We often talk about children spending too much time playing video games, but what about playing board games? Are there any benefits to playing these types of games?
My youngest sister Kathie, who is the mother of two children, is hooked on board games. I often laugh and tease her that she is a “board game addict”. I spent a week with her family over this past Christmas holiday season. Needless to say, almost every night, she brought out a board game for the adults and children to play together in the dining room after dinner. My sons also spent many hours playing a very competitive board game with their uncle upstairs in the play room. This game allowed them to take breaks and return to it over a period of time.
According to a group that is a top expert on children’s development, Scholastic Inc., board games are very good for children. These types of games promote:
spending enjoyable time with your children
learning, especially for number and shape recognition, grouping, and counting
letter recognition and reading
visual perception and color recognition
eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity
better concentration
socialization, as people talk about the game and any other subjects that come up.
How do we, as parents, handle our children losing? Scholastic first recommends buying age appropriate games for your children. It further recommends that parents help their children to plan strategies for winning and to handle losing. For the entire article, CLICK HERE.