![]() Chess lessons improved basic math skills for kids with learning disabilities. On the learning side, games teach critical thinking, planning ahead, learning from mistakes, predicting outcomes and probability, improved memory, considering what’s in another’s mind, impulse control, finding patterns, math, reading, communication, focus and more. This is us: Holidays, rituals and routines that define your familyĮvery game has its joy and side benefits. If they can manage loss now, when the stakes are low, it builds up resilience for when the stakes are high. Winning and losing is just part of games – and life – whether because of luck or because of a skill still developing (in part, by losing). I’m quick to conclude any game, no matter who wins, with something like, “That was close! And so much fun!” pointing out some exciting part or some smart move they made or some little lesson for future wins. My daughters are amiable when they lose, as a result of experiencing a good deal of it. She was gifted at charades and Pictionary before she could read and just needed to be whispered the clue. But we also adapted games for her to play. ![]() Until recently, my younger daughter, now age 8, required someone to be on her team to play certain games, often relegating her to throwing dice and counting moves. Like me, they don’t have faces for poker. I’ll see a smile grow as one of them gains insight or an advantage. I watch them think, see light bulbs go off. We laugh and commiserate over the game, but we usually talk about real life topics, too. We play a lot of games in our family, and we’ve had them in constant rotation since we got the lockdown guidance to stay home and avoid playdates.įor years my daughters and I have had breakfast together while playing mancala, Uno, Connect 4 or backgammon. And we need joy, laughter and positive shared experiences for kids right now, more than ever.Įven those all-luck (read: mostly boring) preschool games that mainly teach kids how to play, like Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders, help them focus for a long time on a single activity, learn to take turns and how to cope with losing – three crucial life skills you can develop early. Puzzles and board, card and improv games aren’t just entertaining, they’re developmentally beneficial – an educational lesson disguised in playtime’s clothing. Traditional games are better than TV, and they’re more interactive than reading, or even video games. It’s a fun, shared activity to break up a day stuck indoors during bad weather, or to pass the torturous 23 minutes between ordering food in a restaurant and its arrival.Īnd now these diversions may be one of the most crucial family tools in your shed of ideas to help pass the hours during the coronavirus lockdown. ![]() You probably already play card and board games with the children in your care, to some degree.
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