You’d be surprised how many great benefits pretend play can have on our kids and how much it helps with their development. For example, if your child likes playing doctor, they might show a lot more empathy toward other kids. Or if they like playing with makeup, it could boost their self-esteem for when they reach their teenage years.
Bright Side believes that our kids are the future and that they should be exposed to as many positive things as possible, and that’s why we’d like to suggest some games that will be highly beneficial to your kids.
1. Pretend doctor could make your children more empathic.
Pretend play or make-believe play can be a great tool for brain development as well as social and cognitive development. It can help with a child’s social and language skills, improve their imagination, and broaden their knowledge of what the world is like. Playing pretend doctor is one of the many role-playing games our children can have fun with, and making sure their favorite doll or toy is healthy could help make them a lot more emphatic for when they are older.
Other benefits of pretend play include the development of:
- Creativity and imagination
- Better self-esteem
- Empathy
- Thinking skills
- Social skills
- Good mental health
- Language and communication skills
2. “Guess Who” helps kids develop logical thinking, and it teaches descriptive skills.
The game of Guess Who possesses many important educational benefits for our kids. Aside from the basic benefits from these games, such as taking turns, following rules, and sportsmanship, the game can also:
- Teach kids how to distinguish color
- Teach kids how to identify opposites, such as a “big mouth” and a “small mouth”
- Teach kids descriptive skills, like describing facial features and hair
- Improve articulation
- Develop logical thinking
3. Playing with makeup could boost your child’s self-esteem.
Playing with makeup could prove to be very important for your child’s self-esteem years later. Playing with makeup can contribute to a growth in confidence as your kid will feel included in what you’re doing, have fun partaking in an activity with their favorite person, get plenty of attention, and get praise for a job well done.
4. “Jenga” teaches our kids patience and can improve decision-making.
Jenga requires a lot of concentration, improves eye-hand coordination and decision-making, and the idea of the game is to teach our kids about patience. Not only that, but according to this study, Jenga is good for brain training and could promote and enhance cognitive performance.
5. Jigsaw puzzles can prevent cognitive aging.
Jigsaw puzzles are one of the best games to play with a kid — not only are they fun, but the activity can greatly influence cognitive abilities. They also reduce the chances of developing a mental illness, such as memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.
6. Chess will teach kids strategy and problem-solving.
Chess is another highly beneficial kids game. Of course, it requires a great deal of strategy, problem-solving, and critical thinking, but according to this study, it could also help with processing information much faster.
7. “Battleship” can enhance logical and critical thinking.
Battleship requires a lot of reasoning, critical thinking, and logic. You have to make a lot of choices, figure out where to shoot, keep track of your shots, and make decisions on where to place your next ones. All these benefits are the reason why this game is so great for kids.
8. “Scrabble” enriches kids’ vocabulary and can improve memory.
Scrabble enriches kids’ vocabulary, improves memory, and according to this study, those who play Scrabble a lot use a different part of their brain while making lexical decisions than those who don’t play it.
What are your favorite educational games to play with your kids? Please share them with us!
