Category Games

What are the benefits of puzzles in early childhood education?

Puzzles offer a wide array of cognitive educational, and personal benefits. They also help children develop patience persistence, and the ability to approach challenges methodically.

By solving puzzles, children enhance their critical thinking. problem-solving skills, creativity, and analytical abilities. Additionally, beyond their educational and cognitive advantages, mathematical puzzles have practical applications in various fields like cryptography, computer programming. engineering, and scientific research. Give yourself a challenge today and solve the two puzzles provided.

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Do board games improve math skills?

We’ve intuitively known that most board games have a positive effect on us. Be it mental well-being, some form of learning, or even strategizing, board games contribute immensely. Given that they also help us stay away from our devices during the duration when we are playing the game, they are bound to become more popular in the future.

A new study has now validated part of what we’ve known intuitively, stating that board games based on numbers enhance mathematical ability among children. Their results, which is based on a comprehensive review of research published on this topic over the last 23 years, are published in the peer-reviewed journal Early Years in July.

19 studies from 2000

In order to investigate the effects of physical board games in promoting leaning, the researchers reviewed 19 studies published from 2000 onwards. These studies involved children under the age of 10 and all except one focused on the relationship between the board games and the mathematical skills of the players.

Children participating in these studies received special board game sessions led by teachers, therapists, or parents. While some of these board games were numbers-based like Snakes and Ladders and Monopoly, others did not focus on numeracy skills. These sessions were on average held twice a week for 20 minutes over two-and-a-half months.

Based on assessments on their mathematics performance before and after the intervention sessions, the studies came to their conclusions. Right from basic numeric competency like naming numbers and understanding their relationship with each other, to more complex tasks including addition and subtraction, mathematical ability received a boost in more than half the cases.

Beneficial for all learners?

 While the review established the positive effect of numbers-based board games for children, especially those young, it would be interesting to find out if such an approach would also be beneficial for all learners, including first-generation learners. By improving their fundamental understanding of numbers. children stand to gain as it helps ward off their fear of mathematics and numbers.

The study, meanwhile, also highlighted the lack of scientific evaluation to determine the impact of board games on the language and literacy areas of children. This research group plans to investigate this in their next project.

There is a need to design board games for educational purposes, both in terms of quantity and quality. The researchers believe that this is an interesting space that would open up in the coming years.

Picture Credit : Google 

How Edgar Allan Poe inspired Scrabble?

When it comes to classic board games, few have stood the test of time quite like Scrabble. This beloved game has entertained players of all ages and skill levels. It is speculated that the concept of the game was inspired by a short story titled ‘The Gold Bug’ by one of the greatest American writers Edgar Allan Poe.

Welcome to the world of Scrabble, where words reign supreme and strategy is key. For over seven decades, this classic board game has been captivating players with its unique blend of skill and chance. But did you know that Scrabble's origins can be traced back to a short story by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe?

The Great Depression

During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, millions of Americans were struggling to make ends meet and find any kind of relief from the economic downturn. It was during this challenging time that Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from New York, began to conceive the idea for a game that could provide a much-needed distraction from the harsh realities of everyday life. Drawing on his own love of puzzles and wordplay, Butts set out to create a game that combined chance, strategy, and language skills, hoping to provide people with a fun and engaging way to pass the time. And thus, the idea for what would become Scrabble was born.

When inspiration strikes

 Butts' childhood fascination with Poe's short story ‘The Gold Bug proved’ to be a key source of inspiration as he began to develop his own word game.

The idea of decoding symbols to uncover a hidden treasure map (which was the basis of the story) resonated with Butts, and he began to experiment with ways to incorporate similar elements into his own game. One idea that particularly intrigued him was the notion of ranking letters by their frequency of use in the English language, as Poe had attempted to do in his story. Butts set out to put together his own ranking system by meticulously counting letters in various publications, including the ‘New York Times’ and ‘The Saturday Evening Post’. After crunching the numbers and devising a complicated grid, Butts determined that the letters e, t, a, o, i, n, s, h, r, d, l, and u were the most commonly used letters, accounting for a staggering 80% of all letters typically used. Using this data as a foundation, Butts went on to create his own word game, one that would go on to captivate players around the world and become a true cultural phenomenon.

The issues that followed

 Butts' road to success was far from smooth, as he spent over a decade tinkering with the rules of his game and trying, unsuccessfully, to secure a corporate sponsor. Despite facing rejection from the Patent Office not once, but twice, Butts persisted in his quest to bring his creation to the masses. He experimented with various names, including the uninspiring "it" and the lacklustre "Lexiko", before settling on "Criss-Cross Words". However, it wasn't until Butts teamed up with James Brunot, a retired American federal officer and social worker, that Scrabble we are familiar with today started to take shape.

Brunot brought his own expertise to the table, redesigning the game, creating the iconic colour scheme, and most importantly, conceiving the name that would become synonymous with wordplay: Scrabble. The game was copyrighted in 1948. Since Brunot breathed new life into Butts' creation, Scrabble has become a global phenomenon. The game is sold in over 120 countries and has been translated into more than 20 languages, with special editions available for those who are visually impaired or prefer magnetic tiles. Such is the game's enduring popularity that April 13 is celebrated annually as National Scrabble Day, in honour of Butts birthday and his legacy as the inventor of one of the most beloved and enduring board games of all time.

When it comes to classic board games, few have stood the test of time quite like Scrabble. This beloved game has entertained players of all ages and skill levels. It is speculated that the concept of the game was inspired by a short story titled ‘The Gold Bug’ by one of the greatest American writers Edgar Allan Poe.

Welcome to the world of Scrabble, where words reign supreme and strategy is key. For over seven decades, this classic board game has been captivating players with its unique blend of skill and chance. But did you know that Scrabble's origins can be traced back to a short story by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe?

The Great Depression

During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, millions of Americans were struggling to make ends meet and find any kind of relief from the economic downturn. It was during this challenging time that Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from New York, began to conceive the idea for a game that could provide a much-needed distraction from the harsh realities of everyday life. Drawing on his own love of puzzles and wordplay, Butts set out to create a game that combined chance, strategy, and language skills, hoping to provide people with a fun and engaging way to pass the time. And thus, the idea for what would become Scrabble was born.

When inspiration strikes

 Butts' childhood fascination with Poe's short story ‘The Gold Bug proved’ to be a key source of inspiration as he began to develop his own word game.

The idea of decoding symbols to uncover a hidden treasure map (which was the basis of the story) resonated with Butts, and he began to experiment with ways to incorporate similar elements into his own game. One idea that particularly intrigued him was the notion of ranking letters by their frequency of use in the English language, as Poe had attempted to do in his story. Butts set out to put together his own ranking system by meticulously counting letters in various publications, including the ‘New York Times’ and ‘The Saturday Evening Post’. After crunching the numbers and devising a complicated grid, Butts determined that the letters e, t, a, o, i, n, s, h, r, d, l, and u were the most commonly used letters, accounting for a staggering 80% of all letters typically used. Using this data as a foundation, Butts went on to create his own word game, one that would go on to captivate players around the world and become a true cultural phenomenon.

The issues that followed

 Butts' road to success was far from smooth, as he spent over a decade tinkering with the rules of his game and trying, unsuccessfully, to secure a corporate sponsor. Despite facing rejection from the Patent Office not once, but twice, Butts persisted in his quest to bring his creation to the masses. He experimented with various names, including the uninspiring "it" and the lacklustre "Lexiko", before settling on "Criss-Cross Words". However, it wasn't until Butts teamed up with James Brunot, a retired American federal officer and social worker, that Scrabble we are familiar with today started to take shape.

Brunot brought his own expertise to the table, redesigning the game, creating the iconic colour scheme, and most importantly, conceiving the name that would become synonymous with wordplay: Scrabble. The game was copyrighted in 1948. Since Brunot breathed new life into Butts' creation, Scrabble has become a global phenomenon. The game is sold in over 120 countries and has been translated into more than 20 languages, with special editions available for those who are visually impaired or prefer magnetic tiles. Such is the game's enduring popularity that April 13 is celebrated annually as National Scrabble Day, in honour of Butts birthday and his legacy as the inventor of one of the most beloved and enduring board games of all time.

Picture Credit : Google 

What are the terms which start from Yellow?

Yellow journalism

Yellow journalism refers to sensational and dramatic news stories, often manufactured to attract readership. The trend was started by media barons Joseph Pulitzer (New York World) and William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) in the 1890s. The term derives from the comic character the Yellow Kid featured in the New York World comic called Hogan’s Alley. These yellow journals had a major role to play in the Spanish-American war fuelling public passion with sensational headlines and reports.

Yellow card

In football a yellow card raised by a referee indicates that the player in question has committed a foul and is being cautioned.

Yellow flag

In motor racing, when a solid yellow flag is waved it indicates that there is danger ahead and that the vehicles may have to stop.

Yellow fever

It is a viral disease spread by certain mosquitoes. When the mosquito bites a human being the virus enters the body. It damages the liver and kidneys and many body tissues. As a result, the liver cannot function properly, urine output is reduced and yellow bile pigments collect in the skin. These pigments turn the skin yellow and hence the name yellow fever.

It was Carlos Finlay, a Cuban doctor, who discovered that a certain mosquito transmitted the disease, and Max Theiler, a South African doctor, developed a vaccine in 1937.

Yellow jersey

In a cycling race involving stages, a yellow jersey is worn each day by the rider who is ahead on time over the whole race to that point, and presented to the one with the shortest overall time at the finish of the race. The most prized jersey was first awarded in 1919. The colour yellow was chosen because the pages of the magazine. L’Auto, the sponsor, were yellow.

Yellowhammer

It is a sparrow-sized bright yellow bird that is found in Europe and Asia. It has a strong pointed beak and sings a characteristic song. It feeds on seeds and insects. It builds its nest on the ground or in a low bush. Its white or pale-lavender eggs have bold scribble-like markings on them.

Yellow poplar

Also known as the tulip tree, it grows tall-up to 32m-towering over oaks and maples. It has a long straight trunk and large flowers which resemble tulips, hence the name. It bears cone-shaped fruits which release winged seeds. It is home to squirrels and woodpeckers and provides good cover for deer, hints and small mammals.

Yellowlegs

These are large North American birds which live on wetlands- along shores and marshes. They have long yellow legs which have white and black markings. They eat insects and fish They are known for their flute-like whistle.

Yellow Sea

A part of the Pacific Ocean extending inland between the east coast of China and Korea, it gets its name from the deposits brought in by the Yellow River. Fishing and navigation are major activities on the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea is considered among the most degraded marine ecosystems facing severe challenges, including land reclamation, widespread pollution leading to harmful algae blooms.

Picture Credit : Google 

Yo-yo, one of the world’s oldest toys!

Yo-yos might be one of the oldest toys in the world, but a U.S. patent was awarded for it on November 20, 1866, based on a design improvement. Still popular around the globe, yo-yos have been with humankind for thousands of years.

When you played with a yo-yo, have you ever wondered when and where this toy came from? The truth is, we don’t have an exact answer for either…. While historians suggest that the toy likely originated from what is now Greece, China, or the Philippines, yo-yos have been around for thousands of years. In fact, archaeological digs have unearthed Greek vases from around 500 BC that show a youngster playing with an object similar to the modem yoyo.

Energy-converting machine

For a toy that looks so simple, yo-yos have a fair bit of science governing their operation. It is the physics that is going on that makes it keep spinning for a long time, sleep or hang at the end of the string and climb back up again. Putting it simply, yo-yos are energy-converting machines. The working of yo-yos therefore involves the constant changes of energy from one kind to another.

When held in our hands, a yo-yo has potential energy as it is held high above the floor. When we release the yo-yo, the potential energy is converted to kinetic energy gradually. By the time a spinning yo-yo is at the bottom of the string, it converts all the potential energy it originally held to kinetic energy.

A tug is all it takes

When it climbs back up the spring, it does the reverse, converting kinetic energy to potential energy. While this is similar to a pendulum bob, what makes it different and keeps it going is the fact that we can keep giving it more energy to play around with. By tugging at the string that we are holding, a yo-yo can be kept moving along the string for a considerable amount of time, stopping eventually due to friction and air resistance.

Despite being played with through much of history, yo-yos really exploded in popularity in the 20th Century. And that happened when it was mass-produced and marketed heavily in the U.S., leading to widespread adoption and usage throughout the world.

The first recorded reference to any type of yo-yo in the U.S. came only in 1866, when Ohio tinkerers James Haven and Charles Hettrich came up with a design improvement. Their patent on November 20, 1866 has an image of a whirlgig and mentions “a new and useful bandelore” (whirlgig and bandelore are other names of yo-yo).

This patent is important not only because yo-yos were making their official foray into the U.S., but also for a couple of other reasons. For one, it was the first time rim-weighting was employed to maintain momentum as the patent “marginal swell… exercises the function of a flywheel”. Secondly, it also showed that patents can be used to protect design improvements in toys.

Flores calls it yo-yo

A little over half a century after this, Pedro Flores, a Filipino man, sold hand-carved yo-yos in California and staged demonstrations to show how they worked in the 1920s. In fact, it was Flores who trademarked the name “yo-yo”, which is Tagalog for “come come” (Tagalog forms the basis of the national language of the Philippines).

American Donald Duncan was impressed by what he saw Flores doing, and he bought the trademark and even piggybacked on the business model. Apart from having people to demonstrate the toys, Duncan also sponsored contests to garner more interest in the product. By promising greater circulation of newspapers in exchange for free ads for these contests, Duncan set about a new marketing idea in motion. The idea’s success meant that Duncan’s yo-yos were soon a household name.

In the decades that followed, the Duncan Company dominated the yo-yo industry. In the 1960s, millions of these toys were sold on a yearly basis in the U.S. alone. By 1985, yo-yos became one of the first toys to reach space as it was one of the 11 toys taken into orbit by the Discovery space shuttle. Throughout its long and storied history, yo-yos have thus enjoyed a lot of popularity while also having periods of hibernation – ups and downs similar to how the toy functions.

Picture Credit : Google 

What is Lumosity Brain Training game?

Lumosity Mobile is a fun, interactive way to train your brain and learn how your mind works. The app’s 50+ games and daily workouts test your cognitive skills and adapt as you improve. Categories for the games include: memory, attention, problem-solving, logic, math, words, flexibility and speed. Begin with a Fit Test to obtain your baseline, complete daily workouts and track your performance. The app gives you an analysis about your game strengths and weaknesses to see where you need improvement and monitor your progress. The app has been created by a team of scientists and university researchers on a mission to advance the understanding of human learning and understanding. Free for iOS and Android.

Picture Credit : Google