Why games are so important in child development: Top 10 educational games

"What is our life? The game!", — said A. S. Pushkin through the mouth of Herman from the "Queen of Spades". The genius of the phrase is that it carries many meanings. And one of them is that we learn the world by playing, learn by playing and live by playing. It is about learning and development in the game that we will talk in our article.

Gaming activity as a way of knowing the worldFew people think that the game is the leading type of activity for a preschool child.

Almost everything he does can be called a game: he rolls a typewriter on a string, puts a doll to bed, squeezes a cat. But these classes are not just entertainment. 

They have a powerful influence on the development of the child, because play activity allows you to simulate a variety of life situations. In this cycle, personality formation takes place, social roles and behavioral models, ways of interacting with others are formed. Intelligence develops, memory, resourcefulness, imagination and skill are trained.

Read also: How to teach a child to read: 10 tips 

Playing, you can develop some useful skill, train your body, strengthen team spirit. The game brings people together, improves their strong-willed qualities, teaches them to find a common language and resolve conflicts, plan actions, set goals and achieve results. In the game, the child develops his emotional intelligence, learns to empathize, support others, cope with emotions. 

But at the same time, some adults consider children's games to be something useless, unnecessary, pampering. If adults do not play with the child themselves and do not allow him to regularly play with peers, it is not necessary to count on the formation of a healthy, full-fledged and comprehensively developed personality. 

What to play with: tips for choosing toysA child will always find something to play with, even in the absence of toys, educational aids, and game equipment.

A pair of clothespins, a ball of thread and a lid from a saucepan — with this modest set, a resourceful kid will come up with dozens of game situations: from mini-golf to a scene from The Wizard of Oz. The imagination of children is boundless!

However, it is much more fun to play with thematic educational toys, and the task of parents is to choose products that will meet several criteria:

✓ The interests of the child. Yes, they change. Therefore, do not be surprised that Winx suddenly went out of fashion, and beyblades are a passed stage. Be prepared for the transience of the baby's preferences and before buying, be interested in what he would like this time. 

✓ Quality. With toys, just the situation where saving is only to the detriment. Cheap fakes made of fragile plastic are short-lived, quickly fail, have limited functionality compared to the original models. Here the phrase of V. I. Lenin is quite true: "It is better less, yes it is better."

✓ Developing component. Pay attention to two types of goods: educational toys (mosaics, sorters, musical instruments, role-playing sets, finger theater) and game equipment (balls, jump ropes, rackets, basketball rings, skittles, hoops). When choosing, keep in mind that all these products are used in different directions of development, and start from the needs of your child.

10 types of games for children's developmentWe have compiled a selection of 10 types of gaming activities.

All of them develop certain skills, while they are quite simple, suitable for children of different ages, as well as for joint games with parents. 

1. Games for the development of fine motor skills.✓ Invite your child to make a plasticine figurine of an animal or cartoon character.

And then play a scene with him, speaking dialogues on behalf of the figures. 

✓ Take a cloth bag and put a few small items there. Ask the child to guess what kind of object it is without taking it out of the bag.

✓ Finger drawings — while the brush is still uncertainly held in the hands, you can use your fingers. The drawings will turn out no less beautiful.

2. Games with household items. Place 4 chairs in the center of the room at a distance of about a meter from each other and cover them with a blanket — you will get a hut.

And then it all depends on the imagination. You can arrange a military base in it or play out the plot of "Mittens". For the interior of the hut, use large pillows — soft sofas, which will comfortably accommodate the guests of the dinner party. A stack of books will serve as a table.

✓ Everyone's favorite game "Hot and cold" with the search for objects. You need to find all the "treasures" hidden in the most unexpected places (a slipper, a rolling pin, a remote control, a glass) and get a prize. 

✓ Invite your child to collect all the pots in the kitchen and arrange them by volume, height, color. 

3. Active games for physical development.✓ Teach your child to jump rope, play "The sea is worried once...", perform complex exercises.

✓ If there is a ball, there are even more options for games: football, basketball, volleyball, "Bouncers", "Edible-inedible". 

✓ Arrange a running competition: for short or long distances, with obstacles, with a long jump, etc.

4. Games for the development of logic.✓ Group several items by one attribute, add an extra item to them and ask the child to identify it. 

✓ Draw yourself or find a complex pattern on the Internet and invite your child to repeat its contours on a piece of paper, and then color it at his discretion.

✓ Play an analog of the game "To the cities" with simplification according to age. Instead of cities, you can name any objects, animals, people.

✓ Riddles, puzzles, charades — they all train logic perfectly. 

5. Collective games.✓ If there are an even number of children, divide them into 2 teams.

Give the task and mark the time. The team that will cope faster won. If there are an odd number of players, choose a judge who will monitor the correctness of the tasks. 

✓ Hand out crayons to the children and ask them to draw a general picture, but so that each child is engaged in a separate element: for example, to depict a bouquet, assigning each "artist" a flower. 

✓ Arrange a competition for cakes in the sandbox: the authors of the smoothest and most beautiful ones win.

6. Pair games for the development of communication skills.✓ You can learn how to interact with each other with the help of sports games: two children will have a great time playing table and lawn tennis, badminton.

✓ Classics is a mobile game that can be played by several players. At least two. Here communication is based on the spirit of rivalry, and you also need to monitor whether the second player has violated the order of passage of the cells.

✓ "Sea Battle" is a unique game where you can spend a couple of hours and not get bored. Suitable for children from 5 years old.

7. Intellectual games.✓ Chess, checkers, backgammon, go, Sudoku, crosswords and crosswords are the best "simulators" of intelligence at any age. 

✓ "Scrabble", "Lotto", "Monopoly" are the most famous board games. They are interesting to play for both children and adults. 

✓ Group intelligence competitions like "What? Where? When?" or "Brain-ring" will help to assess the level of erudition among middle and high school students. But you can start playing these games much earlier by selecting questions of the appropriate level of difficulty. 

8. Games that develop imagination. A puppet theater without a prepared script is an excellent test of creativity and ingenuity.

Sometimes such performances are like a farce — it is impossible to refrain from laughing.

✓ You can also demonstrate your acting skills in the game "Crocodile", which is beloved by many. If there are a lot of children, you can create 2 teams. It is easy to warm up interest in the game with the help of impossible tasks — to guess words to rivals that are simply impossible to portray.

✓ "Kalyaki-malaki" — draw some kind of squiggle on the album sheet, your opponent should turn this kalyaka-malaka into a drawing with the help of minimal refinement. The one who thinks less about the alteration will win — the opponent is counting down the time. 

9. Games for the development of social roles.✓ Take the food out of the refrigerator and set up a real supermarket in the kitchen.

Let the child arrange the goods on the shelves, attach price tags, equip the cash register. Instead of money, you can use nuts, sweets.

✓ The favorite game of all girls in the world — "Daughters-mothers" — may be interesting for boys as well. Let the child play the role of the father of the family: how he works a lot, comes home tired, repairs the shelf and helps to take care of the baby-baby.

✓ Arrange a real masquerade without waiting for Halloween or New Year. Let the children change into any characters, not only fictional, but also from real life. Perhaps someone will want to play the role of a doctor, and someone will portray his mother - it's fun!

10. Detective educational games.✓ It's not funny, but "Hide and Seek" is, though the simplest, but still a detective game, not devoid of intrigue.

Players can hide in the most unexpected places — the harder it is to find them, the more interesting it is. 

✓ Mafia is popular among teenagers — a psychological turn-based game with a detective plot. For it, you will need a deck of special cards.

✓ All kinds of quests are popular fun for modern children. And it is not necessary to visit the quest room for this. Think over the scenario, write tasks and arrange them according to control points. And don't forget about the prize that should be waiting for the players who have completed the quest. 

*****

If you ask any child what games he likes the most, you will surely hear the answer — those that his parents play with him. In the game, we not only spend time with our children, but also get to know them and give them the opportunity to get to know themselves better, show an example, teach them to think and make decisions. 

Later, when the children grow up, the memories of the time spent together will cause a rush of warm emotions and cheer up. Therefore, find time to play with your children, it's worth it!