Sure, tic tac toe is too boring for most people. But oh golly are there some fun variations!
All AboutEnrichment
Enrichment should be much more than fun and games. It shouldn't be a bunch of random projects and activities. The goal of enrichment is to get kids analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing. Here's a few resources for doing just that.
A Classic: “Who’s On First” and 21st Century Kids
My 21st century 12-year-olds absolutely died watching Abbot and Costello’s “Who’s On First” skit. And we got a great homophone activity out of it too.
Remix the Song “Help!”
Students took the classic song, Help!, and rewrote it to be about their collective summers.
Embed A Classic
An easy way to spice up any lesson is to remove the god-awful samples and replace them with selections from great works of art, music, film, tv shows, and historic moments. You get the added bonus of exposing students to new ideas.
Fizz Buzz – A Divisibility Game
Here’s a quick to learn but difficult to master math game. Start with some basic divisibility rules, but then feel free to extend it to any math topic.
The Coloring Problem
How few colors can you use to fill in a map so that no neighboring regions are the same color?
Using Games to Practice Thinking
Here’s how playing simple, paper-and-pencil games can go beyond fun and also serve as practice for higher-level, abstract thinking.
Paradox: Ship of Theseus
Here’s a fun thought experiment your students are sure to get a kick out of: when something is slowly replaced over time, is it still the same thing in the end?
Word Pyramids – A Delightful Vocabulary Puzzle
A fun, abstract vocab puzzle in which students can add one letter per line, forming a pyramid of words.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Recommendations
Many readers sent in recommendations for sci-fi and fantasy stories for gifted readers. I’ve gathered these together here as a growing collection.