Dec
10
14 Best Games To Educate Your Children About Business
Caught playing games with his nieces!
I found this list of 14 games on Sparkplugging, a website that you’ll find more great information about starting a home business. Started by Wendy Piersall, it was originally a website just for moms starting a business, but when she realized that the bulk of her readers were men, she changed her look to accommodate everyone.
These 14 educational games are classics, and I’ve talked about several of them before. Since many of you are still looking for Christmas presents for your children that will last longer than a day, I thought you’d like a list to take to the store. I’m a big believer in incorporating educational games into the school routine, and games about business were always big at our house!
A heads up on the game, The Sims 2: Open For Business, it’s an expansion pack, with a “T” rating. When we bought this game we were really excited, yet learned to read the fine print BEFORE I leave the store from now on. I was so glad when my game-savvy older son informed his not-so-game-savvy mom that you need the original Sims 2 game to play this particular “expansion pack” (I had no idea what that meant, but it wasn’t clear on the package to someone like me that you needed something else to make this game work!).
Thankfully, we had not opened the game yet and were able to return it. Maybe we’ll tackle the entire set next year . . . although I also noticed (again, after the fact) that there was a “T” rating, which included the warning of “Crude humor, sexual themes, violence” – so maybe NOT.
Many of the games referred to are available as a download, at a much more reasonable price than most of the board games this year. There are many business-type games you can try over at Gamehouse (one of the few game sites of this type that Cnet deems safe) and they can be purchased to keep for as little as $6.99. Signing up for the free trial allows you to try any of their games for 60 minutes, and as a thank you for trying them out, they give you one full featured game to keep. Of course, they hope that you continue paying the monthly fee, and we did do that last year for a few months and came away with several games that my younger son still plays. Jane’s Hotel and Diner Dash are two of his favorites, but there are many more sophisticated business related games available there. Most of the “tycoon” games are available, and I really liked being able to try many of the games online without having to download them onto our computer first.
While you’re over at Sparkplugging, be sure to sign up for their FREE 21-Page Internet Business Idea Guide. We plan on covering the ‘how-to’ of many of those ideas next year. Make 2010 your year to finally get that online business started!
Read all 14 games at http://www.sparkplugging.com/sparkplug-ceo/14-educational-games-to-teach-your-kids-about-business/
Answer 3 quick survey questions for Wendy and get her ” Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Made by Home Business Entrepreneurs!” That’s something we SHOULD cover next year! Can you tell I have big plans for next year?
Do any of you have a game you’ve found that has good “business educational” value? Would love to hear!
12 Comments for this entry
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Welcome to Homeschool Entrepreneur!
Our mission is to help homeschool families create a home business for several reasons; Running a business in the home creates a natural learning environment for all ages, one that will benefit your child in so many ways* . . and the extra money comes in handy, too!
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December 10th, 2009 on 11:34 pm
This is a helpful and informative site for busy Parents. I see value for parents who have children who are being home schooled as well as for those who are not.
Continued success
December 21st, 2009 on 1:48 pm
I teach a Business Class for 7th-12th grade at our local co op and use many free online games to teach business principles. Here are some of them:
<a href="http://disney.go.com/dxd/index.html?channel=108602#/disneygroup/hotshotbusiness/" Hot Shot Business
<a href = "http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-coffee-shop/index.html" Coffee Shop Game"
<a href = "http://www.coolmath-games.com/lemonade/" Lemonade Stand Game
December 28th, 2009 on 1:41 am
Thanks for adding to the list! Those are all great additions, and coolmath-games.com is an excellent learning site.
December 24th, 2009 on 6:07 pm
Thanks for sharing the list of games with good business educational value. I feel that almost all family board games and card games have some kind of business educational value – they are wonderful for teaching cooperation, and also about winning and losing – an important lesson for kids, in my opinion. I’d add to the list of games:
Ticket to Ride (a great family board game based on building a railroad network by Days of Wonder. They have US, European and Swiss versions – good for learning geography while you’re at it!)
Bohnanza (a simple card-based game all about buying and trading by Rio Grande Games)
December 28th, 2009 on 1:43 am
I haven’t heard of those, thanks!
December 27th, 2009 on 11:36 pm
Instead of a game about business, how about kids and teens starting and running real-life businesses?
It’s possible and fun.
Biz in a Boxx at http://www.bizinaboxx.com
December 28th, 2009 on 1:44 am
What a great idea! Looking forward to checking ‘biz in a boxx ‘ out.
September 20th, 2010 on 3:38 am
That would really be a great idea…at such a very young age…they already doing business…it’s indeed possible.
September 20th, 2010 on 4:28 pm
Thanks for the comment, your website, bizlaunch.com is a goldmine for our readers! I appreciate your vision in your “About Us”, too. We believe, too.
April 8th, 2010 on 10:03 pm
Another we like that teaches some of the basics for business is the Choclatier series.
May 14th, 2011 on 3:09 am
Hey there, I googled 14 Best Games To Educate Your Children About Business | Homeschool Entrepreneur and your internet site was in the very first few websites, you must be doing something right for google to like your posts a great deal. Have you ever contemplated blogging for money?
May 17th, 2011 on 9:59 pm
Funny…that is sort of my intention here….:-) Were you referring to affiliate marketing by blogging?