How to Make an Educational Game Using Tic-Tac-Toe

Games that children already know how to play are often easy to change into educational play. Tic-Tac-Toe is such a game. The format (method of play) is not too difficult for younger children and can still offer the extra challenge of play necessary to interest an older child. There are two ways we like to use Tic-Tac-Toe for educational play.

METHOD ONE

This way of playing is the easiest to make. It is also the better way to play with older children as it provides the more traditional form of playing. Here players need to understand the strategies of placing their marks to get three in a row.

Simply draw the traditional Tic-Tac-Toe grid on a sheet of paper. Place the grid in a plastic page protector. Players draw a skill card of ANY type and give the response. If their answer is correct, they place their X or O on the grid using dry erase markers. An incorrect answer causes them to miss a turn and gives the other player a great advantage. (NOTE: By using page protectors and dry erase markers the grid can be used over and over.)

Ideas for Skill Cards
This is just a list to get you thinking as almost ANY skill could be on these cards. The first part would be on the card and the second would be what the player needs to respond in order to place his mark on the playing grid. (Note: An answer key may need to be provided if two students are playing together.)

Math facts - solution

State names - capitals

Foreign word or phrase - English translation

Definitions - word

Review questions from a science or history unit - answers

Spelling Words - In this case, players draw cards for the other player and read them the word.

Math story problems - solutions

METHOD TWO

The second way to make and play using Tic-Tac-Toe takes a bit more preparation but gives younger children a way to play without having to think of the extra strategy of "Where should I place my mark?" as the answer to the skill card tells them.

First prepare the grid as usual. Now answers are placed in each section of the grid. For example, in a mixed up order write the numerals 1 - 9 in a mixed up order (one in each section). In this game the skill cards would be math facts with these numbers as the solution. There can be only nine skill cards or up to three cards with each possible answer. So if a player draws a skill card with the question 4 + 2, he would place his mark in the space with the 6. If a player draws a card with a solution that has already been covered, he gets to place no mark this turn.

Again, so many different skills can be played using this method.

More Ideas for Skill Cards
Here the second part is actually put on the grid.

Digital time - pictures of clocks

Name of animal - its picture

Word - rhyming word

Word - a synonym

Roman numeral - number

Fraction - decimal equivalent

The PROBLEM, a SOLUTION and a NEW WAY TO PLAY

Playing this second method often leads to tie games...THE PROBLEM. My sister and her son were playing this way and Jeremy came up with A SOLUTION.

A NEW WAY TO PLAY: Because we place all our grids in plastic page protectors and use dry-erase markers to place our X or O, there was a natural solution. Jeremy changed a rule.

He and his mother were playing a simple addition game. When Jeremy drew a card that had a solution that was already covered with his mother's X, he suggested that he should be able to erase it and replace it with his O. What a wonderful solution to a game that had seemed boring to him! He had not liked games turning out in a tie, so he thought of another way to play. It became our standard rule as all the kids liked it, except Matthew (Jeremy's younger brother). Matthew did not like anyone to erase his mark once he had it on the board. So his mother had to play the "old" way with him. But that is part of the wonderful thing with games:

Rules can be changed or adjusted to fit the needs or likes of the child.