Board games of a lifetime, like Goose or Ludo, are classics that never go out of style and help children develop skills in areas such as logical-mathematical, linguistic or social skills. But adult supervision is crucial to ensure rules are clear and conflicts do not arise. What is a board game? Silvia Arcas, a psychologist specializing in children and adolescents, defines it as an activity that brings together a group of people with a common strategy and specific rules that encourage very high quality cognitive and socio-affective interaction. The psychologist also emphasizes the benefits of this type of leisure activity for minors: “They promote attention, memory, logical thinking, the association of ideas, the generation of hypotheses, the ability to analyze, spatio-temporal processing, understanding and the linguistic expression.” .
Board games are tools that also help children develop their social skills and manage their emotions. “They provide an opportunity to make agreements about the rules to be followed, learn to work together based on a common goal, develop skills to compete and manage conflict,” Arcas continues. And he adds: “Frustration management, for example in the event of a defeat, can be trained with it and emotions that are difficult to control, such as anger, can be channeled.”
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This expert defends classic board games against those based on new technologies and recommends several options to work on different aspects:
“Traditional leisure activities that are not table games, such as hide and seek, or hopscotch, complement what board entertainment does not cover, such as physical movement skills,” Arcas adds.
Board games by age
Age is an important factor to consider when choosing activities so kids can enjoy them without getting frustrated or bored. “By the age of five to seven, they don’t yet understand the complex rules of the game, so it’s handy to go for the simplest ones, like Ludo the Goose, Crazy Monkeys, Memory or Operation,” advises Montserrat Díaz. The neuropsychologist at the San Lorenzo Integral Center recommends several games for older children who can already handle more sophisticated rule dynamics: “For example from 7 to 12 years: Palabrea, Dobble, Animalea, Uno, Jenga, Scattergories or Cortex, and from.” onwards this age: Trivial, Pictionary, Chess or Cluedo”.
It can happen that minors get bored while playing. This can be avoided by not making it a commitment, says Díaz. “They are appealing to children when they are presented as explorations of the new,” he continues, “the mistake is viewing these activities as punishment for avoiding electronic devices.” Communicating the dynamics of the rules and enjoying them with them is essential for minors to motivate themselves for this type of free time,” continues this expert.
The topic of cheating can ruin a nice family vacation. “You have to instill respect for fair play and show them how that affects the rest of the players and the dynamic of the activity itself.” To do this, it makes sense to set clear rules and make sure that participants respect each other,” she advises Psychologist Montserrat Diaz.
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