Board games have made their way into our living room. It started with “Jenga”. We have been playing that since my son was 3.5. At first, I used it to teach him the important lesson of taking turns and playing by the rules. Before long, we were playing it without tears and actually enjoying it.

The next lesson I wanted to teach my son, was how to lose gracefully. Like most children his age,  he wanted to win at everything. Simple play dates would turn to meltdowns when my son lost a race to another child. So, when he turned 4, I bought “Snakes and ladders”. Before each game, I would remind him that he may not win, and that he would have to be okay with it. I also explained that if at the end of the game, he had a meltdown because he had lost, we would pack up the game and try again another time. In the beginning, the game would end in tears if it did not go his way, and as promised, we would pack it away, talk about his feelings and how to manage them, then without dwelling on it, move on to another activity. 3 weeks later, I am happy to say that he has mastered the art of losing, and we are now enjoying playing different board games together.

Other advantages of playing board games with pre-schoolers:

Improved vocabulary:

When I sit down to play with my son, we also spend time describing what we see on the board. I have noticed that this has increased the number of words he uses in his day to day speech. This is not just in English. My son speaks three different languages and as such, I make sure that the other carers in his life are taking time to play these games in the language they use with him. The results have been amazing.

Improved concentration:

My son does not sit still. Part of the reason why we started hiking was because he was always so restless. When we play a board game, its  one of the few times that he sits down for an extended period of time, a much needed break in our house.

School readiness:

Doing crafts is not at all popular with my kids. It goes without saying then that learning how to write, is not something we are into. I like to think I have come up with a way to get my son interested in learning how to write, with neither of us getting frustrated. When he got his first box of “Jenga”, I wrote his name on it, and then, in other places around the house. This got him to recognise his name. We then moved on to writing his name before each “Jenga” game, with the promise of another board game, that he would get to write his name on. This took time, but it got him learning to write his name. As promised, when I bought his “snakes and ladder”, he proudly scribbled his name on it. Its barely legible, but I mark that down as a win. “Snakes and ladder” has also improved his counting and number recognition greatly. He can now do simple addition and subtraction. We do all this while rolling the dice.

 

Quality one on one interaction:

Since my daughter is still young, most of these games pose a choking hazard for her.  We thus tend to play them during her afternoon nap. This gives me and my son quality uninterrupted time together. He looks forward to this moments and has even started helping clean up so we can play.

Other games that we play are “guess who”, (Great for learning how to give descriptions). We have recently picked up ” what am I?”, and are busy distinguishing between fruits and vegetables.

What board games are you playing with your pre-schooler?