Who doesn’t love all the benefits of a good old-fashioned board game? Board games are perfect for a little indoor fun as the weather gets cooler and on rainy days. They provide hours of entertainment and are wonderful ‘educational tools’. Yes, they make everyone a little smarter! And to top it off, they offer lots of family bonding-without screens.
Top Life Lessons Learned:
Taking Turns – Let’s face it, it can be tough for kids to take turns. Board games teach you to be patient as you wait for your opponent’s next move.
Commitment – Keep going and don’t give up! A simple game such as Monopoly teaches commitment and perseverance. Stay committed, even if times get tough. Things can turn with time!
Focus & Concentration – Study the situation and focus! Operation takes a steady hand and pure concentration to get the item out before the buzzer rings!
Creativity – Games present a chance to come up with something from nothing. Scrabble is a great example where children have to form words from nothing.
Actions & Consequences – Map out your plan and think ahead. Sometimes fate, chance and luck can play a role in the outcome. Learn to take those risks!
Teamwork – Work together towards common goals.
Skill-building – There’s always a game to develop any skill – money management, math, language arts, counting, sorting, memory, acting and more. The fun approach makes games fantastic educational tools in disguise!
Sportsmanship –Play fairly, treat each other with respect and shake hands after the game. Every game is an opportunity to reinforce important lesson.
Family Bonding (Screen-free) – In this fast-paced digital world, family bonding over a game goes a long way. There’s something about being engaged and laughing without screens that just feels good!
In our house, we have many games and a long list of favorites. Here are just a few popular ones:
Preschool Age Games: Connect Four, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Boggle, Kids on Stage, Bingo, Guess Who? and Zingo!
Elementary and Older: Jenga, Battleship, The Game of Life, Charades, Sorry, Pictionary, Chess, Checkers, Scrabble, Monopoly, Life and Yahtzee.
Playing board games with your children is a fantastic way to spend time together and build valuable life lessons. Ready to play? To get you started, here’s a free printable game of SMART-Bingo.pdf. {FREE BINGO PRINTABLE WITH TEN GAME BOARDS} Bingo and the ‘educational tool in disguise’ – teaching them manners!
What are your favorite board games to play with your children?
Disclosure: Blissfully Domestic uses affiliate links in some of our content including this post.
About Suzanne Wind
Grandkids are young teens & we enjoy the game Curses. You draw a card & it might “curse” you to wave your hands in the air & sing Happy Birthday every time someone says a certain word, for instance “why”. After a few trips around the board each player has several “curses” on them yet they still have to concentrate on the game. Sounds complicated but it’s hysterical.