How Games and Gaming Benefit a Child's Development

How Games and Gaming Benefit a Child's Development

The world of games and gaming has never been bigger or more popular than it is today. Games, both board games and video games, play a huge part in our lives, and particularly the lives of children. Historically, there’s been a lot of panic and disinformation around the impact of games and children, but more recent research shows the positive impact games can have on children.

There are many examples of and lots of different ways in which video games are now seen as highly beneficial to children and their development. We’re going to take a closer look at those benefits today, so read on to find out more about them and why they’re so valuable.

Games and Creativity Often Go Hand in Hand

First of all, it’s clear that creativity and games can often go hand in hand. This is the classic case for why parents encourage their children to build things from Lego, for example. Being creative and exercising that creative part of the brain is important. And in games such as Minecraft or anything else that involves building, creating and creative thinking definitely helps kids to start using that part of their brain. In many cases, games and creativity go hand in hand.

They Can Help with Decision-Making and Organizational Skills

When your child is playing a game, they’re often forced to look at things in an analytical way and to think a few steps ahead. Maybe they have to organize their pieces and create a strategic approach that’ll pay off later. And they’ll always have to make decisions that’ll impact how they succeed at the game moving forward. This is how we know that decision-making skills and organizational skills can both be developed with the help of video games.

Gaining Insight and Understanding Complex Themes and Issues

Gaining insight and understanding complex issues can be difficult for children. But it’s something that many want and need to do as they get a little older and enter their teenage years. In recent times, one of the hot topics in the world of video games has centered around representation and how games represent members of society and different demographics. In addressing representation issues, games can change how kids see the world around them.

They Can Help to Develop Niche Interests

There are so many different niches when it comes to board games and video games. And an interest in a particular type of video games can lead to an interest that develops and grows outside of that game. For example, if a child loves a board game with a historical setting, they might start to take a greater interest in history. Or a child that enjoys a skateboarding game on their PS4 might start trying out skating in real life and use this as a way to be active.

Aiding with Solitary Play

Solitary play is often something that’s very important. As a child is developing, they need to find ways to entertain themselves and not always rely on external help from a parent to be entertained. That kind of independence is a huge part of growing up and it certainly shouldn't be overlooked. Whether it comes in the form of free online games, card games or video games, solitary play often comes in the form of play for the first time for many children.

Games Offer Encourage Teamwork

On the flip side, it’s not just solitary play that’s made possible and encouraged by games. Children often also learn to work well with others and develop their teamwork skills when they play video games. Games encourage children to form alliances and share skills in order to achieve common goals. And as any parent knows, these are very important skills and abilities for children to develop as they grow older. They’ll need to know how to work with others as they grow up, so learning those skills as early on as possible makes sense.

Games Can Offer Practice for Language and Communication

For many children, games can act as a great way to practice communication and even enhance their language skills. And I’m not just talking about Scrabble, although that certainly is a good example. When children are playing games with other people, they not only are forced to work in a team but they also have to work on their communication skills in order to get across their thoughts and ideas to the people that they’re playing with or playing against. And that’s a vital skill for young children to develop.

Competition is Healthy

Competition is healthy for kids and games offer them a way to experience that competition in a safe and productive way. Competitiveness might sometimes have to be kept in check if it goes too far, but for the vast majority of children, being able to compete with others and working to achieve goals is a positive thing to understand. Competing and competitiveness don’t have to be seen as bad traits and can often help people get ahead in life, and that’s why they’re skills worth having.

They Teach the Lessons of Losing

A big part of competing will inevitably be losing. None of us can win them all, and your child will learn the experience of losing and what it feels like when they play board games and video games. Understanding how to respond to the experience of losing and how to respond in a productive way is obviously going to be important and you should do your best to help them understand that being a good loser is a positive trait and one that’ll serve them well in many areas of their life moving forward.

It’s now clear to see the positive impact that games and video games can have on children of a multitude of ages. Of course, age restrictions and parental supervision remain as important as ever, but there’s no doubting the fact that games help children in their development and that’s what matters most.