Parenting, Board Games, and Social Distancing

As the world is experiencing a weird new normal for the foreseeable future, I am figuring out how to manage teaching online, taking care of my young kids, and taking care of myself. I had been thinking for a while about writing a post about board games and young children, and the current conditions have brought it to the forefront. I am still learning how to best introduce board games to my kids in a way that will not turn them off from the hobby, but I want to share some of my recent experiences and open the floor for suggestions or experiences others have had.

Fireball Island has been a major hit!

A couple years ago I started recommending to family members age-appropriate board games as Christmas gifts. Thanks to this we managed to get Monopoly, Jr., Mancala, and some small card games. I also took advantage of regular board game sales at Target to grab Hungry, Hungry Hippos and the vintage Star Wars: Escape from the Death Star game (one that I enjoyed and played to death when I was a kid). All of these were perfect from ages 4-6. The hardest thing to balance, as many parents probably can relate, is the amount of time spent playing the games with them. I love playing games, but I also have to say no sometimes for various reasons. As many parents also know, five-year-olds do not often take well to the answer no. I am still trying to figure out how to balance time spent playing games with appropriate reactions to the times when we cannot.

Fast forward to today and the potential of months worth of social distancing. I have been itching to get my 6-year-old into some more advanced games, but picking the right ones has been the biggest challenge. Age ranges on board games are often pretty accurate, but I had a couple that I thought I could stretch. Fireball Island has been a huge hit, and especially now that my son can read basic text, is a great option for kids aged 6+. A basic reading ability is definitely a must for this game because the movement cards require reading. He has even become so good at the base game that we added the first of several expansions. The second game that I just recently taught him is Santorini, which has a pretty straightforward gameplay but a much higher level of strategy. We can play this game pretty easily, but I often still give him tips and try to teach some strategy about planning his moves ahead.

My son can get the basic mechanics of Santorini, but it will take a longer time for him to develop the strategy.

Finally, I started teaching my son X-Wing miniatures last year. This could take an entire post, but there are plenty of others on the internet if you search a little. So far, we have only practiced with movement, actions, and combat. He is definitely not ready to learn upgrades, critical hits, and squad building yet, but we will get there.

My four year old daughter has also expressed a little interest in games, so I have her started on some basic memory games, dominoes, and Pretty, Pretty Princess.

What kind of games do you play with your young children? Any suggestions of good games to start advancing their game experience? Share your suggestions in the comments!