Importance of Board Games in Preschoolers

Whether it is a rainy day, a warm summer day, or we are snowed in, board games are a fun way to spend time with our children.  Not only are they fun, they are very beneficial in child development.

Playing Numerical Board Games Boosts Number Skills in Preschoolers

Playing a simple board game such as Chutes and Ladders can improve a preschooler’s numerical knowledge, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found.

Researchers knew that children varied greatly in the math knowledge they brought to school, with low-income children tending to have far less math knowledge than their peers from middle-income families. It is believed that this early gap has long-term consequences and probably reflects a difference in exposure to informal numerical activities.

Board games provide a good, informal opportunity for young children to learn about consecutive numbering and the relation of numerals and their sizes.

In the study, four- and five-year-old Head Start students from low-income backgrounds played numerical board games for four 15-minute sessions over a two-week period. The activity increased the children’s proficiency in counting, identifying printed numerals, comparing the relative size of numbers, and estimating the position of numbers on number lines. The gains were still in place two months after the board game sessions ceased. Children who played an identical board game that varied in color squares rather than numbered squares did not improve in any of the four math areas noted.