The Lemonade Game was a very, very early precursor to the Sim City-style games of the turn of the century. And, for those of use in Ms. Safran’s 4th Grade G&T pullout class, it was the best reward she could ever offer us.

About ten years ago, I found the Coolmath4kids website, and the first thing I did was play a 30-day game of Lemonade Stand. It only took me three “days” to recall my trademarked secret recipe with the perfect ratio of lemons to sugar to ice to make almost any day a profitable day.

The memories this rekindled alone were fantastic, but the game play remains fun and challenging enough to promote it on this site.

Whether you are someone old enough to have played the game when you were young or you work with young people aged 8 – 18, I suggest you check out the game (and the rest of the coolmath4kids site).

You can play the Lemonade Game at http://www.coolmath-games.com/lemonade/index.html.

More important than their opinions of the games, however, are the clarity of their recollection of the games. All seven could vividly describe the gaming experience and topics covered. Two of the students used the phrase “like we do in class” when describing the content.

The data seems to indicate a value in exposing students to $5 discount rack software from Marshalls or Staples. Whether students appreciate the experience or not, they do appear to be learning from those games and retaining much of the educational experience.

What are your experiences with educational software? Please share your thoughts below.