What to look for when buying Board games for children

Board games for children are a great way to help children get over the rainy day blues or help the child who is sick to not be whiny and bored.

Finding board games for children to play is a fairly simple process. However, selecting the best board games to play with your children can be a bit more complex.

With board games abounding online and in every store, making sure you get the best game for your child as well as good value for your money is slightly more difficult.

What do we look for in board games for children? How do we, as parents, grandparent, caretakers, provide a game that is easy for the young child or challenging for the older child?

Board Games for the Toddler

Fun board games for the youngest child are often very colorful and use lots of numbers and letters to help teach while they encourage loving, playful interaction with others.

You also need to look for games that do not require long attention spans. Great games for toddlers also include ways to build memory capacity. Fun board games that include easily navigated mazes are appropriate for the toddler.

Board Games for the Preschooler

As the child moves into preschool and kindergarten, they have begun to count with the numbers they’ve learned, spell their names with the letters they’ve learned, remember which animal makes what sound with the animals that they’ve matched.

Fun board games for this age child include games that begin teaching basic dexterity and simple math skills. The game pieces can be easily manipulated and the squares on the board are still very colorful, continuing to teach counting and color matching.

A new addition to the board might be some simple words on the squares so that they can begin finding out how those letters they have learned fit together. They teach by repetition and are played in a little longer time frame.

What to Look for When Buying Board Games

• Colors

One of the thing you want to look for when you are looking to buy board games for your little one is color.

Children love bright colors and it gives them a focal point. The colors in these games for toddlers and preschoolers are teaching them not only the names of the colors themselves but also how to recognize the colors in other places and how to match those colors that they see in everyday life with the colors on the board.

• Simple Rules

Another thing to look for is simple, straightforward rules. Children of this age do not have the cognitive skills to navigate a maze of rules so look for games that give clear and concise directions.

• Sturdy Games

You will also want to make sure that the board and the game pieces are sturdy. With the very young child, dexterity is not yet smooth and pieces will get knocked over, they will land under tables and chair legs and other types of furniture.

You’ll want to develop patience in this area because as adults, we tend to want order in our lives and our games; and toddlers and preschoolers are simply not well-coordinated yet. So look for sturdiness that can stand up to the toddler’s agility and rambunctious behavior.

All in all, board games for children, though starting out very easy, can progress in fun and difficulty for all the players as they spend quality time together.

 

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