Benefits of Learning Through Playing Games
Games for preschoolers aren’t just about having fun, although they can certainly provide lots of entertainment! It’s important to keep your kids playing because there are lots of other benefits to fun preschool games, including the skills they teach young kids. Here are just a few:
1. Play Helps Develop Social Skills
When kids engage in preschool games, they learn social skills like how to cooperate and communicate with each other, how to be patient and take turns, and how to resolve conflicts. These are great skills to have, especially for building friendships. Many games also help kids learn how to express themselves, with and without language, through play, storytelling, and art.
2. Play Develops Cognitive, Critical Thinking & Motor Skills
Almost all preschool classroom games challenge the way kids think or move. They help kids with critical thinking skills like attention, memory, control, and flexibility. And physical activity helps them work on both fine and gross motor skills like running and coloring, balance, and coordination. Even simple tasks can feel like games to kids, like playing with shapes or counting simple objects, but they’re learning and developing cognitive skills as they play.
3. Play Creates Confidence In Children
One of the best ways to build confidence is to take risks, and play gives young kids exactly that opportunity. As kids learn and experiment with new games, they realize that they have the ability to do things they never knew they could. They slowly build independence as they learn they can trust themselves, and not just adults, to make choices.
4. Play Inspires Creativity
Imaginative play helps kids develop their creativity. You can see this if they start using regular objects for pretend play or pretend to take on different roles, like a doctor or superhero or astronaut. When young kids use their imaginations, they’re revealing that they have the ability to create something new, which is a great step toward more sophisticated, innovative thinking.
7 Games for preschoolers
1. Duck, Duck, Goose
You might remember this preschool classroom game from your own childhood… but did you know that while you played, you were learning strategic thinking?
Kids sit in a circle and one kid walks around the outside, eventually picking another child to be “goose” and chase them around the circle. The strategy kids can pick up on is that if they choose a friend who isn’t paying attention, they have a better chance of making it safely around the circle without being caught.
2. Musical Chairs
This game might become frustrating for some kids, but that’s ok, because it teaches them how to cope with disappointment and communicate patiently with their friends.
Set up chairs in a circle, and make sure is one fewer chair than the number of kids playing. As you play music, kids will walk around the circle, and when the music stops, they all need to try to find a chair. Each round, one kid will be out, and this sometimes results in a little bit of natural conflict as kids learn to work out who sat on a chair first.
3. Red Light, Green Light
Need to help kids practice patience and resisting their impulses? This is the perfect fun preschool game!
One kid stands at the end of a large space and faces away from all the other kids lined up relatively far away from him. When he isn’t looking, the other kids can move toward him, as fast as they want to… but as soon as he turns around, they have to freeze or he’ll catch them and they’re out. Kids have to ask themselves questions like, “how fast can I run?” and “when can I start?” to prevent being caught.
4. Sleeping Lions
This game for preschoolers challenges them to ignore distractions and stay focused.
One kid walks around and tries to wake up all her friends, who are pretending to be sleeping lions. If they move, or laugh, or open their eyes, they’re out. The last one to ignore all the silly wake up attempts is the winner. It’s hard for young kids to focus this well, but it’s great practice for all the distractions they might face in different environments as they get older.
5. Memory/Concentration
Kids can play this game for Early Childhood Education by themselves or with a few others. It helps with attention and short-term memory.
The game can be played in a few different ways, but they all involve challenging kids to reveal hidden matches. Usually the game involves spreading out cards with matching pairs flipped over so they can’t be seen. Kids turn two cards over at a time until they find a pair. The goal is to match all the pairs, and kids need to pay attention and remember where previous cards were located to win.
6. Four Corners
This preschool game is great for lots of energetic players. It also helps develop social skills like listening and speaking.
Play by labeling four corners of a room with colors, shapes, or numbers, depending on current teaching goals. One kid is “it” and should be blindfolded. Then, all the other kids choose a corner to stand in. The kid who is “it” says the name of one of the corners, and all of the kids in that corner are now “out.” Kids choose new corners, and the game keeps going until only one kid is left and declared the winner.
7. mTiny
When you’re looking for early childhood education games, the ones that have survived for generations are great. But don’t forget that kids live in an increasingly digital world, and that experimenting with technology is just as fun and important. After all, technology and the skills that come with are part of your child’s future and can set them up for success. This is exactly why Makeblock made the mTiny, an early childhood education robot.
mTiny combines all the components of preschool classroom games, like creativity, confidence, social skills, and critical thinking into one learning system that’s perfect for the digital age. They learn to be problem-solvers and build their resilience and curiosity. It also provides the stimulation and engagement kids need to learn and feel challenged, and fosters an interest in math, English, music, and other subjects.
What is mTiny, Exactly?
It’s an adorable robot that comes with a tap pen controller, coding cards with easy symbols, a large puzzle map, and an instructional storybook. Kids learn the principles of coding with a robot designed just for them. Maybe one of the best parts is that even though mTiny uses technology, it’s completely screen free. No internet, no phones, no TV, no tablets; just an interactive robot with fun emotions and sound effects that kids can learn to control.
Why mTiny is Good for Early Childhood Education?
One of the foundations of mTiny’s design is to complement early childhood education learning goals. Kids practice linguistic skills like role-playing, interpersonal skills through parent-child activities, logical thinking through math and coding, and kinesthetic learning by completing puzzles. As kids work through age appropriate challenges, they feel like they’re playing another fun preschool game.
Makeblock’s mTiny is exactly what learning is all about: having fun. You can feel confident that your kid will learn both concepts and important skills while playing with this versatile robot, which offers the best in the world of preschool games.
Makeblock cares about your kids and what they learn, and we want them to have fun while they’re growing in mind and body. Visit our website to learn more.