A Roll of the Dice

Is Your Child Ready for Board Games?

By Donna Smith

Remember sitting with your mom and dad playing a fun game of Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders? For many of us, childhood memories revolve around games such as these. But it's important to know when a child has the appropriate skills to play board games.

"Playing games involves taking turns, following rules and having enough verbal ability to communicate with the other players," says Claire Green, executive director of Parent's Choice Foundation. While most children younger than 3 have not learned these skills yet, they may still have the interest.

"My 2-year-old son, Daniel, was so interested when his big brother and I played games," says Carol Majeski, a mother of two from St. Louis, Mo. "I wanted so much to include him, but he didn't understand and ended up upsetting his brother."

Green says that it's not the game the child is actually interested in, but what his family is doing the movement of the game pieces, the colors and the activity going on. "He or she is demonstrating a normal grabbing at game pieces he sees other people playing with," Green says. Although younger children don't understand the concept of the game, they want to be involved to be part of the family. Parents should encourage this.

Majeski found a way to keep both her sons happy. She bought Memory Game, a matching game for the youngest child, and they played without any rules. "We would lay the cards out and just take turns turning over the pieces," she says. "Daniel loved being a part of the 'game,' and I had so much fun just watching his face light up because he was included."

Another option is creating a homemade "pre-board game" activity. "On a board-game-size square of MDF (available at home centers), paint a sequence of squares, circles and triangles in various colors to make a path around the board," Green says. "Provide chunky blocks in different colors, shaped like cubes, cylinders, pyramids and columns, which the child could move around in board-game fashion. Sooner or later, he will discover how to match colors and shapes."

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