohibition-era Arkham, MA, the fictional town where Lovecraft set many of his stories, Tomsu explains.

Tomsu gets into character as Arkham’s William Yorick, gravedigger. And what was the reaction from the parents? Custom Bingo Cards. Once Upon a Time: Wil Wheaton, Amy Berg, Mike Phirman, and Chris "Doc" Wyatt on TableTop SE2E03.