Since starting blogging i have been fortunate to work with Drumond Park on reviews and giveaways for their games, they always have an educational side to them and are always real fun for all the family, bringing some much needed family fun time to our busy lives. Working in childcare in a pre-school setting it obviously interested me when they sent me the following feature to include which reinforces the importance of play in early years, to help develop the personal and social development, mathematical development, problem solving, and broaden their knowledge of the world around them. A great read and addition to the evidence already available to show how important play is to pre-school children.
Why
playing table-top games with pre-schoolers
could
help them to succeed in life
A
mountain of research exists to underpin the general consensus that active play
from an early age is an essential element of a pleasurable, fulfilling
childhood; and no more so than with a humble table-top or board game.
But delve a little deeper, and it’s soon clear that
there’s so much more going on beneath the surface, even with the simplest of
games…
Learning to play games from
an early age has long been thought to help children to grow and strengthen
their inner cores – boosting a sense of joie
de vivre, resilience, self-discipline, honesty, courage, and even
kindness. Perhaps one of the most
valuable aspects of our children’s development is nurturing their ability to
get on well with others – helping them to develop stronger, more flexible
backbones and strengthen their character traits by thoughtful encouragement and
reinforcement from older family members and peers.
There’s nothing like good
old face-to-face interaction, particularly in the light of the phenomenal growth
of the internet era, social networking, electronic games and the burgeoning
virtual world with its myriad temptations.
Moving away from these ubiquitous screens and playing simple games designed
for their age groups and a little above will promote invaluable social skills
such as verbal communication, the concepts of sharing, waiting and taking turns
– all while simply enjoying well-mannered and positive interaction with others.
Playing games with older
role models will also teach our little ones how to win or lose with grace, good
manners and humility - while on a more practical basis, will also encourage
them to delve into a plethora of other essential attributes. Without even knowing it, their playtime will
encourage them to:
·
Learn colour
recognition and numbers
·
Identify patterns for
increased visual acuity
·
Plan and think ahead
·
Predict the outcome
of various tactics of play
·
Learn from their
experience
·
Learn to work with
their impulses through focus and self-control
·
Strengthen their
problem solving ability and logical thinking
·
Learn that practice
can and will improve their performance.
Imagine
– all that from a simple board or table-top game! The
first and possibly hardest step of all is to realise that in many cases, it’s
up to us as parents to make time for our children; to channel our inner child,
take OUR turn and join in! Spending
unhurried, enjoyable time together is one of the greatest joys between parents and
children - but is so often brushed aside, when it’s actually the very thing
your child wants and needs more than anything.
Some fascinating games to try from the
experts – Drumond Park!
Wordsearch Junior (rrp
£22.99) brings Drumond Park’s unique and much loved Wordsearch ‘race’ game
format to the latest generation of youngsters.
It’s based on the same clever ‘turntable’ design of the original Classic Wordsearch! game and children of
all ages will have hours of fun playing - while getting to grips with
recognition, pattern and language.
The nine double-sided circular puzzle disks have three
different levels of play, covering a myriad of topics. Little ones can dive in
straight away, searching for images and patterns on the starter-level blue
picture pattern cards. The red level takes players through the picture hint
cards – finding words with picture hints to help them. Using the green word-only cards, they’ll be
looking for simple consonant clusters and vowel combinations - increasing their
reading skills without even realising it!
The immensely popular Magic Tooth Fairy game (rrp £19.99) brings the wonder
of ‘magic’ to board games. Players race
to be the first to lose all their teeth and get the Tooth Fairy to swap them
for gold coins. When they land on a ‘Go To Bed’ space, they put their tooth
under the Magic Bed’s pillow, plunge the Tooth Fairy wand… and hey presto, when
they lift up the pillow, the tooth has gone and in its place - a shiny gold
coin!
With its Magic Bed – complete
with a pillow compartment for hiding the teeth that you’ve ‘lost’ while playing
the game - plus plastic mouths and pull-out
teeth, the Magic Tooth Fairy game
is like no other. It creates a sense of wonder – and that takes some doing with
the kids of today.
The
DINO BITE monster action game (rrp
£22.99) is fearsome fun for
everyone! A gruesome T-Rex dinosaur is perched on top of a dino nest. A large
green leaf covers a collection of twenty tiny, helpless blue, red, yellow and
green baby dinosaurs who have been stolen from another dinosaur’s nest and are
awaiting their fate.
Each
player takes it in turn to rescue an egg from the nest with the tweezers
supplied. With each roll of the coloured
dice the players carefully lift the edge of the leaf, steadily move their
tweezers into the nest, grasp the baby and lift it out to safety! Or it’s fine for younger players to use their
fingers instead of the tweezers, if they like. But beware… the Dino will try to grab you,
roaring out loud and lunging terrifyingly forward! This game is perfect for colour recognition,
dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination.
The
simple and characterful Barbecue Party
action game (rrp £19.99) is a
terrific mix of anticipation and nerve as the younger members of the family
test their dexterity, doing their best to oh-so-carefully place different foods
on the BBQ grill. They choose a card and
place the matching bug-eyed plastic item onto the grill - using either their
fingers or the tongs supplied. Or if
it’s there already, they take it off and win that card.
Sounds easy?
Maybe… but when the grill is inadvertently shaken or the load gets too
heavy under the weight of all that food, the rack dramatically catapults
everything off into the air and the player forfeits a card.
The unique Gee Whizz magic set (rrp £19.99) is a dazzling collection of amazing activities and tremendous
tricks for little ones, providing a fascinating, easily accessible and
confidence-giving introduction to the genre.
It’s jam packed with a fabulous array of easy illusions that are perfect
for children to master - while stimulating their natural curiosity for
discovery and the world around them.
The compendium comes with clear,
comprehensive pictorial instructions - and with just a little guidance from an
adult or older sibling, children will quickly master the basics of putting on a
magic show - such as pouring coins out of an empty saucer, or magically
‘growing’ a flower from the end of a magic wand. Children’s
inquisitiveness knows no bounds, and suddenly you’ll
find that they have taken simple tricks on board - by themselves!
Playing games – whether table top games, board games or
role play - is an excellent, easy and absorbing way to spend multi-generational
time together while bolstering self-esteem and confidence, and providing a rich
seam of learning opportunities alongside a host of social and life skills.
Keep an eye out in the next couple of days for my review and giveaway of the Dino Bite game, a great family game for all.
