We know our kids love playing games, but did you know that board games actually offer an opportunity for valuable learning? Playing games is an easy and excellent way to spend unhurried, enjoyable time together as a family and as an added bonus it can help with number and shape recognition, counting, letter recognition and reading, visual perception, and eye hand coordination.
Games don’t need to be overly educational either, just by virtue of playing games with your child you can teach them important skills, such as communication, sharing, waiting, taking turns, and enjoying interactions with others. Board games can help lengthen your child’s attention span by encouraging the completion of an exciting game. Games also offer life lessons, such as your life can change in an instant – for better or worse.
Playing games with your child is definitely a fun way to learn life lessons but kids can take them very seriously, so it’s important that you help guide them through winning and losing. When a playing piece falls to a lower level, our kids really feel sad; when it rises up high, they are remarkably proud and happy, even if we adults know that it happened only by chance. Therefore, you need to help balance your child’s pleasure in playing the game with his very limited ability to manage frustration and deal with the idea of losing.
Board games are fun, and they’re a great way to spend quality time with friends and family. However, board games can also teach us thinking skills, as well as life skills. So grab Chutes and Ladders or Boggle out of the closet and start playing on that cold Winter evening.
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