Looking for a Fun Social Studies Project?

Look No Further!

If you are looking for a social studies project for your children or students consider using
board games as a way to engage them in an entertaining activity which will also expose them to
other cultures, and some fascinating games that have originated in many countries around the
world. This can also tie into math lessons, historical and language studies as they learn about
game strategy and how the games evolved over the millennia.
By learning the rules and strategy of a board game, children will think through what is required
to win a game. They will learn decision making and the tactics of the game, as well as Social
Studies for Kids skills such as fairness and being able to cooperate amongst themselves.
There are board games with different levels of complexity. Some have simple, easily
understood rules that can be quickly grasped by younger children. These would include the
games Shisima, Puluc, Tigers and Goats, and Yut from Kenya, Guatemala, India, and Korea.
Other games, such as Chess and Go, have more complex rules and strategy and are more suitable
for teenagers.
Many of the games were based on the actual trials, battles and warfare of life as
experienced by each culture. For example, the game of Chess originated in northern India as
the game Chaturanga. This is a Sanskrit name referring to the division of a platoon in an Indian
army into four units, an elephant, a chariot, horsemen and foot soldiers.
The Indian game Tigers and Goats obviously refers to the challenges of living with the
predations of tigers on a villages goat herd in ancient times.
The evolution of Chaturanga into several modern games is fascinating. It was introduced into
Persia as the game Shatranj and from there spread westwards through Islamic expansion to Spain
(Ajedrez) and then eventually into the rest of western Europe as the modern game of Chess. It
also spread to Ethiopia as the game Senterej. Chaturanga also travelled eastwards and evolved to
become Chinese chess XiangQi and Japanese chess Shogi. There are also other eastern variants:
Thai chess Makruk and Burmese chess Sittuyin.

Also interesting is the evolution of Backgammon. There was an ancient Roman game called
Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, the game of twelve lines, which over time became the game
Tabula, a race game played by the Romans and ancient Greeks. This found its way to France as
jeux de tables (Games of Tables) which was a popular gambling game at the time of Louis IX.
This finally became the game Backgammon.
As part of the project have your students make their own boards, dice and game pieces.
They can imagine what ancient peoples may have used for the game pieces: shells, beans,
seeds, and twigs. The boards can be constructed from readily available tools and materials using
a pencil, ruler and and some firm paper. You can also suggest the use of more elaborate
construction such as sewing colored pieces of cloth onto a sheet, or a wood-working project to
build a board by carving the design onto a wooden board.