We were recently given approval by my school’s principal to form a club among students with and without disabilities.
I was so excited by my idea when pitching it to my principal; I didn’t think of all the activities we would need.
When it came time to create our schedule, I had a brief moment of panic…
“All these kids are coming, but what will we do!?”
And then it hit me: we can play board games!
Benefits to Playing Board Games
Not only are games engaging, but they also provide numerous opportunities to strengthen cognitive and social skills.
Cognitive Skills that Benefit from Playing Board Games
There are many obvious academic skills involved in games. Take counting, for example: roll the dice, read your number, and move that many spaces—the easy practice of numeral recognition and one-to-one correspondence!
But it goes so much deeper than that.
Board games challenge children (and adults!) to:
- Solve problems
- Use working memory
- Apply strategy
- Utilize creative thinking
- Comprehend and analyze information.
These are functional life skills that our children will need every day in the real world.
The best part: your kids are having so much fun playing, they don’t even realize they’re learning!
Social Skills that Benefit from Playing Board Games
There are numerous social skills tied to games:
- Communicating
- Collaborating
- Being flexible
- Paying attention
- Following rules
- Accepting loss
- Winning graciously
And the list of social skills goes on!
These skills are critical to helping children develop:
- Positive relationships
- Resolve conflict
- Participate in group activities
- Manage emotions
- Learn self-control
Again, these are functional life skills that our children will need every day in the real world.
Plus, who doesn’t want to have some fun and make new friends? Win-win!
I have rounded up some fantastic games for you to try out in your home or classroom below. Check them out and let us know which ones are your favorite.
Games Your Kids Will Love
- 25+ Geography Board Games & Geography Card Games
- Board Games for the Classroom
- 150+ Educational Board Games
- 16 Social-Emotional Learning Games for Kids
So what do you think? Do you play board games with your kids?
Drop your favorite games in the comments below- I’m in the market to add to my collection. ☺
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8 Comments
I love this post! We homeschool and use board games in our daily learning. There are so many awesome games out there, I love your recommendations!
We love playing board games together! We try to do it at least once a week. Sorry, Uno, and Uno Flip are some of our favorites. Sierra
Interesting read! I recently bought a 300 piece puzzle for myself and my (almost) 4-year-old daughter to do together. A little advanced for her but we had so much fun working on it together. I could really see how much it got her problem-solving skills working. Can’t wait to play board games with her. This has inspired me to look into a few that might be age-appropriate for her 🙂
Very insightful post. Thanks for sharing
That is a great idea. I loved board games as a kid. Slowly working on teaching my almost 4 year old to play board games. He’s not as into them as I would like, yet but definitely learning to enjoy them.
We love board games and often play one weekly. It is such a great time to spend together.
I love the idea of getting off of the iPads and playing board games!
In a couple of weeks, it’d be my nephew’s birthday party, so I’m looking for the perfect gift. I liked that you said board games help children communicate better, so I think I’ll look for a few board games for my nephew’s present. Thanks for the information on how children benefit from playing board games.