Family Game Time The Benefits

The next time your child wants to play their favorite game or dino take it up! Games of all kinds aren't simply fun for the kids (if a little boring for Mom and Dad) They also offer various ways for children to reinforce the skills they need for school, including counting, spelling and sportsmanship.

 

Even those games that might appear to lack a specific skill-building strength are a great way to learn. Children will benefit from understanding the concept of fairness better than students in the older grades. Below are five skills that elementary school pupils should be able to master , and how they can be honed through game play.

Patterns, colors, and forms

 

By the end of the kindergarten year, children will be able to recognize basic shapes and colors. Learn to play games with cards like Set and Uno, which need matching of characteristics such as numbers or color. Younger children in elementary school may appreciate the tile game Rummikub that, just like Set and Uno has an excellent strategy element (see below for more details on the art of strategy).

 

Math and number recognition

 

Rummikub is an exciting game that combines basic pattern recognition with recognition of numbers. Monopoly is a long-running family favorite is a great option to develop your math abilities. It goes beyond simply the arithmetic. It also involves maths for money. Scrabble and letter-tile games like Monopoly permit multiplication as well as addition. However, any score-keeping dinosaur hatching eggs can be used to test basic arithmetic skills, from ranking the final scores of players to determining the differences between the highest and lowest scores.

 

Spelling (letter recognition) and vocabulary (word recognition)

 

These skills are easy to master through board games, especially because there are plenty of choices for families. To avoid the cards' forbidden words Taboo demands a lot of imaginative vocabulary abilities. Word games like Scrabble, Bananagrams, and Boggle give students practice with spelling as well as vocabulary. You can add another challenge by asking players to define the word they're using in the game.

 

Strategy

 

From the 3rd grade onwards the children are expected to demonstrate an understanding of decisions and the consequences. Even though this isn't directly connected to strategic thinking, strategy games will help to make the notions of decisions and the consequences more tangible. Chess is the well-known long-view strategy game, but any game that requires players to choose between a range of possible actions on the same turn can aid in developing strategies, which includes those previously mentioned. Other popular options include Connect 4 and Battleship.

 

Good sportsmanship and teamwork

 

Games that are based on activity like Pictionary and Charades include a teamwork element built in by having players play in teams. You can turn any game into a chance for playing with a team and enhancing your the skills of sportsmanship, however it is best to pair parents and children to work together when playing non-team sports. It's also a good option to get younger kids involved playing games that would otherwise be too difficult for them, allowing everyone in the family to participate as in a group.