Remember the good old days when we used to play board games? Do you not get nostalgic when you used to invite your friends home to play, dig in through the chest of games, and finally decide on which game to play? And do you also remember waiting for your turn, rolling the dice, trying to predict the outcome?
Those days are a thing of the past. But, they do not have to be! Because playing board games in today’s world can still be fun, educational and has a lot of benefits that you and your children can derive.
Here are a few of the advantages that these timeless treasures hold:
1.Help kids stay away from electronics
In the digital age, it is not uncommon to see your kid be surrounded by iPhones, tablets, computers and other gadgets. Increased screen time can make your child feel sluggish, weak and lethargic.
Playing board games can help make the kid brain active, think clearly and creatively, interact more and learn crucial like skills(more of which you shall see below).
2.Planning
Games often require the player to think strategically and plan moves in advance in order to stay in the game. As a result, this lays the roots for the child to be able to plan their actions from time to time and carry it into their adulthood. In this way, it also helps the child make more responsible decisions after careful planning. As the old adage goes:
“A job well planned is a job half done”
3.Promotes healthy relationships
Playing board games with your kids has amazing benefits. Not only does it improve your kids’ social skills and allow face-to-face interaction, it generates trust, empathy and allows for a healthy relationship between your and your child.
So when you laugh and play with your kids and are engaged in a healthy competition, it creates a relaxed, laid back atmosphere from your busy routine and also lowers blood pressure and stress levels.
4.Sharp memory and increased cognitive functioning
While playing board games, many of the brain’s cognitive functions like memory, problem solving, logical thinking, complex situations, information retention etc are all put to the test. As a result, the games improve memory and IQ, help acquire new skills and increase the learning ability of the player.
5.Teaches you to follow rules and instructions
Every board game carries along with it a set of rules and instructions. That calls for the player to read them thoroughly before starting the game. Not only does this facilitate reading, but also teaches a few other skills like to follow the rules and instructions, not to overlook details, to not bend rules and to play fair and square.
6.Teaches you to lose gracefully
When you are so used to winning all the time, you do not know what it feels like to lose. In fact, nobody likes to be on the losing side. When children lose in a board game, they learn to embrace failure and that failure is a part of life.
Failure teaches children to pick themselves up, to never give up and it motivates them to be better than what they were before and it is a very crucial like skill for them to carry into their adulthood.
So now that you have seen how you can benefit from playing board games, why don’t you dig into the stockpile of board games at your home, and start playing? Or if you do not have one, you can still buy them at a pocket-easy rate, for they are still widely available.
