Introduce toddlers to board games

One of the great pleasures of the Holiday season is to sit down with the family around a board game. But how do you get 2 or 3 year old children to participate while respecting their pace and their sometimes limited concentration? Tips, advice and game suggestions.

Stephanie Morin
Press

Playing with the box

All the specialists interviewed agree: a game box and the material it contains are often enough to arouse children’s curiosity about board games. “Getting out and putting away the pieces of a game can mobilize a 2-year-old child and become playful,” says Catherine Dupuis, co-president of Amélio, Quebec publisher of educational games. “When you come up with a new game, you have to let the child unwrap it, let him fiddle with the material as he pleases. ”

“The kids are going to make things up with the material and that’s cool; they must be able to create in total freedom, without external judgment ”, also considers Caroline Makosza, general manager of Ludopolis, an NPO which organizes in particular games events in libraries, schools and early childhood centers.

Do not force anything

Simon Tobin is a doctor of psychology, father of four and founder of the Placote games. For him, one of the essential rules to promote the love of games in young children is to respect their rhythm. “You shouldn’t force a child to play. If play becomes a duty or chore, the child will no longer want to play or even try other games. ”

“At 2 or 3 years old, the main thing is to combine play with pleasure,” adds Joël Gagnon, publishing director at Randolph and father of two children. “The outcome of the game is irrelevant to children of this age. The important thing is to make them want to come back the next day. ”

She adds: “You don’t force a child to play by the rules until he asks to do so. At 2 or 3 years old, he does not necessarily have the maturity to follow the rules to the letter. He may need to create his own rules and it is very important that he can do so before an outside rule is imposed on him. You have to go with care, otherwise, the child will play to please us: it will be boring for him and he will be constrained in his creativity. Worse, if we insist on bringing him back to the rule too soon, he will tend to seek external validation to know if what he is doing is correct. It is possible that, by imitation, he is simply playing at playing. And that’s very good! ”

Go gradually

When the child feels ready to play, the worst mistake would be to knock him out with a bunch of rules, says Joël Gagnon. “You can start a game without any rules and just manipulation: roll the dice, move a pawn forward. Then, we establish a simple rule, then another. We all learn the game together, one rule at a time. ”

“The important thing is to respect the child’s rhythm,” says Catherine Dupuis. The child will naturally want to move on when he has mastered a rule. When he feels he is progressing, the child gains self-esteem and confidence. ”

However, she insists on the fact that, according to her, children must respect the rules of the game “to then better learn to respect the rules in society”.

“The board game allows children to develop a host of skills that can be useful to them at school. In particular, he exercises his concentration and memory, in addition to allowing him to manage his emotions by learning to win and lose. There is nothing more educational than playing with a child! », Adds Catherine Dupuis.

With regard to the duration of the games, Mr.^me Dupuis believes that it is not necessary to exceed 10 minutes to respect the concentration capacity of the 2 or 3 years.

Improvise

Caroline Makosza is categorical: “For a game to be effective, adults must have fun too. If he is bored, the child will feel it. How do you get there? By changing the rules, says Joël Gagnon. “When I find a boring game, I hide it from my kids or change the rules to make the games more fun!” For example, I find the memory games endless. So I decided that we left one tile visible on each turn. It is much faster! ”

Another pitfall in board games with the little ones: they are unable to stay put. Simon Tobin suggests adding instructions as needed to allow the children to move around during the game. “If we have a low table, we can also allow them to play standing up. ”

Make the game part of the routine

According to Joël Gagnon, the key to ensuring that children benefit from the many benefits of board games is to make them part of the family routine. As many parents already do with reading. “Play is as noble an activity as reading. There is a parallel between game and book. As with books, I suggest that parents change games often to stimulate the child. They can borrow it from the library, exchange it with other parents, buy it. No matter. What matters is to vary the pleasures! ”

Five games for 2 and 3 year olds

First orchard

Here, players team up to pluck the fruits from the trees before the crow eats them. To do this, they must roll a dice and manipulate pieces of wood (we salute the publisher Haba for the high quality of the material). A game which notably develops the recognition of colors and shapes.

For 1 to 4 players aged 2 and over. Duration: 10 minutes. Price: $ 30.

The color monster

To help the monster sort through the maelstrom of their emotions (and put each one in the right bottle), kids need to name things that make them sad, happy, calm, angry or scared them. A collaborative game from publisher Purple Brain that promotes discussion.

For 2 to 5 players aged 3 and over. Duration: 20 minutes. Price: $ 50.

Little cooperation

In Little Cooperation, from publisher Djeco, players must unite to help small animals return to their igloo. A perfect game for learning to wield the dice, move miniatures (cute!) And play as a team. Other games from the Little collection help improve the sense of observation, dexterity …

For 2 to 4 players aged 2 and a half and over. Duration: 10 minutes. Price: $ 30.

50+ ways to play

The principle of this collection imagined by the publisher Amélio: each box offers 50 different games articulated from a simple pack of cards (and sometimes tokens). The game can be as simple as the battle or the pond and become more complex over the variations. Several themes are offered, from human anatomy to means of transport.

From a player of 3 years and over. Duration: 15 minutes. Price: $ 30.

School of monsters

To graduate, monsters must adopt the right behaviors. For the children to decide whether or not each situation depicted on the cards is a good deed. A game to develop social skills (and to discuss it with the family), created by the Quebec publisher Placote.

For 2 to 4 players aged 3 and over. Duration: 15 to 30 minutes. Price: $ 40.