The prevalence of snow days lately may leave many families stranded at home. If you have a house full of bored students, it’s time to bring out the board games. Board games offer a plethora of educational opportunities and happy family memories too.
It’s important to select games that will interest your students, so ask them to participate in selecting board games. If you are unsure whether you will enjoy board games, consider going to a board game coffee shop where you can rent games for only a couple of dollars. This will give you a chance to experiment to find games that suit everyone in the family.
Try to buy a combination of strategy, skill and trivia games. Trivia games have obvious educational advantages as players learn interesting facts when others answer questions. You can buy packs of questions that suit each age group so that its fair for all the members of your family and so that your students don’t outgrow your game.
Strategy games are a great way to educate students on planning ahead and being flexible enough to alter their plans with the changing circumstances of the game. Planning strategies also requires higher cognitive functions and many of these games require teamwork which strengthens bonds between family members.
Being able to follow rules to achieve a goal is one of the most important skills that board games teach. Following instructions is a great asset in the classroom. Its important that students feel involved, so ask them to resolve disputes by consulting the rules or to read the rules before the game begins. You can also get them to practice their math by keeping score.
Board games also give you the opportunity to reinforce important social lessons like teamwork and being a good sport. Student all go through a phase where they have trouble dealing with losing or being good winners. Learning to win or lose with grace is an important social lesson.
Teamwork with parents and siblings helps to reinforce positive family relationships and encourages family members to work together to achieve a common goal. Playing board games is just a great way for the family to have fun together. There are so many games from charades to trivia to strategy games that you are sure to find something that you enjoy. Having a selection of games means that students get to work on a number of different skills with each one.
You can order games online or at your local department and book store. If you want to try out a game without too much financial input, look out for games at garage sales. Ensure that all the elements of the game are still in the box if you are buying them second hand.
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