There is a common saying ?work, work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?.
As parents we must encourage children to play both indoors and out door games. Children games help in their mental growth making them a better person in all spheres.
The children benefit a lot because they easily open up through games. There are games that open the minds of children for example games that require a lot of thinking which they don?t come across in school.
Although human brain develops faster in the initial years of child growth, Brain development per se is a lifelong process and you should make sure that your child develops in the right way.
Choosing the Right Game for Your Child
Make sure you follow certain criteria while choosing a game for your child. When choosing a game keep in mind that
- Games should be age appropriate.
- It should create interests to your child. Make sure that your child would enjoy and have wonderful time learning.
- The games should develop social skills and should be interactive.
- Educational games are also perfect for your child who loves to discover things and ideas
- Make sure that the games that your child engages in are safe.
Some very effective games would include
Board games:
Board games are rich in learning opportunities. Board games can foster the ability to focus, and lengthen your child’s attention span by encouraging the completion of an exciting, enjoyable game. It has the following benefits.
- number and shape recognition, grouping, and counting
- letter recognition and reading
- visual perception and color recognition
- eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity
- Scrabble Junior Fosters literacy and language skills.
- Boggle Junior Teaches letters, words, spelling, and matching skills
- Zingo (Think Fun Company): Encourages matching skills and quick thinking.
- Monopoly Junior Learning Highlights: Develops math, color recognition, reading, reasoning, and social skills.
- Junior Labyrinth Teaches spatial relations and relies on some manual dexterity.
- Chutes and Ladders offer meta-messages and life skills: Your luck can change in an instant ? for the better or for the worse.
- Candyland is probably the simplest board game
- Chess is one of the most powerful educational tools available to strengthen a child?s mind.
- Tic Tac Toe is a great game to teach strategy and letters
- Teach your child card games like go fish or war.
- Legos and knex
Physical or Outdoor Games
Playing outdoor games helps the child in improving his / her socializing skills, listening skills as well as verbal skills. And it also helps the child in the regular exercise of the body which in turn helps in keeping the body fit and healthy.
Hopscotch
Follow-my-leader
Hide and seek
Obstacle races
Oranges and lemon
Hunt the thimble
Bingo
Computer Games
Video games provide opportunity to think about different thing, planning and problem solving. Moreover, they also focus on decision of selection in different things. These are all the skills that a growing child needs to develop as a mature adult.
These are the most useful sites for the kids to play.
http://www.poissonrouge.com/
http://www.starfall.com/
http://kids.discovery.com/games/whizzball/whizzball.html
http://fantasticcontraption.com/
http://www.lil-fingers.com/storybooks/index.html
http://pbskids.org
http://www.sproutonline.com(their favorite is Max & Ruby)
http://tv.disney.go.com/playhouse/index.html
http://funschool.kaboose.com/preschool/
http://www.activitypad.com/online-games/
http://kids.aol.com
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=
Some sites that are used for printing learning games and activities:
http://www.daniellesplace.com
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/
http://www.kaboose.com/
http://www.dltk-kids.com/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/
http://www.bhg.com/family/
http://familyfun.go.com/
Playing games is an important activity for the child?s social and mental development. Try not to park them in front of the television often. So many parents use the T.V. as their babysitter; they wonder why their children are learning bad habits such as talking back and show little ability to amuse oneself.
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