We have never been a family that was big into board games. That is until recently. We have started playing board games on Saturday evenings. What fun we have had! While playing Candy Land recently, I started thinking about all the life lessons children learn while playing games. Later I sat down and made a list of the things I think children are learning while playing kids games.  Below you will see my list and how I think kid’s games help children learn these skills.

9 Things Children Learn While Playing Kids Games

Turn Taking

Learning to wait for your turn is really hard for some kids. They just want to play the game from beginning to end on their own. Yet there are so many times in life that we have to take turns. We have to wait for our turn in line. We have to wait on hold when we have made a phone call. Children have to wait until their teacher calls on them to share. Turn taking is so important to learn.

Patience

Patience ties into turn taking in many ways. It is different enough that I thought it should be listed separately though.  It takes patience to listen  to the rules of a game. Patience is needed for the game pieces and cards to be set up.

When playing with people who haven’t played before or a younger, it takes patience for them to understand exactly how the game is played.

Following Directions

If you have child that is an out of the box thinker, they may feel the need to make up their own rules for games. Children who struggle with losing games may also feel the need to change the rules. They may try to change the rules halfway through the game. One of my two sisters tried doing this when we were little a lot.

It will be important to read through the directions carefully with your children. You may need to have them help you figure out why those rules are  important. If a rule or rules  aren’t important, you may gather a group consensus as to what rules you want to follow for the game.

Focusing on a Goal

While playing most board games, there can be a variety of goals. You may be trying to get to the end of path, solve a mystery, or gather the most of something (like money).

It may be hard for some children to remember the ultimate goal. They may get sidetracked somewhere along the way. You may need to remind your kids that they are trying to do to get to the end of the game.

Encouraging Others

This is super important. It can also be really hard! A child giving praise or encouragement to another child or adult makes game playing about more than just winning. Parents will probably have to model making comments like the following:

• “You are doing a great job counting the spaces as you move along .”
• “I love how you can keep control of the dice.”
• “It is hard to move back a couple of space, but you did it without fussing.”

Planning

A number of kids games require planning a strategy. Games like checkers and chess require that children think about what moves that will be making during their next few turns.

You may want to give children just learning a game a do over option. Children that are just learning may have second thoughts about the strategy or plan they have made. To make it fair I believe if one person gets a do over than everyone should.

Fine Motor Skills

Interacting with the game pieces and cards requires using fine motor skills. Children need to use a pincher grip pick up and move both of them.

Reading Skills

Many games come with action cards. Some cards have pictures to help children understand what they are being told to do. Other games have words only on the cards. Depending on the reading level of your children, you may want to help them read the cards during the game. You could also introduce words to your children that you think will appear on the cards before you start the game.

Counting and Number Recognition

Simply knowing what number or numbers are on the die or dice in many games requires counting. Children will need to be able to to know how many spaces to go forward on the game board.

Some board games have spinners or cards that display the number of moves you need to move. Knowing what each number looks like will be important.

Here are some wonderful kids games:

The links below are affiliate links.

Hasbro Monopoly Junior Board Game, Ages 5 and up (Amazon Exclusive)– We have been playing this game with my mom. It is fun to strategize on what activities to purchase instead of roads and railroads. It goes much faster than the standard Monopoly game. We love this game!

Candy LandThis is a game that keeps us hopping! Just when we think we have picked up a card that will take us to closer to the end of the path we end up back near the beginning. My husband seemed to have this happen a lot.

Chutes and Ladders Board Game– Much like Candy Land the game of Chutes and Ladders can lead you to great heights and send you down long slides. Patience is definitely needed to play this game.

SKIP BO Card Game– This is card game that focuses on  number sequences and speed. Players try to empty their card pile while adding to number sequences.

QWIRKLE Board Game– While playing this game children build lines that have the same shape or color using wooden shape blocks.

TAPPLE– One of JDaniel’s friends got this game for Christmas. You select a category card like pizza topping and try to all come up with a  word that fit that category for each letter of the alphabet displayed a letter button wheel. They had a great time coming up with the words using the tricky letters as a family.

If you have favorite family board game,  please leave me a comment below telling me about it  or leave a comment on my Facebook page.