Critical Thinking & Albert's Insominia!

If you love painless practice that builds higher level thinking skills, don't miss Albert's Insomnia! This new card game can be used by by 1, 2 or more players to practice mental math and math facts while learning the order of operations. Others report that it also develops attention span and concentration skills, which is especiallyhelpful for students with ADD/ADHD; provides communication and social interaction skills practice; builds collaboration skills; develops critical and creative thinking skills and enhances self esteem. This seemingly simple card game gives reluctant math students a way to have fun with mathematics!

While the game is marked for Age 8+, I had fun playing it with my granddaughter Ally, who is in 1st grade. With only slight adaptations of the "How to Play" guidelines, Ally amazed me with the different ways she used the numbers provided to make a specified sum. She had fun using addition and subtraction facts together to "make" a specified number.

Teachers are always looking for new things to add to centers/workstations. To use this game during reading instruction, teachers could write the rules for the different game options with grade-level-specific vocabulary; then students would read and follow written directions. Students can also write a set of rules for a different version of the game.

Go to http://rjb3games.com/index.html to learn about how as a kid, creator Rich Buchner used his digital clock to count sheep while trying to go to sleep. Watch how kids of all ages love to play this game!