American Revolution Games: Battle Blitz and Liberty at Last

Whenever we are interested in a topic we try to find several different ways to learn about it.

Inevitably we turn to games, in this case, American Revolution Games.

Playing games makes the learning stick. That is a fact.

My husband is a big revolutionary war buff so we have been immersed in hearing about the American Revolution for a long time now. He has read many books and watched every movie he could find. We even have plastic figures that we use to stage battles.

Now we have something else too. I had no idea there were printable American Revolution games, but there are.

I found the games (and the timeline) I am sharing below and we got ready to play.

Special thanks to Home School in the Woods Publishing for providing printables and compensation so I could complete this review. All opinions are my own, as always.

I had never been to the Home School in the Woods site before so it was interesting to see how many different items they have available. I stuck to the a la carte projects so I could pick and choose what I wanted.

I was surprised at how inexpensive the products were!

I’ll go through what I got item by item so you can get an idea if these are a good fit for your family.

I’ll also tell you what I liked, and what I didn’t like, because you know that is what I always do. I want you to know everything so you have a good experience.

Pros and Cons of the Printables

Pros

Very inexpensive. If you go to the a la carte projects area where I shopped, you will see that their prices are great.
Solid, accurate information (I had my husband fact check!)
Fun way to learn more about historical topics.
GAMES! I like that they have a wide variety of games and not just a bunch of worksheets.
You can get them and print them the same day. Sometimes inserting something new into your day can turn a day around.
Easy to store. The three games can slide into my already packed bookcase and still fit. If you homeschool, you likely know exactly how important that is!

Cons

I thought they were in color but the printables are black and white. Great for those with kids who love to color. If they printed in color they would have been a bit more appealing to us, but for the Liberty at Last game I actually prefer the charming, old-fashioned black and white.
There was a lot of assembly. It took me longer than I expected to set up the games. In other words, don’t expect to print it out and play in 10 minutes. This isn’t exactly a negative but I want you to know so that you give yourself enough time to put it together before you plan to play. The kids can help, so simply make that part of the experience.
The gameboard for Liberty at Last wouldn’t print. However, I went to their website expecting I would need to contact them and saw they had a FAQ.. I searched that, found the issue, and was able to print right away. Excellent! I love it when companies put the answers to any possible issues right up front with easy fixes.

Read on for information on each item and to see which one we liked the best!

American Revolution Printable Games

All of the items are printables so you will need a printer in order to use them. You are also going to need to leave a bit of time to cut out pieces, color, and assemble the items.

Assembly directions for each item are included and the directions are pretty good. See our images above.

Both of the games are file-folder games. I like them because they are portable, and easy to store. We slipped the game pieces into a snack size zip-lock bag which worked great. All directions and the little baggie fit nicely into the file-folder.

Timeline of the American Revolution

The first item we picked was the timeline. I figured it would be good for us to take a look at all of the different events and when they occurred.

We like visuals!

They have detailed directions for how to put this together and how to use it. However, after we took a look at it we decided we would enjoy it more if we made this into a game as opposed to gluing the pictures to the timeline. This way we can use it again and again.

We sorted, then challenged each other to find specific people, events or items as quickly as possible and place them where they go on the timeline.

I couldn’t get a good picture of the whole timeline as it is rather long! What you see in the image is the first three of nine pages.

The next two items are actual games! Which, if you read my site, you know we love.

Battle Blitz American Revolution Game

The first game we tried is called Battle Blitz. The object of the game is to answer questions and by doing so win battles. Whoever wins the most battles is the “victor of the war.”

Pick your game piece! You can choose from American, French, or British soldiers, as well as American Indian, American frontiersman and German Hessian. I took frontiersman and my son took Hessian.

We had thought it was going to be about the battles of the Revolution but the questions were more general. Not a bad thing at all, but just not what we were expecting.

If you know very little about the war, you are going to have a hard time answering the questions.

However, this is also a great way to learn!

TIP: For things you don’t know, you can see who can find the answer the fastest or you can research it together and roll to see who wins that battle. Just a couple of ideas to help the game move along and everyone having fun.

Liberty at Last American Revolution Game

The Liberty at Last game covers the progress of the American colonies to independence. Unlike Battle Blitz, where you need to know specific answers to win, this is a game of chance.

A roll of the dice and a pick of a card determine where you are on the game board. You need to make it to the Treaty of Paris space to win.