Dear Parents,
I saw that our enrichment teacher Miss Kim was playing board games in her
enrichment classes this week, and I thought this would be a great time to talk
about why we play board games. I present to you, 5 reasons why you should be playing board
games with your child!
1. Board games are fun! Kids love them and they are
a great way to play with your child. You will watch your child’s face light up
with glee when they roll the number they were hoping for, or when they land on
a ladder instead of a chute (or additionally when you land on a chute!) They
have a blast spinning spinners, rolling dice, and manipulating their game
pieces. They learn the joy of not giving up… just when things feel dire, they
might land on that giant ladder and climb right up to the top after all! You
will love the bonding time with your child, especially after the first few
times when you are teaching a game to
your child, and you get to just enjoy playing it. Repetition is key in the
preschool years!
2 2. Board games are a great way to learn to follow
directions. They come with instructions that, being in black and white, are
hard to argue. Your child will come to terms with the fact that they have to
follow along the path in the game Trouble, rather than jumping forward to where
they might rather be on the board. That being said, feel free to adjust the
rules as you need to for younger players! I always suggest pulling the magic
picture cards out of Candyland until your child has played enough times that
they get the concept of the game, and they can handle the disappointment of
moving backwards if that should happen. You know your child’s limits, so don’t
set them up for failure!
3 3. Your child will gain skills in being patient and
playing cooperatively. It is a skill that takes time, developing the ability to
wait your turn and allow others to have their turn. They will practice verbal
communication and lengthen their attention span.
4. Your child will (really, I promise!) learn to
win graciously and to lose graciously. It will take time. It won’t be easy. But
it will happen. Be prepared to let them down gently when they lose, and to
remind them not to gloat or to put too much emphasis when they win. Winning and
losing are things that will happen all of your child’s life, and what better,
safer place to learn to accept both than the comfort of your own home and the safety
of your family?
5. Your child will learn many academic concepts.
Candyland requires you to match a color on a card to a color on the board.
Chutes and Ladders and Hi Ho Cherry-O use a spinner. This requires counting, as
the child must count as they move their game piece that same number of spaces
as the spinner indicates. Trouble uses dice, which reinforces the concept of
one-to-one correspondence (the basic pre-math concept that each dot on the die
represents one space on the board). There are games that use letters, shapes,
colors, directions, and more! As your child gets into more complex games, he or
she will learn to strategize as well.
Open the closet, dust off the board games, and enjoy
yourself! And then let us know what you loved about it!
