Parenting Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for parents, grandparents, nannies and others with a parenting role. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I have a few younger nephews that enjoy playing board games. Some obey the rules and actually want to play the real game but some younger ones just want to play "their own game". I know that teaching a kid too young simply won't work but what age is the norm for converting the kids over?
Age = 3 Board games = candy land, hi ho cheerios, chutes and ladders, some little catch the fish game
Thanks for the added info!
You've selected great games for 3 year olds. I'd quietly point out that the rules of the game make it more fun to learn. I've found that really little guys like this feel like 'losers' and will do much to prevent being the loser. I am not about to suggest no competition. BTDT and it's not good. I used 1st Winner, 2nd Winner (and so on) and allowed each child to finish if they chose to.
Also in general, if you make a mistake like dropping something, break something by mistake or lose a game -- point it out. "Opps! Will someone help me clean up the mess I made?" or, "Oh well, good for you, your are the 1st Winner!" Laugh about it, don't be mad and model how you hope these children will learn to play. Being a 'good sport' and trying our best are learned.
What a great opportunity to teach communication and compromise.
I would separate the kids into those who want to play by the rules and those who want to create their own game. Or play with official rules one time then made up rules next time. Who cares as long as everyone is having fun. I think saying "We will only ever play this game by the rules as written" is a great way to discourage creativity and turn kids off entirely.
If you play a boardgame, or any game with them you should always enforce the rules. You can make then easier if you have the feeling, that some rules are to complicated or simply are bad rules all together, but do it under agreement of all that are participating. It is important that children learn early, that they have to cope with other people and that includes rules and agreements, and there is no age limit of this, even if the younger ones won't get it from the beginning, they will learn how this works relatively soon. And if you are not sure, if a game would be too complex for the smallest, you can look at the age recommendation and you can see within their reactions if they are overwhelmed by the game. In both cases, better don't play than play nonsense.
