by Linda Haver

Created on: May 13, 2009

Playing board games is a great way to teach and reinforce basic skills while having fun. Children as young as two will benefit from playing age appropriate board games. Make game playing a family affair and help promote family bonding as well as learning. Take turns choosing what game to play so children get experience with decision making and become respectfully of the decisions of others. When older children in the family choose games that may be too difficult for younger children, play as partners. Teamwork is a very useful skill that children can be taught through the use of board games.

The best games to use with preschoolers are those that involve memory, counting, color recognition, categorizing or naming objects. These types of games will help a child improve visual memory, one to one correspondence, counting up, identifying colors, and vocabulary. These skills are essential to future success in school. Children will learn how to take turns and that no one is going to win every time. Learning to be a good loser is also a benefit of playing board games.

Primary school students will still enjoy and benefit from the added practice of playing games with the skills listed above. At this time add you can games to your repertoire that will help improve reading skills. Choose games that offer practice in sequencing and matching of letters, words or pictures. When the child becomes an emergent reader, add games that involve the players finding or making words. The ability to manipulate sounds and letters in words are two of the building blocks for learning to decode new words. Play games that help improve vocabulary. A strong command of the English language will serve a child well through out life.

Math concepts and number sense will be strengthened through playing strategy games that require counting up and back, planning ahead, comparing numbers and predicting an opponent's moves. The problem solving and decision making required for game playing will carry over to academics. Practicing thinking and strategy skills will help make a student a better learner.

Bingo games can be modified to teach and reinforce specific skills a student is studying at school. You can print blank Bingo sheets off the internet. Play Bingo to practice spelling words or subject specific vocabulary. For primary students use the Bingo sheets to reinforce reading sight or high frequency words. Math facts can also be practiced with Bingo. The answers are put on the board and the caller says the fact. The player covers the correct answer.

Board games are an excellent tool for parents to use to help strengthen their child's grasp of basic facts. Have fun!

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