SimplyFun, a maker of educational board games, believes in the power of play—especially when shared.
That is why the Washington company teaches skills through board games, which bring players face to face across the table. The concept of shared play is at the heart of each SimplyFun game, including two forthcoming releases, Watch My Wings and Don’t Mix It! “Shared play connects you socially and emotionally with the learning, and adding those aspects enhances the longevity of the memory and what is learned while playing,” said Patty Pearcy, President and CEO.
SimplyFun’s new releases, available Oct. 1, fall under the Math & STEM category, which is the company’s most popular, followed by Reading & Language Arts. Other games focus on Life & Thinking Skills or Social Sciences & Studies. The company’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) games explore how things work, said Pearcy, or how they can be put together or modified to serve a different purpose.
For example, Watch My Wings uses butterfly wings to teach sorting and comparing skills to young learners, ages 4 and up. The setting of Don’t Mix It!, for ages 7 and up, is a recycling center where players learn planning and spatial reasoning skills as they sort materials. As Pearcy told DSN, “These games help to bring academics to life. They take the dryness out of it and add some fun and playfulness, to engage kids and interest them in learning more.”
With busy families in mind, SimplyFun ensures that each of its games can be played in 30 minutes or less. The company works with well-regarded international designers such as Reiner Knizia and Martin Nedergaard Andersen to identify new concepts, which are then brought in house for development. SimplyFun games are sold through Playologists, or independent consultants, across the U.S.
