Are you waiting for the day when your kids will sit patiently around the table enjoying a good board game with you? There are great board games for smaller kids but you can’t expect them to play like older kids from the start. If you want your toddlers to start playing board games with you, you should get the best kind and have lots of patience.
Play One on One
If you have several toddlers and younger kids in your house it is not a good idea to gather all to learn how to play board games. This type of arrangement will usually end up a big mess where fights about cards erupt. To avoid this kind of irritation you should try to sit down with one at a time. Explain the game patiently and play it over and over. Once one of your kids get the hang of the board game you can bring more of them into the game and watch how it develops to a really nice activity for a Sunday afternoon!
What Board Game Suits Toddlers?
The first board game to start with should be something fairly simple. For ages 2.5-5 you can pick out a nice memory game. Memory is the game where you have to pair two cards by turning them face up on the table and remember where which symbol is hiding. Kids love this game and it is very stimulating for their logical thinking. Start with 4-7 sets of cards and add on as you see that your child understands and enjoys the game.
Play even if they don’t get it!
If you are playing Memory with a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old, you will most likely notice that the 4 year old gets the rules of the game. The 2.5 year old will also enjoy turning the cards and follow the rules but he might turn the same cards over and over to get to exclaim what is on the pictures. Don’t get stressed out about this. If everyone is having fun it really doesn’t matter if you play by the rules or not. Let the 4 year old collect the matching pairs while the 2.5 is turning the same cards over to yell “it’s a cat!” (5 times in a row)
Bingo Style Games
If you want to expand the memory theme you can get board games where you need to match the cards to a board with pictures. This is a lot of fun and also a great way to learn shapes and the name of different objects. Go by the same technique as for memory and let your kids understand the games slowly in a relaxed and fun atmosphere.
Also, don’t forget that you must always lose! So keep turning that cat and cow up and call it luck when you happen to get a real pair of symbols.