2020 has been an odd year. We have been home way more than normal due to the pandemic and have tried new things to fill our time. One of those things has been board games. We usually try to play games that contain multiple pieces while the little ones are sleeping and games geared towards younger kids while everyone is awake. When we can play a great game without interruption my 5 and 6 year old love it!
Board games can be a great supplement to learning. The benefits of board games include; teamwork, patience building improved concentration, hand eye coordination and dexterity just to name a few. Playing board games as a family is also a great way to unplug and spend quality time together.
One of my fondest memories as a child was playing Monopoly with my sister and parents. I can still picture it, we set up a card table and chairs in the living room ate popcorn and played. My dad would hide extra cash under his leg and my mom would be banker tying to make sure all was fair. My sister and I were young and not wise to any strategy our parents had but we were happy to be playing together as a family. I want to experience this with my kids as well and have fun playing and learning together.
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Benefits of Board Games
Board games aren’t just fun. You can actually use your skills, learn new skills and stretch your brain. It can be refreshing to set down your device and really focus on a board game with a friend or family member.
Teaching your children to play board games is opens the door to opportunities to teach them about teamwork, patience, how to win and loose gracefully and further develop those little brains. Here are a few side benefits from playing a game with your littles.
Early learning. Board games are a great way to help children identify colors, count spaces, and develop hand-eye coordination and dexterity in moving cards and pieces around the board. Also learning to wait your turn and follow the rules are a great side benefit of playing with others. Games also require thinking, planning ahead and strategy which promote healthy brain development.
Reading skills. Board games can be a fun way to sneak in some reading skills. If you have a reluctant reader try games that have cards that need to be read like Apples to Apples or Monopoly. Some games have elements where the players need to remember a sequence or story details which would help with reading comprehension.
Work on Attention Span. Most games take a good amount of time to play. Some can be 5-10 minutes which would be a great place to start with younger players. As they get the hang of games you can try longer games and as they get older play hour or longer games. They will stay focused on the game because they are having fun. Make sure to limit distractions while playing and commit to seeing the game through. Working on this will help combat diminishing attention spans from digital distractions.
Encourage Teamwork. Board games are a good way for children of different ages team up and work together. Teamwork is a valuable skill in life when school projects come around or team sports are played. Introducing this concept young is a great way to get your cild thinking about other people besides themselves.
Alternative to Punishment. Often times when my children are acting out the most event they are upset about is not the root cause of their frustration. Often times they want direct attention in a calm environment. Next time they start acting up be proactive and suggest playing one of their favorite games. Give them the attention they are craving. Turn off distractions and use the game time to chat about what could be frustrating them. Use this as a time to work on your relationship and how to behave in a frustrating situation.
Soothe Anxiety. Playing with new friends can be stressful to children. Playing a game could be a great way to break the ice and help your child navigate a new friendship. Board games have structure and the structure can help your child adjust because they know what is expected of them. For children who are nervous to talk, select games that have opportunities for talking like guessing games or talking games like Guess Who or Headbands.
Coping Skills. If you have a child struggling with coping when they don’t get their way or things don’t work out, playing games can be a great opportunity to work on coping skills. Be encouraging and calm while playing and make sure to stick to the rules.
Show them playing is not about winning or loosing but having fun while doing so. Slowly but surely they will learn that sometimes things don’t go our way but we can adjust and move on. When the game starts over its a fresh start and anyone can win.
Bonding Time. Playing games as a family is a great way to unplug and spend some quality time together. Board games are a great way to be device free and you may be surprised by how much fun your family has. Our kids live playing games with us and we them.
What We can Learn From Board Games
Lots of the learning my children do with us is based on play. We play at home and outside. Board games are a great way to teach them while at home. Some teaching points we typically focus on while plating games are as follows:
- We pay close attention to the rules and make sure we are all playing accordingly. We practice following the rules while playing as a family. When we discus other times when rules are important we can reference playing games together and how the rules make the game work properly.
- Classic board games like Checkers and Mancala have opportunities to make predictions on what moves will happen, think through alternative moves and detect patterns. These skills correlate with a lot of the skills we learn while reading and practicing numbers. For hands on learners learning these concepts in a game help translate the concepts to when they are in a school setting.
- Some board games reward logical reasoning. Clue and Mastermind are great games for practicing deduction and solving a problem.
- If you have a child who struggles with decision making choose gems that are strategy based. Your child will need to make quick and effective moves to get them further along in the game. Working on these decision skills will benefit them later in life when they need to make decisions.
- Games are a great way to teach goals and how to achieve them. When explaining the rules we often talk about what goals we need to set to win. We break down these goals and come up with strategy. As you advance into bigger strategy games like Monopoly, Risk or Settlers of Catan you can introduce making allies predicting opponent moves and strategies as well.
- So much of game play can be non-verbal communication. When playing card games or planning a strategy it can be fun to use body language or facial movements to throw people off of your plan. Teaching eye contact and how to control your body while playing is a great skill to learn while playing board games.
Board Games for Kids Ages 4-7
All this talk about games has gotten me excited to play with my kiddos. I also am thinking of new games we can try out. I looked up some classics and some tried and true to make a recommendation list for you. If you have any not included here be sure to share in the comments so we can check them out too. I added Amazon links in case you want to get some new games for your family.
- Guess Who is a fun way to encourage taking and observing. It is also really simple to set up and clean up, which I love. We have a non reader so when it comes to guessing time we have him spell it out to see if his guess is correct.
- Connect Four presents multiple opportunities for your child to experience disappointment when a path or pieces get blocked. We have one child who struggles with coping and this game allows for practice in that area.
- Checkers introduces strategy to kids in a fun and simple way. We like this big version because it requires the kids to move their whole body and practice gross motor skills.
- Operation is a great way to work on fine motor skills while playing a game. Trying to get objects out of the board while keeping a steady hand is a little tricky at first but with practice you can get better.
- Trouble works in counting and reading the die quickly which is great math practice for little ones. It also incorporates a little planning if you are trying to set an opponent back. I also think popping the die builds up some muscle because ours is a bit hard to pop.
- Mancala works on counting and strategy skills. You want to be careful not to leave opportunity’s for your opponent to steal your marbles. It is easy to learn and travel with as well.
- Mastermind is a great game for critical thinking. I used to love this game as a kid. Breaking the code in as few moves a possible requires strategy that is fun to develop.
- Scrabble Junior helps letter recognition and spelling skills depending on your child’s level. Use one side of the board for letter matching and the other for a traditional Scrabble board. We don’t have this one yet, but I want to get it soon.
- Matching Games are great for all ages. My 2 year old loves to play matching games with us and it is a great way for him to practice remembering where things were left and stretch his brain.
- Boggle Jr is a good game to work on letters and recognition. You can scale the cards up or down to your child’s skill level. It looks like a great game for beginning readers as well.