Have fun connecting and learning through board games
I grew up with card games, board games and playground games, as we did not have electronic games when I was a child. I remember my grandmother used to say that her mental agility was due to her daily "mah-jong" sessions :). Looking back, I could see the benefits of board games and card games – how they really allow us (the players, big and small) to connect, have fun and test our mental skills without realising it.
To be fair, I did not invest many hours in the electronic games arena; I did try playing a few games with my children, but I am way behind them in the hand-eye coordination department.
Today, I am going to dwell a little bit more on manual games, like board games such as snakes and ladders, card games, memory games etc. These games are brilliant games, not only to have fun and connect with your children or other family members, but they bring people together, sitting around a common table/floor space and enjoying each other's company.
What are the benefits of enjoying board games with your family and friends?
Brings family members together
A board game is a game where you need to interact and communicate with other players, old or young. It is not something that you can play on your own (you would not want to), thus it is a great opportunity for people to get together, spending time together to connect, to laugh, to argue, and most all, to have fun together.
So when you are sitting together having fun relaxing, it encourages you to open up communication and form those wonderful experiences and memories together.
Learning about strategies
Monopoly, for example, is a game of strategies (and luck). The players will have to make decisions whether to spend the money to purchase properties, build or delay in building, or invest more in other properties. If you were to invest, you need to think about how much would you invest, how much to mortgage in order to get you out of debt etc.
It is also great for empowering your children to learn maths, such as learning additions by adding the numbers on the dice. For example, if you have one dice displaying 6 and the other displaying 3, your child will add the 6 and 3 together (6+3=9), so he or she will know they have to move 9 spaces.
Other learning is: learning about subtracting and adding through exchanging money. For example, if you only have $100 note left and you have to pay one player $80, you know that $100 is more than $80, so when you pay the other play $100, you will receive $20 back. This is learning how to subtract – $100-$80=$20
Next – learning how to negotiate – If you own two blue houses and needed another one in order to build hotels, you will need to learn how to negotiate with the other party and come up with a win-win option on how to acquire the other blue house from the other party.
Finally – Decision making – if you have to mortgage your home in order to pay off some debt, what do you need to do? Which house/houses do you need to mortgage? Which hotels or houses do you need to sell first etc.
So, let's bring out the board games, whether it is checkers, chess, monopoly or cards etc… just have fun, connect and continue learning.
What other board games can you recommend?