Creating Kids' Games Has Been A Game-Changer For Retired Long Valley Teacher

LONG VALLEY, NJ — It was in the days before electronic games and cell phones that Lucille Ann Lucy, a teacher who grew up in Long Valley, was looking for ways to help her students achieve that extra edge in learning reading, math and other subjects.

She came up with an easy solution, which later morphed into her "Play 'n Learn" games, through a simple math problem, now her company motto: "Play Games + Praise + Have Fun = Learning."

As a teacher at both Old Farmers Road and Flocktown-Kossman Schools, having taught her very first year in Chester, Lucy, who is now 78, spent 35 years in total in both districts before retiring in 2005.

Having earned her Master’s Degree in Special Education, she knew that all children learned best - and didn’t even realize they were - as they played games.

She began creating games from poster boards and wooden blocks in the classroom, to give to her classroom aides for distribution to students during classes, including Eileen Stokes. Stokes came back and told Lucy that the children were begging to play more.

Not realizing at that time she was onto something which would become part of her career post-retirement, Lucy continued to develop games throughout her teaching career, teaching children about capital and lowercase letters, counting money, their multiplication tables and other topics.

“Children love to learn with songs and poems,” Lucy, who now lives in Florida, told Patch during a phone interview.

She said learning also happens when kids say what they’re seeing, which is another way for them to absorb and learn.

She found her games helped her students to improve their skills, whether it was for enrichment, for children challenged with learning disabilities or with special needs, especially between the ages of 3 and 8; and even the learning-disabled through adulthood.

Lucy additionally found that children responded well to praise and her games helped to incorporate that.

With her own children, who she and her husband also took games with them when the family was together, whether at restaurants or while traveling, she found it a time to bond as a family, something she’s carried on with her grandchildren.

The Importance Of Family Time And Lucy's Long Valley History

Family has been an important thread throughout Lucy’s life dating back to when she was born Lucille Ann Joseph in Morristown, the daughter of Armenian immigrants who were able to flee the Armenian genocide happening in Europe.

After their family arrived in New York, they made their way to Long Valley, where they started a business baking Armenian pastries. Her relatives from the city would often come to visit her family’s farm in Long Valley. One of her brothers owned a machine shop and operated the Long Valley General Store. Two of her siblings ran the Valley Brook Academy.

It was this desire to keep families together to build memories as children learned - and to build their self-esteem in the process - that motivated Lucy.

“What’s very important is praise,” she said. “It builds self-confidence and makes better students.”

After her retirement she moved to Basking Ridge and provided home instruction to special needs students, before moving to Florida.

Lucy's Game-Creating Career

After she stopped teaching altogether 10 years following her retirement, she found a group in Netcong who helped to connect her with manufacturers to create her games, with her business Play ’n Learn games, born. Her husband Jack, who she married in 1969, helps her to process orders from their home in Florida.

"People ask me why I am pursuing my ideas at my age of 78," she said. "My answer is always the same: my goals are not only to help children learn and reinforce academic skills, but also to promote positive family relationships and provide happy memories."

She still has many learning games, approximately 40, that she hasn’t released yet, all a process, she explained, with obtaining patents before the actual manufacturing happens. Lucy said she is open to the possibility of licensing her games or selling her business, so more become available to the public.

On her website, she has the games released so far, which have garnered the Mom’s Choice Award; and Creative Child Magazine awards in 2018, in both the Game of the Year and Preferred Choice categories.

Among her games are “ABC Dig For Gold,” to teach children about reading through “special game cards.”

Play ’n Learn’s “Challenge” game has four different games in one box, that teaches addition, subtraction, multiplication, number values and recognition. The game can be played from different locations with several players, including remotely.

“Got It!” is a matching game that reinforces reading skills, honing in on lower case letter recognition.

“Highest Count” teaches kids about recognizing and counting coins, which can additionally be played remotely, with more than one player.

One of Lucy’s unique distinctions was a recent article in the Costco Connection publication, where she was spotlighted for her game-creating achievements, as a Costco member.

The Costco Connection made a literal connection for Lucy, bringing a special person back from her past.

Her voice choked up as she told Patch about a letter Costco forwarded to her one day, in response to their article, from a woman named Cindy Roberts, who now lives in California.

Roberts commented about the article on Lucy and explained that her daughter Emily, had been in Lucy’s kindergarten class in 1991 and had “terminal brain cancer.”

“She was a delightful little girl,” Lucy told Patch about her former student.

“It was one of Emily’s last wishes to be able to go to school and Mrs. Lucy made her dream come true,” Roberts wrote to Costco.

After the letter, Roberts and Lucy were able to reconnect by phone, learning from both the letter and her phone call with Roberts, that she now has grandchildren herself; and plays one of the games with her grandchildren that Lucy had created for her daughter when she was Lucy's student.

Roberts now builds memories with her grandchildren, as they learn, from one of Lucy's first games, developed in Long Valley, bring Lucy's creation and mission full-circle.

To discover more about Play ’n Learn games or to order them, with the games only available on Lucy’s website, visit www.playnlearngames.com.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.