Teaching Strategy With Board Games

Board games are great for strategies.

What is strategy?  Why should we know about the concept of strategies?  Who benefits from strategies?  Why should one know how to strategize?  These are important questions.  

According to Wikipedia, strategy is defined as: 

"a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal."

It is important for children to learn about strategies.  It is one of the most crucial of thinking skills necessary for our children to handle day to day problems.  I think being able to use plans to reach goals is a skill that can be taught indirectly.  That's why parents and teachers should provide materials, including games, for children to learn "while on the job."

This Tuesday, I blogged about Fluidity for the Wii gaming system.  Simple games like Connect 4 are easy enough for a six year-old.  Even using blocks and Legos allow a young child to figure out how to construct a house; the child gets to use their brain to accomplish a goal.

  

I believe board games are beneficial.

There is the Monopoly board game.  In the game, the player has to figure out how to buy all properties of one given color.  There are different levels of goals in Monopoly.  One always goes for the gold--the blue--because it yields the most money.  The possible plans to achieve the goal are endless.

How should one go about it?  Shall she buy all the properties she comes across?  Or shall she hold onto the money until she lands on the desired colors?  No matter what the plan, the goal is the same--to end up with the most money over all the opponents.

The implications are big!

Taking the time to provide games and other materials for our children is essential.  If a child can succeed at play, then he/she can succeed in other areas of life; that is what Steve Jobs, the creative genius of Apple products, used to say.  This child is better able to manage real money.  He can reach goals related to careers and jobs.  In short, he is equipped to handle the difficult, challenging situations in life, and that is what I desire for my own children.

 

Thanks for viewing this entry about using board games to teach strategy.  I hope I've given an idea of what can be used in the home school to teach strategy.

How about you, my readers?  For those of you who home school, what are you using to teach strategies?  Do you use board games?  I would recommend providing a pile of board games.  Children can learn how to plan for goals on their own.  We, as parents and teachers, don't always have to teach everything, including making goals, directly.  

 

I pray that God helps us all, whether we are homeschooling or are thinking of home schooling.  May God bless us all with His wisdom and peace, as we teach our children.

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