Teaching Children on Family Game Night

Now that Leo is two we've started introducing more themed family activities that engage him. He had his first trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend, and movie night was a hit even if he didn't fall asleep watching it as we'd hoped. We've also recently started family game night.

With the cold winter weather comes time to spend as a family, and what better way than playing games? It is good to set a weekly or monthly Family Game Night where you gather together as a family and simply have fun. What your children want and need most is to be with you with no distractions, just to spend time together. Playing games is an easy way to spend unhurried, enjoyable time together. As an added bonus, most board games also provide important learning experiences. They help your children learn about competition in a safe environment. Many games help teach new subjects and even new trivia that will make them sound like a wiz when they go to school. You can find fun and educational games for the whole family at online toy stores.

Games don't need to be hard to be educational. Just by playing games as a family you are teaching your children about communicating, sharing, waiting, taking turns and healthy competition. For younger children, games can help them focus and lengthen their attention span.

One of the most difficult lessons to teach your children is about winning. Children take games seriously, so it's important that you help them. For 3, 4, and even 5-year-olds, winning is very important to gaining a feeling of success and control. So generally, it is okay to "help" them win. By about the age of 6 or 7, children should begin to understand fair play. It is okay for a 6-year-old to amend the rules to win if they feel they have to, but make sure that you agree on the rules at the beginning of the game and once they are set, stick to them. By 8 or 9 years old, children should understand the concept of winning gracefully (as should adults!) and not being a “sore loser.”

Source: Teaching Children on Family Game Night - TopTenREVIEWS