How Games Hone Essential Skills

Games are an integral part of our lives and has been so, since mankind began to throw stones.

Right from childhood, games have been unique for entertaining and amazing us. Yet, have you for a moment considered that they also help to hone (sharpen) essential skills?

You may wonder, how do they do that? The following children games show the skills that can be derived.

Early Children’s’ Games

Hide & Seek – hones hunting skills
Cowboys & Indians – teaches the rules of strategy and fair play
Hopscotch – builds muscles and dexterity
Jacks – teaches thinking and manual dexterity
Team sports – teaches teamwork, strategy, and physical prowess

In the olden days, games were very physical, which was required for children of that period so as to prepare them for adult life.

At that time, life was much more physically demanding than it is now. Although, children played non-physical games also, like cards and board games to learn thinking skills.

However, these days, many of those games have been replaced by video games, for teaching not only hand-eye coordination but also computer use, strategy, and teamwork.

Granted, the main focus in gaming these days is on computer games like those played on PlayStation and Xbox or even on smartphones, tablets, and computers.

Irrespective, children need to be preparing for the world of adulthood and its high-tech demands.

Here is a popular games that stood the test of time, still being played till now.

Chess

The challenging and strategic game of ages, which has been around for almost 1500 years.

It’s popularly know as chess, the game that teaches players, young and old, about a number of important things, including, but not limited to:

Patience – As you play the game, you learn how to wait for your opponent to move. You also learn to wait as you think about your moves for extended periods.
Concentration – It takes mental discipline to keep your mind on the game while planning your moves. A mental picture of possibilities which comes with changes in the board layout can lead to concentration.
Strategic Thinking – You learn to consider the different abilities of pieces, how they relate to each other, along with their areas of influence.
Recognizing Consequences – Every move you make changes the parameters of the board, the strategy, and the life of the game. And every move you make will be met with another move by your opponent. These are the consequences.
Imagination – Pictures are drawn in mind before a move is made. In addition, you have to picture what your opponent can do in response, and also, what you can do to counter that.

Games can simply be tools to train us for more serious aspects of life, and at the same time, instruments for our ruin. It’s up to our goals and objectives.

As games are scintillating by nature, they can lead children to addiction, in which situation, they would not be as productive as they ought to be.

The last is that to forestall the unwanted innuendo of wasting time, align the intent of games to skills development.