Games and Science

As I sit here this Sunday morning, Big and Little J are playing some of our favorite old games. It warms my heart to see family time, and Little J is also learning.

The biggest thing I see today is hypothesizing, or trying to guess what the opponent is going to do next. In the gaming world, this is called strategy, knowing different ways to move next depending on what you think your opponent might do. Ultimately, the person who can see the many different ways to play the game and respond positively to those moves wins. The best thing to do is start with easy games and point out the many ways you can play when it's your turn. It helps to get your kid thinking ahead.

Trouble
This has been J's favorite lately. In it, J learns about counting, 1-6. Well, he's been good at counting for a while, but actually moving his pieces without skipping spaces can be tricky for a little guy. He also learns a little bit about strategy, like moving a guy out when he rolls a 6 or moving someone to safety when Daddy's right on your tail.

Connect Four
This one is a little tough for J. It's tough for Mommy and Daddy too since we don't want to frustrate J. We bought Connect Four while we were dating to challenge each other. We both claimed to be really good at the game. Well, I claimed to be the Connect Four champ of my after school day care center, and Big J is just really good at any strategy game. Most of our Connect Four games in the household end up in a draw/tie, so we stopped playing each other. Anyways, this is a good game for pointing out the different ways your opponent can move and how to block them or prevent them from winning.

Here's an earlier post about Cooties.