You're a Heart Breaker!

Anybody else singing the Pat Benatar song besides me?  I know, I'm dating myself!

Anyway, Heart Breakers is the name of the review game I play with my friends.  All you need are some cutout hearts and a pocket chart.  I have these pretty heart cutouts.

I got them at Lakeshore Learning Center, but I'm not linking to them because I don't see them on their web site anymore.  Almost every teacher store has heart shaped cutouts, but if you can't find them near you I did find some here.

To prep for Heart Breakers, you take some of the hearts and write assorted point values on the back. You can make the points as large and crazy as you want or keep them simple.  As you can see, I go for large and crazy!  You can even have fun points like "take all the points from another team."

Here is where Heart Breakers gets its name.  A few of the cards are heart breakers. 
I think you can see why.

Next, mix up all the cards and put them, red side out, in a pocket chart so that the points are hidden.  Be sure to place them randomly so the heart breaker cards are mixed around.  Of course, I forgot to take a picture of them in the pocket chart, but you can imagine what it looks like.  Sometimes, if my pocket charts aren't up, I will just scatter them on my meeting carpet.  It's okay because I have lots of helpers to pick them up when we are done!

To play Heart Breakers, you can put your friends in teams.  Each team is asked a review question.  They get a minute to confer, come to a consensus, and then give their answer.  This part is important so that the answer is a team answer and no one child is blamed if it's not right.   If they get the question correct, they get to take a heart.  It's that easy.  The teams keep track of their score, adding them up as they go.  Or, if you get a heart breaker heart, subtracting points!

My friends love to play this game.  I like it because it is quick and easy to set up.  Once you have the cards written, you have them forever.  It's a review game that works for any subject.  I generally have my friends keep their notebook on their desk so if they hear a question they don't know the answer to they write it down and know it's one to study up on.  Another plus is the math.  There is some serious addition, subtraction, and sometimes division going on during this game. 

That's Heart Breakers! 

Try it.  I promise your friends will love it.