Learning through play is an invaluable resource to help kids develop intangible skills, helping them in all facets of life. Using games in an educational way keeps kids motivated and interested and affords them the opportunity for independent learning where making mistakes is encouraged.
Kids are encouraged to develop their autonomous decision-making skills and get the opportunity to think logically while playing strategy board games. The element of fun masks the obvious learning opportunities that might put kids off of traditional learning methods, making risk games and the like a major resource.
Board games serve up a healthy dose of competition and no two games are ever the same. These games are entirely based on the individual decisions that players make so developing strategies and using logic is crucial on the road to victory. Logic and strategy will help kids tremendously with their mathematical skills, engineering proficiencies, problem-solving, and other left-brain dominant fields. They also help kids with creative thinking, reasoning, intuition, free-thinking, and other characteristics associated with the right brain.
Here are a few games to teach kids how to think strategically while having tons of fun along the way.
Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is the ultimate strategy board game for friends and family to play. Players must make moves to gain control of roads and build cities but also think ahead to predict which valuable resources they will need. The original game is aimed at players older than 10 but there is a fantastic Catan Junior game for players as young as 6 years old. Original Catan games have an average playing time of 60 minutes which also does wonders for kids’ concentration and attention span. This is an easy-to-understand strategy game that can be replayed dozens of times, each time teaching players a new strategy they can implement.
This classic social deduction game is a hit with all ages, often overlooked in the educational game sphere. But there are a lot of strategies involved in this game as players must use logic and memory to solve the mystery. The theme of murder might be a bit much for younger players so a game of “Clue Junior” or “Outfoxed!” might be better suited to their age group. All these games require a solid strategy to win as any player’s guess could be correct at any time. Creating a plan and sticking to it is your best chance of victory.
Strategy is quite literally the name of this game. The aim is to move your team across the battlefield and capture your opponent’s flag. Chess also had its origins as a battlefield game but the concepts might be a bit abstract for young players and the monochromatic playing field a bit boring for their overstimulated brains. Each player has 40 characters of different military ranks that they must move across the map and use to gain territory and capture the opponent’s pieces. Strategy is the only way to survive, thinking a few moves ahead to catch your opponent off guard.
Tic-tac-toe and Connect4 are amateur hour when it comes to children’s strategy games. Qwirkle takes it up a notch by combining shapes and colors on playing tiles. Players take turns to add blocks to the expanding grid by matching wither the shape or color of an adjacent block to ultimately complete a 6-tile pattern without repetitions. Players must think strategically on how to further their own game but also on how to block another player’s move. This can gain them points but also be detrimental to their own play if not executed carefully.
This is another battle game, where taking risks and forming a solid strategy will pay off in the long run. The game needs no introduction as it has been a staple at family games night since the late 50s. Risk Junior is a very new addition however and has introduced players as young as 5 to the world of strategy battle games. The age-appropriate version sees players sail the seven seas as swashbuckling pirates to try and gain control of as many islands as possible. Both versions are immensely popular with kids and families and have a high level of strategy and planning integrated into gameplay.
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