In an election year, it is easy to include election-related activities in your lesson plans. Depending upon the age(s) of your child(ren), they might even understand some of it. *grin* What about the times in between election years or if it all seems irrelevant? The Presidential Game is a fun way to learn about the election process and explore how it works.
Our eldest daughter was just starting to see the difference between electoral votes and popular votes during the most recent election. She had a vague understanding. We do not have TV service, so we did not keep up with much of the coverage. We do want our children to have an understanding of the process however.
We could go about learning of the election process through dry texts and matter-of-fact resources – boring! Just as in other areas of learning, the more it can be experienced, the more interesting it becomes. The Presidential Game gives us a great way to experience the election process. When using the Electoral WebMap it felt even more like real-life. Not to mention how much easier it was than using pencil and paper to keep track.
The Presidential Game ($35) is recommended for ages 11+ and I agree with that. My younger children (10 and 9) joined in as we played, but certainly would not have been able to really play on their own. You can play with two players or two teams of any number of players. The teams each have their own dice (3) and chips (150) in red (Republican) or blue (Democrat). The game also has a game board, Politics Cards and a score pad. With the game you get the access code to use the online Electoral WebMap – a very cool extra that makes what could be complicated much simpler.
When we first began reading through the directions we were combatting two things. The vocabulary was not familiar to my girls and the strategies that would/could be used were not clear. I gave them simplified definitions for unknown words and told them they would catch on to the game as we went. The goal – have the most electoral votes to win the election – was clear, how to go about this was not. They stuck it out and learned as we played.
We’ve played a few times now and are starting to get a real feel for the strategy. Our wins have been evenly split. The biggest thing for us – not a con, but something to be aware of – this is not a short game. You can choose to campaign for 15 weeks or 30 weeks. Even with the shorter time frame, we have not had a game last less than 75 minutes or so. Most of the time, we don’t mind — it is a fun game to play. Just be warned of the time commitment so it doesn’t interfere with dinner or bedtime, ahem.
Daddy hasn’t played per se, but has been in the same room and frequently comments or adds his thoughts. He rarely plays board games, yet likes to be involved. This has been perfect (for my team at least), because his team would win everytime if he was an actual player. The girls and I are just not very politically minded – but we are learning! Truly, the game is more about strategy and you don’t have to be politically minded to play, but I am not the strategist that my husband is. It appears a few of “his” children have inherited that gift as well.
The Politics cards have added quite a bit of fun and randomness to the game. In reading them, we could pick out some basis for factual events. It was also fun to see that something was not an advantage to “Republicans” or “Democrats”, but to your team versus your opponent. This helped to make the game more about the strategy and less about label of your team.
Once we had some familiarity with how the process within the game works, we took some time to learn about the actual election process. What previously has caused eyes to glaze over, now caused some excitement. The vocabulary – terms like campaign, endorse, approval rating – is now relevant and interesting. This is why I love using experience as a method of learning. Though politics is not exactly a part of the game (players have no control over what is on the card drawn) it is understood more through playing. The game comes with blank Politics Cards so you can write and add your own. That is something we’ll hold on to for future years’ playing.
My girls have gone back and forth on liking this game. It is not the top of the list, yet it does get picked frequently. I think the more we play it, the more we like it. The last few months of the year we have gatherings with extended family. The Presidential Game is going to be fun to bring along.
Thank you Presidential Game!
