How to Create Game Night Goodness

Family time is that crucial time for family members to bond together over common experiences, events, and traditions. You can do this through a variety of events including family game night. Game night is one of those family experiences that create life long memories, as well as allow children to learn a variety of skill sets that will assist them as they get older.

Benefits of game night for the whole family

Family bonding

Family members are the first socialization and first friends siblings usually have. Playing games is a way to increase this bonding and memory making. Using game night, family members are able to do something everyone enjoys while spending quality time together.

Communication skill development

For games, rules have to be reviewed, understood, and followed for the best gaming experience. Communication of the rules is key as is all the players ability to communicate their intentions when it is their turn. Game night forces everyone to understand another person’s way of communicating, as well as causes your own communication methods to be improved.

Confidence

Games definitely create confidence when you are able to win, but what happens when you don’t? Confidence is still gained as you continue to learn more about how to strategize during the game and should even see your improvements while playing.

What can moms get out of game night

Create positive feelings toward family

Motherhood has its own challenges and sometimes you may not get the warm fuzzy feeling when you look at your family members. Maybe it was a challenging day. Maybe someone did not complete their assigned chores. What ever it is, games can be a wonderful way to get past those concerns. Play a game and have some laughs!

Switch up routine

Everyday is full of tasks that must be completed. A To-Do list that continues to fill up even as you check items off. Playing games creates another activity that is different from your usual routine. It adds some variation to what your normal tasks are and provides some stress relief from those tasks that go on and on.

Discover your children’s learning process

Different games focus on different ways to process information. This allows you to discover how your children learn through another avenue besides school. Do they do better with auditory information? Are they a visual learner? Can they grasp information better when they can do a task for themselves?

Why you should have a game night

• Work on challenging skills with your children– Games require a different sort of skill that is not like how your child would learn facts in school; however what they do learn during games will help them in school and with learning processes during other activities as well.
• Math skills– With certain games, this is a great pay off for games. I have met very few individuals who enjoy math. Like they seek out ways to do math everyday without being forced. Games help with the practical side of math and allow you to aid your children in learning some math concepts that can support them as they grow.
• Problem solving– Games help your children figure out things that may be challenging. It helps them work on the problem solving abilities while they are enjoying an activity.
• Sportsmanship – There have been many debates on everyone gets a participation trophy. But during my games nights, there is one winner and everyone else has to try again. This allows us to support each other’s victories and be happy for someone else who conquers something. Celebrating someone else is a wonderful skill for children AND adults to have developed.
• Create an event for family members to look forward to for fun– Who doesn’t want more relaxed, non-stressful family time? Game night allows for that with an activity that everyone can enjoy and be excited about.

Games for all ages

We start playing games at a young age in our home. You can too! As your children grow, classics are fun to introduce them to like Monopoly, Life, Uno, Battleship. But what about for those toddlers?

Games that are great for toddlers are Hi ho Cherry-O, Cootie, Chutes and Ladders, Jenga, matching memory games. Find out what your toddler likes and then research a game that supports those interests.

Resources

• Power of Play https://info.scholarschoice.ca/blog/home/5-research-based-reasons-why-family-game-nights-are-important
• Game night benefits and some game suggestions https://wnychildren.org/blog/family-game-night-benefits-game-play
• Why you should have a family game night https://karacarrero.com/why-start-family-game-night/

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Looking for something else to do during family time. Check out this post on Family Movie Nights.

Comment below and let me know what are your favorite games for an exciting game night. How often do you have game night at your house?

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I am not a doctor of mental health, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a counselor. I am a wife, mother of 3 children, and an entrepreneur who has numerous life experiences that I utilize to create blog posts, as well as personal research that I perform. Thank you for reading this post and share with others you know will benefit from this information!

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