I love games. One of my favorite games to play with my students is Sorry! This is actually the Disney version of Sorry! I got a few years ago at the Wal-Marts (and Holy Cow, it was *not* $80!!). When I started teaching, all kids could play the game with ease. Many of them had played it at home before with their families.A few years ago when I taught a classroom with Emotionally Disturbed kiddos, we had a lot of social skills to learn that were conducive to game playing. I haven't played it a whole lot in the past couple of years, but in honor of Fall break this week, I figured we could have a 'game day.'
Obviously children don't play board games anymore. They can't count squares, they can't wait their turn, they get angry when someone else is winning and pout or want to quit. I am bothered by this. I also had some puzzles out for some of my first graders last week to work on for the last five minutes of class. They couldn't do them. They had no concept of spatial organization, edges, matching of colors to give them clues.
I am very saddened by all this. These are life lessons children need to learn, as much as reading and math facts. Learning to wait your turn in life, losing (and winning) gracefully, good sportsmanship, following the rules.
So, those of you with children and grandchildren, nieces, nephews, little friends, and small dogs, I ask you....Do you play board games with the child in your life?
6 comments:
Not yet, but I will!!! That's sad that it's no longer a normal thing for kids to do...
Hi Michelle, I don't have children, yet, but I do have a young niece and nephew and I've seen this, too. It is disheartening. What happened? I think some of it is parents spoiling their children just to keep them happy. Children need to learn in all aspects, especially the fact that they will not always get their way.
We do puzzles constantly and I always point out the matching colors/corners/straight edges and try to teach him strategies.
We've tried Candy Land a couple of times but he's a wee bit young for it. He just turned 3 on Monday so we'll be trying again soon. We don't have a video game system and don't plan on getting one until he is old enough to buy it himself (we'll see how long that resolve lasts once he figures it out).
Yes, we sometimes do have a game night.
We love to play Connect Four, Perfection, Hangman, Trouble. I use to LOVE playing Life but have't played in years.
This year I am going to get Clue for my daughter.
We also love playing card games too, like Phase 10, Uno, and Skip-bo
I'm lucky...my daughter has a playstation2 and a nintendo lite and honestly she hasn't play either in months.
She likes to draw instead.
I just started playing games with E, my 3yo. We have Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and the Green Eggs and Ham game (which is great for language).
actually...we still play board games with our teens. we just had a rousing 2 week game of RISK. played Clue a couple of weekends ago...my boys still break out the games...they are 17 and 19. cheers to you for encouraging parents to play games with their kids. i used to use all sorts of games in my classroom too. wonderful learning tools. (i am rambling, sorry...i'm kinda passionate about it)
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