What are the benefits of playing games with your family?

Looking for some fun activities to do as a family? Why not play board games together with your relatives! Playing games together is not only fun, but it also comes with multiple benefits! It gives you and your family the opportunity to unplug and to create traditions. Here’s more on why you should consider organising family board game nights!

Practices and teaches essential life skills

By playing games, parents can model essential life skills they want their kids to learn, like how to interact with others, how to deal with losing, how to resolve conflicts, and showcase teamwork, strategy, adaptability, and resilience. Playing games together is the perfect learning school for not only this, but also for gaining a sense of sportsmanship. Children learn how to hold a conversation with adults and how to feel and behave when they lose a game. Moreover, by having to take and give turns, they practice patience. Strategic games forces kids to think ahead for themselves and to solve problems in the spot, helping their adaptability and resilience.

Great bonus! Games can help grow self-confidence, especially when a game offers some challenges. By overcoming these challenges (or by winning the game), kids feel successful and start to believe like they can do it.

Aids academic performance

Next to learning life skills, playing family games aids future academic performance. Some games help kids grow the skills they need in school, like spatial insights, memory, computational thinking, and logics. These skills can later be used in math, languages, or other classes! Furthermore, by helping your kid by explaining which move best to make, you help them strive for good game results. This motivation sticks with them and leads wanting to work towards academic success later in life.

Can prevent antisocial behaviour

Believe it or not but playing family games and spending time together can prevent a tendency of antisocial behaviour. When playing, kids learn how to control their impulses by waiting for their turn. They learn how to make healthy decisions during these games. Through spending time together, people get a sense of belonging which can lead to stress, anxiety, and aggression levels, contributing to reducing the need for violence and substance abuse.

Making memories and bonding

Last but not least, playing games together is a fantastic way of spending time together! It helps to bond emotionally with your kids, parents, grandparents, or siblings and strengthens the overall health of the family. People tend to build mutual respect between each other when getting to know them better, adding to the family’s cohesion. It’s great to create some family traditions that your kids hopefully recreate later on.  

Get inspired!

Ready to start playing? Check out these strategic family games to play together.

• Grabbit:
  • Age: 4+
  • Number of players: 2-4
  • Skills: Memory, concentration, flexible thinking, planning, problem solving

• Huddle Up:
  • Age: 6+
  • Number of players:  2-4
  • Skills: Spatial insight, concentration, Flexile thinking, planning, problem solving,

• Froggit:
  • Age: 6+
  • Number of players: 2-6
  • Skills: Memory, concentration, flexible thinking, planning, problem solving

• Dragon Inferno:
  • Age: 7+
  • Number of players: 2
  • Skills: Spatial insight, concentration, flexible thinking, planning, problem solving

• Cube Duel:
  • Age: 10+
  • Number of players: 1-2
  • Skills: Spatial insight, concentration, flexible thinking, planning, problem solving

Sources & more information:

Family Features (15 May 2017). Spending time together – benefits of family time. Pittsburgparent.com. https://www.pittsburghparent.com/spending-time-together-benefits-of-family-time/

Jennifer Rainey Marquez (25 April 2013). 5 great reasons to play games with your family. Parade.com. https://parade.com/8722/jmarquez/5-great-reasons-to-play-games-with-your-family/

Dr. Todd Thatcher (17 March 2020). The Top Ten benefits of spending time with family. Highlandspringsclinic.org. https://highlandspringsclinic.org/the-top-ten-benefits-of-spending-time-with-family/.