Gaming with Toddlers I – The Perks

One of my hopes as a gamer and a parent is that one day I’ll be able to play my board games with the little one. But that is years away, he’s only two right now. That is no reason to not play with him now. For the past few months we have been playing games designed for young children. The games have been a hit so far and we have found so many benefits.

Games have helped him with number and letter recognition. We have other tools and toys to help him learn his numbers of course and the games allow him to see the numbers and letters in a natural setting. He enjoys pointing to the board’s scoring track and shouting out whatever number or letter his finger finds.

Manual dexterity is another benefit. Rolling dice helps toddlers learn to control their strength unless they want the dice to fly across the room. Many games rely on tile-laying much like puzzles but not interlocking. This forces children to be careful so their little area stays nice and neat. Finally, dexterity and balancing games are always popular and build fine motor skills.

When first playing with young children, they often get excited and want to dominate the activity and can be rude or pushy since they do not know much better. Games have helped us teach him patience and turn-taking. It took us a bit of time and occasionally he will get too excited and forget his manners but now he is often the leader passing dice to the next player and keeping order.

Finally, one of the largest benefits to playing games with young children is the quality time spent together. I am not extremely anti-screens. When my wife is working late and I’m flying solo for the evening, I feel no guilt turning on Peppa Pig while I prepare dinner. However I know the potential dangers of too much screen-time so when we leave them off as much as we can. Board games are great for keeping a child’s attention and being able to spend time together.

I hope going forward my son will continue to enjoy playing board games with his old man. I look forward to the day when we can spend evenings playing more complex games as a family. But if he doesn’t want to continue the hobby, at least I won’t need to buy any more games for him. No games for him means more games for me.