Whether your family is filled with board gamers and regularly holds game nights or not, or you’re hoping to start the trend, or you just want to give your kids something they’ll enjoy that you know is good for them, board games are an excellent gift option this holiday season.
These days, giving a board game to a child is a lot different than it was years ago when a board game gift might have been received with a lukewarm reception at best. Current board games look, feel and play a lot differently than in the past. The artwork, components and gameplay engage even the most screen-addicted kids. In fact, when you check out Canadian board game stores, you’ll find a wide selection of board games based on the most popular movies, TV series and video game titles, and those aren’t even the most popular board games amongst kids. In other words, gifting a board game this holiday season should get you a more positive and emotional response than you might think.
While you might know at a high level why board games are good for kids, here are more specific ways board games enhance child development.
Crucial Skills and Cognitive Functions that Board Games Help Develop
We all know the benefits of turning off our devices and spending time together as a family and how that develops social interaction skills and strengthens family bonds, but on an individual level, here are some of the other benefits of board game play for kids and the skills they help develop:
- Early communication skills
- Colour, shape recognition and other visual perception skills
- Fine motor skills that are required to hold and move game pieces around the board
- Basic math skills: number recognition, counting, and arithmetic
- Patience – children have to wait their turn and remain seated while they wait
- Literacy skills, including letter identification, sight words, reading and vocabulary
- Concentration
- Deductive reasoning
- Problem-solving
- Strategic planning
Playing Board Games Continue Assisting Brain Development in Teens As Well
Parents love their young kids playing board games during those important developmental years, but doctors point out that board games continue to assist the development of frontal lobes in older kids and teens as well when they exercise executive function skills such as planning, organizing and decision-making.
In Fact, Board Games Are Also Good for Parents and Older Adults
Research shows that board games can improve memory while also increasing and maintaining cerebral agility in adults – the speed of information processing, concentration, creativity and creation of strategy.
Speaking of strategy, strategy games are known to improve cognitive functions, and studies have found improvement in attention and memory of older adults with dementia and those living in nursing homes.
Strategy games are also believed to improve symptoms of depression, anxiety and the manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease. Studies on very common games like Chess have shown that game training improves the planning ability of patients with schizophrenia.
The bottom line: board games are fun and healthy for the entire family! What better gift could you give to your children?
