Board games reached their peak in the last century, but today, despite the onslaught from modern digital gadgets, they still find their mass consumer. Most often, they are acquired by parents who want to distract the child from dubious hobbies for virtual worlds and to interest him in real communication. With the right choice, a board game can captivate a child at the age of 8-10.
Benefit
Many people of the older generation are sincerely convinced that any games are purely child's play, not carrying any benefit other than the senseless "killing" of time. In fact, this is not at all the case, because the game, including the board game, plays some useful role in 99% of cases. If we talk about preschoolers, then almost any games that are available to them in terms of difficulty are useful for them.
Children aged 8-10 will not be able to learn something useful from the simplest games, but there are games for them that will allow them to say that the time was not spent in vain.
Actually, the main benefits of desktop entertainment can be divided into three main areas:
- Mental development and acquisition of new skills. At 8-10 years old, the child already knows quite a lot, but still he is still very far from the level of even a mediocre adult. The craving for knowledge, unfortunately, is not very common among today's youth, but it can be stimulated if information is presented in the game process - even what was perceived as a routine is suitable. If the game on the topic corresponds to what the child is really interested in, then you can be sure that he will be incredibly happy thanks to the gift received.
If we talk about expanding the circle of knowledge, then the most relevant will be various quizzes (always indicating the correct answers), as an option - games that force you to try on the role of an adult in an unusual situation.
In addition, board games can help develop logic, imagination, creative thinking, and even dexterity.
- Communication. This is not to say that modern technologies "kill" communication, because they, in a sense, on the contrary, expand its capabilities. However, there is a partial substitution of concepts, since in the process of virtual communication, a person, most often, does not see his interlocutor, and even has enough time to come up with a worthy answer. Often, a confident user of forums in life turns out to be a modest and shy person, unable to connect two words in an unfamiliar company, while success in life is usually achieved by those who do not go into their pockets for a word.
Actually, a person's ability to confidently stay in society is laid, rather, in adolescence, but it is possible and necessary to lay a decent foundation for this already now, at the age of 8-10. It is now that you can teach your baby to be the soul of the company, which will provide him with a lot of friends and just new acquaintances in the future, and also guarantee a good mood. Among other things, if you plan to play with your family, this will also contribute to the creation of an excellent intra-family atmosphere, which is also very important for the proper moral and psychological state of all its members.
- Counterbalance to gadgets. Psychologists and sociologists are sounding the alarm - virtual reality is irretrievably attracting more and more people, and the consequences of this trend can be dire. In recent years, parents have already managed to assess the full danger of this phenomenon and are trying to limit the time a child spends at a computer, with a tablet or phone. 8-10 years is the age when a child is perhaps most exposed to the influence of virtual possibilities.
The danger is aggravated by the fact that now he has gone to school, and right now he really needs a gadget, and it is almost impossible to control whether he really uses it only for business, and you cannot limit the kid only to study - such an attempt will only lead to psychological trauma ...
The only way out of this difficult situation is to interest the child in something that has nothing to do with electronic devices and a board game is probably the best solution in this situation.
Varieties
The set of games available for understanding for children 8-10 years old is wide enough that it is quite easy to get lost in it. The extent to which the child is interested in the game depends on the success of the choice, so it is advisable that before making a purchase, parents have a clear idea of what can be purchased at all.
That is why it is worth highlighting at least several groups of games that a child of this age will like:
- Psychological role-playing. A typical feature of this kind of games is that the players are divided into teams, but at least one of the teams has no idea who is with them and who is against them. So the point is to defeat the enemy without knowing who they are! The most striking example of this type of game is the famous "Mafia", but for children 8-10 years old it is still too difficult, and it is not recommended to play it at that age. On the other hand, the game "Gnomes-pests" possesses a somewhat similar concept, it is less complicated, involves fewer participants, and most importantly, it is perfectly suited for this age group, although the whole family can play it.
- Educational. This, in fact, includes any games that directly give the child some new information about the world. The simplest way to implement such an idea is any type of quiz or toys that clearly show certain processes, like Evolution. If we talk about well-known things, then one cannot fail to note, of course, "Monopoly", which provides the simplest business skills.
Many people fear that for 8-10 years old this game is too difficult, but in reality it is not - just small players will not build a mind-blowing strategy to achieve victory, but will rely more on luck.
- Communicative. The word game appeared long before board games became widespread, so it is not surprising that with the heyday of the latter, one or another version of it was bound to appear. Children, in principle, are very fond of games like "Activity" or "Alias", since they significantly complicate the original concept of the game - now you can't invent words yourself, they fall out, and they need to be explained temporarily, and even in different ways - from verbal descriptions to facial expressions, gestures and even drawings!
For playing with your family, this is probably not the best option, but for large teams it is exactly what you need.
- Games for the development of attention, agility and speed of reaction. Games of this kind give quite practical results in the form of the development of certain qualities that can be useful in life at any time. If we talk about dexterity, Jenga develops it perfectly - imagine a turret made of wooden cubes, from which players take turns pulling one at a time so that it does not crumble, and whoever makes a mistake loses.
Attention and responsiveness are trained by purposefully creating specific situations in which other players must respond as quickly as possible with a code word or action. A classic example of such a game could be the "Extra third" in the version with chairs, and in the table version there are dozens of concepts for implementing the idea. For example, Wild Jungle and Uno have gained particular popularity.
- Brain teaser. Such children's games are usually interesting for the boy, but not for the one who loves mobility. Board games that develop logic require tremendous perseverance, and usually do not have any vivid plot, but are still popular even among children. If we single out the best among this genre, then it is worth mentioning, perhaps, "Seth" and "Carcassonne". The first is literally a classic of the genre, it requires care and resourcefulness in order to figure out what may be common between different geometric shapes. Contrary to the allegedly uninteresting plot, the creators and numerous players claim that the game is addictive to people of any age.
As for Carcassonne, it is, in a sense, a strategy that involves building your own civilization and capturing someone else's, but the gameplay there is organized in such a way that it will be much more difficult to win without logical thinking.
Top 10 most played games
Any top, of course, is somewhat subjective - we tried to choose only really popular board games, but no one can say with certainty which ones were sold more, especially since the numbers probably change from year to year. It would be more correct to say that our top is 10 amazingly interesting board games that will almost certainly be enthusiastically perceived by children aged 8-10 years. So, here they are:
- Monopoly. A universally recognized hit that has not lost its insane popularity for almost a hundred years. It makes you feel like a rich businessman, and this requires not only luck, but at least a small amount of strategy. Plan how to spend your relatively small capital so that you can multiply it and ruin your opponents!
- Activity. The combination of throwing a dice and choosing a card blindly complicates the classical guessing of the hidden words, especially if the task needs to be drawn, but you cannot. That is why this game develops imagination, logic and ingenuity!
For children 8-10 years old, it is better to take a simplified children's version so that there are no too complicated concepts.
- Crocodile. Very similar to the previous game, which still has a "live", non-desktop version with the same name in its ancestors. The difference is that the task can be explained exclusively by gestures, and it can be a phrase or even a saying.
- Jenga. An extremely simple game in which there is no plot, but there is an amazing sense of excitement. This is a wooden implementation of the concept of drawing cards from a built house of cards, very conducive to the development of agility.
- Wild jungle. Another game, very simple in meaning, but for the speed of reaction. All participants lay out one card with pictures at the same time, if two of them have the same picture, they must be the first to grab the figurine on the table. The one who succeeded, he gives his open cards, and who gave everything - he won.
- Carcassonne. An excellent replacement for computer strategies, allowing you to build castles and monasteries, as well as roads. The winner is the one who builds the most powerful empire or completely defeats the enemy. This game is so popular that real world championships are even held on it!
- Train ticket. This game is somewhat reminiscent to the limit of complicated Chinese tic-tac-toe, because you need not only to prevent your opponents from walking, but also to lay your own routes, which are dictated by the received cards. An additional cognitive plus - the game takes place on a real map of a particular region.
- Timeline. History may seem like a boring science only to those who incorrectly approach its study, and this game will show you how to do it. You need to line up interesting dates like the invention of the French fries or the first bank robbery in the correct order.
- Dwarf pests. At first glance, all the players here are working together - playing for the gnomes, they are digging tunnels and looking for gold. However, as the game progresses, it becomes obvious that someone is actually playing deliberately against, and then the task of the whole company becomes to catch the pest, while the latter will try not to betray himself.
- Concept. Another game of explaining words and sayings, however, here the explanation is not even limited to gestures, but to the categories that are presented on the playing field. The game set includes about a thousand concepts, so it will not be easy to repeat yourself.
Tips for choosing
Choosing a board game, you probably want your child to like it and actively use it. To make this happen, follow these tips:
- Consider the age of the child. For an 8-10 year old kid, do not buy children's games for preschoolers, they are boring for him, but do not give teenage ones either - he will not be able to win in them yet, and therefore he will quickly throw a gift.
- Don't blindly follow the age guidelines on the box. The speed of development of children is different in each case - some are ahead of their age, others are lagging behind. When choosing, start from how many years you could give your baby, and not how old he really is.
- Give based on interests. The desire to develop certain skills, the same logic, is quite understandable, but an active child should not be presented with games like "Set", they are too boring for him. As well as vice versa - there are too active, noisy games, where a calm and balanced player is doomed to failure. In the end, don't forget about the entourage - girls and boys love completely different ties.
- Do you have someone to play with? Do not give games for a large company to singles, while a child surrounded by friends should not give something that everyone cannot play at once.
For information on how to play Monopoly and other board games, see the next video.
