Classical Historian Memory Game Review

When I was given the opportunity to review a history game by The Classical Historian, I jumped at the chance! (I was given a copy of this game in exchange for my honest review.) You see, I have never been a fan of history. All through school it was just that dull class you had to get through to move on. I always did well in it because it was all memorization, but I was never interested. Because of that, I don't remember anymore then the big picture of what happened. Now looking into my children's schooling, teaching history terrifies me!

My children are still very young, so the game we received was a game of memory.  The Classical Historian makes Memory Games for Ancient, Medieval, and American History; we received Medieval History.

Of course at 4 and 5 my children know very little about history. In fact I sometimes think they have a difficult time grasping things that happened so long ago. This was a very good introduction to some of the things that were going on during this time period.  It introduced a picture along with the name in a game format that was already familiar to the girls.

Like other Memory games you start by laying all the tiles upside down.

Then each player takes a turn looking for a match. In the case of this game, all of the pictures are relevant to the given time period. Here are my girls favorite cards.

The girls really enjoyed playing it, and they even picked up some of the names (like Machu Picchu which Nadia squeaked for about 5 minutes straight).  The game itself doesn't give any of the related history, but it is a great jumping off point to talk about some major people and events of the time. 

The game has a second way to play too which is intended for older kids. Any time something can work for multiple ages it's big plus in my book. Category cards are given with geographical locations, and the players are to categorize the picture cards in the right location in the least amount of time. In this way the game can be used to reinforce knowledge that has already been taught.

At first I was a bit disappointed that the game was not completely original, but after playing it, I can see distinct advantages to the familiar format. The game itself is already introducing A LOT of new information for little bitty kids, so to introduce an unfamiliar play structure could be uninviting or even overwhelming to some kids.

The game itself is very sturdy with nice, clear pictures, and at $14.99 it is very similar in price to other quality Memory games. The only difference is this one can be used to jump start or review history learning.

The Classical Historian also makes Go Fish history games for ages 6 and up as well as history curriculum for 6th grade and up.