All of us have to start gaming somewhere right? We all played CandyLand or Monopoly or Munchkin. Sure some of us may have had Catan or Carcassonne as the first board game we ever played but who of us could truly escape where games started, as children’s games. However, if you are playing with a child that enjoys board games how do you progress them to the types of games you ultimately enjoy. There are a lot of resources out there but many of them focus on the games, which I have seen being very hit and miss. Instead I want to share what I tried to do, how it worked and what I learned throughout this experience.
The (hopefully) obvious disclaimer
I really hope I don’t need to say it and you don’t need to read it but not all kids will want to play board games like their parents or siblings or friends. Children’s likes and dislikes change on a whim and it is important to only pursue this enjoyment if it is bringing them some level of enjoyment. There were periods of many months in all of this where my child didn’t want to touch a board game and others where they wanted to play every day. At best I would occasionally suggest playing something and see the reaction. Do not force this on any children and remember that games are supposed to be fun, and if that stops being true then it is often better to just stop the push.
The two dimensions of game learning.
There are actually two dimensions to what kind of game you can learn. The first is what I will call “ability” which is the skills that the child has learned so far and what kind of games they meaningfully participate in. There are effectively 4 ability gates that I will discuss below, these are generally applicable to children but I recognize that there may be more varied gates depending on your child’s needs but I do not feel qualified here to discuss this. The second dimension of game learning is depth. Depth is the ability to comprehend more complex rule sets and internalize a larger number of rules and conditions better, it also has to do with how much time and attention a child would be willing to devote to a board game. Often when adults enter the board games space they have access to all their abilities but usually start at a relatively shallow depth and while ability is guided by growth milestones for children, depth is often only guided by their interest and enthusiasm for the hobby.
It’s their turn!
So you have a 2 year old, or even a 3 year old and a budding board game collection. At this point you can only teach the most basic of concepts for board games and that is turn taking. This is really the only skill that you are really working on at this time though often it is paired with some number or colour recognition. At this point you have the most simple games available to you and what I found worked quite well is the HABA “First” Series, personally I had the most success with First Orchard or Go Away Monster. Mostly the point of this is for the child to learn that you have to be OK with it being your turn and then it not being your turn even though the same actions are done ever and over again.
It’s their choice!
Once you have the turn taking down, we get to what most of us look for in games, CHOICES! Now you want to start from a small list of choices or constrained choices. Something like Monza where there is still significant luck but also some choices that may be more or less optimal. Let them figure out what they can do even if they aren’t doing “the best move”, its important to grant that freedom. If your child has good dexterity at this point this is where some simple games like Jenga or Rhino Hero or Toc Toc Woodman. Games where there is choice but not necessarily a large amount of it. If your child is a bit older giving them a game where they can lie a little is also helpful. I find that Cockroach Poker is the best-in-class for children in this game as each action is a single statement.
Numbers!
Next up is our favourite part of board games… MATH! To move on to the next set of games you would want to are games that require math in increasing amounts. First is the obvious counting, into adding and multiplying as necessary. Keep it on the simple side first but things like Monopoly (ideally the Gamer variants), or Can’t Stop. Alternatively some simpler co-op games like Pandemic: The Cure, where you might have to help out with some reading but they should figure it out from the pictures and what they can do. In some cases this is also where you want the kids to start adding up score at the end of the games (or at east all the sub sections of the score like in cases of That’s Pretty Clever)
The Final Step!
Last but certainly not least, is the step that you have been doing since the start of this blog post. Reading! Words are hard, and reading random coded words that mean something within a board game is also weird. Board games use language in a strange way. You see a sentence like “Spend 2 ⚡ to advance 2📈” and it actually means something! Add to this that many games use unintuitive iconography and language that could be confusing to even some older children. It is hard to really recommend a game for this stage because once you hit this point the amount of depth they are willing to accept is the limit. Anything from Fluxx to Food Chain Magnate work at this stage if your child is interested and can handle the run time of the game. At this point preference is key.
Final Thoughts
Gaming with children can be a fun and rewarding experience. As always I recommend it is handled like all other kids tasks, with a focus on the child needs and wants rather than your own. Would we all like to raise small versions of us that would always be available to play whatever board games we happen to be craving at this point?
If you are lucky to have some kids grow into that, then great for you! I wish you all the best with your loving family game group. But, realistically we just want to share our hobby with others and make them happy. Because isn’t that just the Game Daddy way?