Archive for April, 2008
3 Fun Card Games to Enjoy With Your Family
3 Fun Card Games to Enjoy With Your Family
By: Dave Roth
Card games used to be very popular. Although they do not enjoy the same degree of popularity today, there are many people that still play them. Because of this, they teach these games to their families as well, allowing them to enjoy more card games and develop a pastime that they may enjoy for many years to come. Not everyone likes card games, and even those people who do like them might have some card games that they enjoy very much while finding others boring or too difficult. A lot of people play solitaire, for example, because they enjoy the strategy of the game and the peacefulness of it. For those that like to play card games with others, there are many different options. Here are 3 card games that can be enjoyed by the whole family:
One: Go Fish. This game is great for the entire family to play because even very young children can be taught the rules. By helping these children along and teaching them how to play the game, parents get to spend a lot of time with them and they also teach them about rules and sportsmanship.
Two: Gin Rummy. While a bit more complicated, the game is not that difficult. Very young children would need help to play this game, but older children would be able to play it, and keep track of the points that are scored for specific card sets at the end of each hand.
Three: Poker. For families that want a little more of a challenge, poker is a good game. Once the rules are mastered, this game teaches people about strategy. If the family wants to bet, they can use M&Ms instead of chips, or they can play for something inexpensive such as pennies. Gambling should not be encouraged in young children, but there is no harm in teaching the strategy of the game for fun.
By playing card games with their children, parents foster a good bond and also an understanding of how to work and share with others, as well as what it means to both win and lose gracefully and with tact. All of these things are valuable lessons that a person can used later in life as well.
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3 Fun Card Games to Enjoy With Your Family
3 Fun Card Games to Enjoy With Your FamilyBy: Dave Roth
Card games used to be very popular. Although they do not enjoy the same degree of popularity t...
Card Games You Used to Play
Card Games You Used to PlayBy Steve Miers
When I was growing up my sisters and I played games all the time. Now this was before the home video ...
Fun Brain Games to Play With the Family
Fun Brain Games to Play With the FamilyBy: Dave Roth
There are a lot of great games for families to play. Some people like to play outside when the we...
Fun Brain Games to Play With the Family
Fun Brain Games to Play With the FamilyBy: Dave Roth
There are a lot of great games for families to play. Some people like to play outside when the we...
Fun Brain Games to Play With the Family
Fun Brain Games to Play With the FamilyBy: Dave Roth
There are a lot of great games for families to play. Some people like to play outside when the we...
The Importance of Play
The Importance of Play
By: Judy Hansen
For children, play is naturally enjoyable. And since it is their active engagement in things that interest them, play should be child-led, or at least child-inspired, for it to remain relevant and meaningful to them. Children at play are happily lost in themselves; they are in their own realm of wonder, exploration, and adventure, pulling parents in at times with a frequent ?Let?s play, mom!? as an open invitation into that world.
As early as infancy, children immerse themselves in play activities with the purpose of making sense of the world around them. Play gives children the opportunity to learn and experience things themselves, which is vital for their development. Although peek-a-boo games seem pointless to adults, tots are awed by the surprise that awaits them as they see the suddenly emerging faces of people they love.
(Stages of Play)
During toddlerhood, children experience a motor-growth spurt that equips them to solitarily fiddle with anything they can get their hands on ? be it a construction toy or the box from where it came.
Toddlers also love breaking into song, wiggling and jiggling to tunes, and imitating finger plays they are commonly exposed to.
Preschoolers begin extending their play to involve others, whether they bring others in at any stage of their game or they plan their game and its players? way ahead. Their physical and motor skills allow them to widen their lay arena, from dramatic play to table games to outdoor pursuits.
School-age children start appreciating organized play ? such as innovated songs and rhymes, games with rules, relays and other physical activities, sports and projects that they can accomplish over a certain time frame.
Play Perks:
Why the big fuss about playing? Play benefits the child in ways that might be a tad difficult for adults to imagine.
1. Play brings pure and utter joy.
A toddler who jumps into an empty box and runs around the house ?driving a car? shows the sheer happiness that play brings him or her. When children are asked what they did in school and they answer ?play,? it is a clear sign that these kids remember a feeling of genuine joy that is captured in this four-letter word.
2. Play fosters socio-emotional learning.
What does a ten-month-old baby who shrieks at the sight of her stuffed toy have in common with a ten-year-old boy who plays basketball with his friends? They both deal with their confidence as they choose to embark on their play activities. At the same time, they are displaying their independence in the decisions that they make. These two children are also internalizing social rules in their respective play situations: the baby waits patiently for her stuffed toy to appear, while the school-age child has to contend with an impending loss in a ball game.
3. Play hones physical and motor development.
Play often involves the use of the senses, the body, and the extremities. When children play, they exercise their bodies for physical strength, fluidity of movement, balance and coordination.
Perceptual-motor ability, or the capacity to coordinate what you perceive with how you move, is an essential skill that preschoolers need to develop. A three-year-old who is engrossed in digging, scooping, and pouring sand into a container must match his or her perception of the space in front of him or her with actual hand movements, so that he or she can successfully fulfill the motor activity.
4. Play facilitates cognitive learning.
Play is vital to the intellectual development of a child. We live in a symbolic world in which people need to decode words, actions, and numbers.
For young children, symbols do not naturally mean anything because they are just arbitrary representations of actual objects. The role of play is for the child to understand better cognitive concepts in ways that are enjoyable, real, concrete, and meaningful to them. For instance, through play, a child is able to comprehend that the equation 3 + 2 = 5 means ?putting together? his toy cars by lining them up in his makeshift parking lot. When he combines 2 triangles to make a square during block play, or writes down his score is a bowling game, the child is displaying what he knows about shapes and numbers.
Through play, the child is constructing his or her worldview by constantly working and reworking his understanding of concepts.
5. Play enhances language development.
Toddlers who are still grappling with words need to be immersed in oral language so they can imitate what they hear. They benefit from songs and rhymes that provide the basis for understanding how language works.
When these tots are playing with toys, adults model to them how language is used to label objects or describe an event.
Children And The Importance Of Creative Play
Children And The Importance Of Creative PlayBy Abdul Hakeem
Without doubt it can be said that Play is a natural activity for a child and has gr...
The Importance Of Preschool Teachers
The Importance Of Preschool TeachersBy Michelle Bery
Preschool is an optional school experience designed for children at least two and a half y...
Sibling Relationships - The Importance and Benefits
Sibling Relationships - The Importance and BenefitsBy Shevach Pepper
In the last part of the 1990 s, many mental health professionals began to ...
Educational Toys And Games For Early Learning Among Children
Educational Toys And Games For Early Learning Among ChildrenBy Low Jeremy
Educational toys and games, when smartly guided and supervised by adu...
Why do Children Play
Why do Children PlayBy David J Gregory
Play is quite funny to adults because it is free of purpose. To play is to allow yourself the chance to ...
6. Play encourages creativity.
Barney the dinosaur was right about using imagination to make things happen. A lump of Play-Doh suddenly turns into spaghetti with meat sauce and cheese; a small towel transforms into a cape that completes a superhero?s wardrobe; and a tin can serves as a drum that accompanies an aspiring rock artist. Play opens an entire avenue for children to express themselves, show what they know and how they feel, and to create their own masterpieces.
7. Play provides bonding opportunities.
Play is an important factor in child development. It provides for interaction, experimentation, and moral development. Here are some ways by which parents can encourage and support their children?s playtime.
- Let your child be the player-leader. Let children initiate their activity, set their own theme, choose the parameters where the play will take place. Play becomes a venue for children to express their feelings and be in control.
- Help them help themselves. When your 5-year-old asks for help, say, figuring out how to piece a puzzle together, stop yourself from coming to her rescue and first ask your child questions that allow him or her to help himself or herself. Say, ?Where do you think this piece should go?? Afterward, commend his or her success.
- Play attention. Once you make a commitment to play with your child, watch for the following signals: Does he or she want you to actively play a part in the activity? Does he or she need encouragement? Is he or she tired or hungry? Does he or she need to take a break?
- Have a play plan. If you seem to have little time for playing with your child, consider using self-care chores to have fun with him or her. Also, get support from other people in your household, like older siblings, household help, or the child?s grandparents, so that they understand why play is important and how they should continue to encourage it.
Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/family/article_2742.shtml