Gaming With Your Kids: Five Reasons to Game Together

For many of us who grew up before the dawn of the internet, talk of gaming brings to mind card games and board games with our family just as quickly as it brings to mind today’s Daily Deal.

Quality family time has long been tied to such down time activities. In today’s online world, it’s easy to imagine such ‘unplugged’ gaming struggling to compete with the multitude of computer gaming options available.

While most kids gamers these days are enjoying this wide array of computer games, there is no reason to think the same family bonding built around a Monopoly board or a deck of cards cannot happen around a laptop or an iPad.

But, the benefits don’t end with a closer family unit. Just as Scrabble helped us with spelling, Risk helped us with geography, and Twister helped us with…ummm…gym (?), so too can computer games educate while entertaining.

We’ve put together five great reasons to game with your kids. Take a moment to go through them. They may open your eyes to a new avenue through which you can engage with your child.

Playing as a family, as with any game, encourages and teaches teamwork. Children who play games with their family learn how to collaborate with others to work toward a common goal.Playing video games, particularly with parent involvement, can help improve literacy skills in young children. Many video games offer an interactive story. The more your kids play and interact with the game, the more they learn about letter and word recognition, and how those concepts can tell a story.Games can improve problem solving skills. Puzzle games, for example, can help teach kids the process of breaking down a problem to find a solution. It can also help them learn a sense of strategy, cause and affect, and consequences for certain actions. Having the assistance of an adult during this process also provides the child with a sense of security.Games build confidence. Games that have puzzles, exploration, and discovery provide kids with a feeling of accomplishment. Even with the help of an adult, being able to successfully navigate through a game gives children a feeling of achievement, which builds confidence in their own abilities and improves self-esteem.Playing games has social benefits, and can also build closer relationships between a child and a family member. Games create an environment that is very easy for humans to relate to and can appeal to both a child and an adult. Creating common ground by coming together to play a game can create a stronger bond, as well as teach the child communication skills that will benefit them in future social interactions.

When gaming with kids, it’s also important to find a game that is a right fit for them. The more engaged a child is in a game, the more they will learn and benefit from it.

If you’re not sure what games to choose, remember that while all our games are family friendly, some do contain adult themes that are more appropriate for older children. For your youngsters, we offer a great selection of family games to choose from. Give them a try for free, and find the one that’s best for you and your kids!

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