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8 Steps to a Brighter Child and a Happier Home

It maybe child's play, but you'd be amazed at what children can learn through games. Watch children playing board games with each other, running a three legged race or playing football they're not only having fun but also learning cooperation, teamwork, role clarity, strategy and tactics.

Not only is there is a wealth of supporting research, but there are also a growing number of educational advocates who emphasise that the most productive way of learning is through fun and hands-on experience and that game playing provides the perfect tool.

Here is a just a sample of the prestigious support behind the educational benefits of games playing:

According to the head of Ofsted, children who play traditional board games at home do better at school. He said the games help children to think for themselves, to wait their turn and to hold a conversation with adults. And he expressed a concern that computer games and television can discourage children from activities that better stimulate their imagination.

Stephen Twigg, Education minister, said that play is vitally important to education.

The National Union of Teachers conference produced a statement saying that children, in particular, learn through play and they want everyone to spend more time playing, as a "crucial" lifelong learning tool.

The National Foundation for Educational Research concluded that children should have more access to "play-based" learning.

John Dewey, the founder of modern educational theories, wrote in Democracy and Education " experience has shown that when children have a chance at physical activities which bring their natural impulses into play, going to school is a joy, management is less of a burden and learning is easier"

Even the venerable Plato said "Not by force shall the youth learn, but through play."

Learning through play is the idea behind MindLab, an after school education programme that teaches children thinking and social skills through playing board games from around the world. The positive impact of MindLab on children's development is supported by prestigious research which shows that children who follow a MindLab curriculum demonstrate a substantial and lasting improvement in strategic reasoning and problem solving skills as well as standardised maths and verbal reasoning tests.

Assuming you are now convinced of the educational benefits of game playing, you may next be asking, what do I do to reap the benefits

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