Good Learning Games

Games facilitate learning for children and it is important to find really good games that will teach them specific skills and help them to develop certain abilities. Let’s face it, it is more fun for the child and the parent to teach these skills in games then trying to get them to read text books or do revision papers.

What they need to learn depends on the age of the child. Jean Piaget did intensive research on child development. Much of what we now know about human intellectual development stems from his research.

Jean Piaget was a biologist who devoted his life to closely observing and recording the intellectual abilities of infants, children and adolescents. The stages of intellectual development formulated by Piaget appear to be related to major developments in brain growth. The human brain is not fully developed until late adolescence or in the case of males sometimes early adulthood.

We often expect children to think like adults when they are not yet capable of doing so. It is important that parents know what to expect from their child as they develop and to be sure that the expectations they may have for their child at a given age are realistic.

Younger children (3 – 4) need basic games that teach following simple directions and rules, taking turns and of course learning how to win and lose. They cannot yet follow rules other than simple do’s and don’ts and are just learning transductive reasoning (They can think about something without the object being present by use of language.) Simple games like marbles help with following directions and rules. Make the game simple – roll the marble into another marble and it is yours.
For children 4 – 7 years old, the language skills are developing as well as logical reasoning.

Many games can be played with only paper and pencil. Tic Tac Toe and Hangman are fun and easy. The skills vary from mathematical patterns and logical reasoning to vocabulary and spelling (in the case of Hangman).

These children are developing in leaps and bounds and most games for them are to develop their thinking process and social skills. Candy land, snakes and ladders and similar games of chance are great for this age.

Hand games teach rhythm and motor skills. Those hand games you played when you were a child… it’s time to pull them out of the memory banks.

Card games are fantastic for learning to take turns, memory and counting. Uno, Qwitch and Blink are fast and furious, making players really pay attention and think fast to categorise cards by colour, number or suits. “Apples to Apples” is an award winning game that covers vocabulary, comprehension and reasoning. These games can be found at The Better Toy Store.

Children 7 – 11 years old are capable of concrete problem solving and organised logical thought.

As children progress mentally they will get better at the basic skills and start to need more challenging games. Games that teach particular material like math, history, geography and strategy.

There are a lot of board games out there on the market and finding ones that your kids will play is the hardest part. Check to make sure the game is age appropriate. It helps to go and look at the many games with the child and see what they are inquisitive about. If they are too distracted while in a toy store (a perfectly understandable and normal problem) then try something that is similar to what they enjoy doing.

For children who like word search and word puzzle games try Scrabble. Maybe a game of chess will be enjoyed by a current checkers player. If detective stories are a favourite then try a game of clue. If all else fails, throw caution to the wind and get something that really looks like fun.

Once you have found a new game, make sure that you take the time to explain the rules and process clearly. Play with them a few times so that they fully understand the rules, then see how they manage with friends. Children love to play with adults as well so if you make a game playing time they will appreciate it and look forward to the game.

Here is a list of popular board games and some skills that they develop:

Once you have found a game to play with your child, give them some space to learn. With games like scrabble, children need help to build their vocabulary. Let them look up words in the dictionary so that they are constantly increasing their word knowledge. Set a time limit on looking for words and give extra points for learning a new word and its meaning. If you take the time to enjoy the process of learning new things, they will too.

Don’t forget that many games now come with popular characters and places. There is a Star Wars Chess set, Candyland Winnie the Pooh Edition, Disney Uno, Justice League Checkers, and even Singapore Monopoly for some really home grown fun.