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Thread: How to Lead Childern to Boardgaming etc.

  1. #1

    Question How to Lead Childern to Boardgaming etc.

    Maybe you remember I have been promoted to double father in September (Veronika is 3.5 y/o, Michal 0.5 y/o) so I am expecting new partners for serious boardgaming in few...uhm...years. And because most of you already have experience with childern raising from the very begining to their own independent lifes I want to ask you about your advices. Have you any good practices how to "infect" them with love to boardgaming or aviation (or aviation history, naval history etc.)?

    We usually play Haba games for small childern or Carcassonne (but more as puzzle than as a game with points counting) now and I try to share my hobbies with them...but...well, I am interested in how others do/did this.

    @johnbiggles, @TataMichal, @Thunderbolt, what do you think?

  2. #2

    Default My daughter's boys - including "Hubby"

    Ages four, six and eight, at the time although the two older lads had been playing wings for a year already. So you maybe have a while to wait yet. The youngest provided the sound effects whenever there was some firing going on and all three really like to be involved. But recommend assistance from another adult, plus earplugs That and we only play once in a while, usually when the request comes from one of them.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  3. #3

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan-Sam View Post
    Have you any good practices how to "infect" them with love to boardgaming or aviation (or aviation history, naval history etc.)?
    In my experience you cannot choose what your children will be interested in. They are their own people and although they are likely to develop some interests similar to their parents, they may end up being inspired by something completely different. This is one of the joys of parenting. My advice would be to expose them to as many topics and activities as you can, then their passions will develop on their own. Also, let them see your passions - they will benefit from that and maybe follow you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan-Sam View Post
    We usually play Haba games for small childern or Carcassonne (but more as puzzle than as a game with points counting) now and I try to share my hobbies with them...but...well, I am interested in how others do/did this.
    There are lots of games aimed at young children. Here in the UK a popular brand is "Orchard Toys". Unfortunately most of them are very dull for adults... However you need to persevere through this phase and remember that the real point of the games is to train them to be able to take turns, cope with winning/losing, etc. This pays off when they are old enough to play more complex games. It also equips them to play games with each other (eventually) without adult supervision.

    We are a large family, four children are old enough to play Carcassonne now. Six player Carcassonne is good fun for all and good family time. The older two can play Wings of War, although only the oldest really has the patience to stick it out for a whole game. He enjoys the Biggles books, which means he already has some of the historical background.

    I suggest just sticking to what they can cope with. If something doesn't work, leave it for six months and come back to it. Better to wait until they are ready than to keep frustrating then with a game they cannot master.

  4. #4

    Default

    My son is now almost thirty. We homeschooled. Back in the day, he played some simple boardgames as kids do--Mousetrap and The Great Grape Escape (which involved smashing Play-Doh) were two favorites. I also worked at home as a web designer/developer, and he soon had a Mac snowball set up in my office where he played the Pajama Sam and Spyfox computer games alongside. My wife hasn't really forgiven me, but early on we also watched all of the Batman Animated Adventures. As he grew older, and in support of this, I took him regularly to the game store where we played HeroClix. Soon, I took him to a Havoc miniatures convention which thankfully featured a number of games tailored for kids. I'm sure we took in one of Teaticket's WoG games. It must have stuck, because in later years my wife and I came home to find him playing WoG with his friends at the kitchen table.

    His first love is still computer gaming, but we do play boardgames every month or two (Sekigahara for one). And he's once again playing HeroClix at the local game store, (though I am not). So he's a gamer. I can't claim credit, because I also made every effort to make him a reader, and that failed. Yes, he can read. No, he doesn't care to. Kids will follow their interests. If that includes gaming --terrific.

    Gotta get him back into a SPAD sometime soon.

  5. #5

    Default

    My kids weren’t really interested in board games growing up but since university they are all huge fans of board games...
    Ticket to Ride, Catan, Zombicide, Carcassonne etc. It’s great
    Last edited by Hedeby; 02-24-2023 at 10:44.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  6. #6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Spoonfrog View Post
    In my experience you cannot choose what your children will be interested in. They are their own people and although they are likely to develop some interests similar to their parents, they may end up being inspired by something completely different. This is one of the joys of parenting. My advice would be to expose them to as many topics and activities as you can, then their passions will develop on their own. Also, let them see your passions - they will benefit from that and maybe follow you...



    There are lots of games aimed at young children. Here in the UK a popular brand is "Orchard Toys". Unfortunately most of them are very dull for adults... However you need to persevere through this phase and remember that the real point of the games is to train them to be able to take turns, cope with winning/losing, etc. This pays off when they are old enough to play more complex games. It also equips them to play games with each other (eventually) without adult supervision.

    We are a large family, four children are old enough to play Carcassonne now. Six player Carcassonne is good fun for all and good family time. The older two can play Wings of War, although only the oldest really has the patience to stick it out for a whole game. He enjoys the Biggles books, which means he already has some of the historical background.

    I suggest just sticking to what they can cope with. If something doesn't work, leave it for six months and come back to it. Better to wait until they are ready than to keep frustrating then with a game they cannot master.
    This. So much this.

  7. #7

    Default

    Despite the fact that you cannot force children to like something, you can try to spark interest I have a 6-year son and we regularly play boardgames. And a couple of years ago he didn't even want to listen about it It was my fault, I pushed it too hard. Then I made a pause and waited.

    Before 4-5 years we played only simple HABA games. The first success we had was with Outfoxed! and SOS Dino. Now we play Mice and Mystics and have great success with it. The story in M&M is quite nice and looks fairy tale. We finished the base game and the first expansion. Now my son pushes me to paint miniatures from the next expansion asap so we can start playing

    My advice:
    - Do not push too hard and wait
    - In the beginning, play only cooperative games. Or make competitive games cooperative. For example, we played Ribbit as coop game, helping each other.
    - Don't hide your "big" boardgames from kids. Play when they are looking, it provokes interest. For example, we played Firefly: The Game with our son. He just rolled dice and moved a ship around the board (by his own rules).
    - Games with miniatures are preferable as kids like them

    You can find a lot of games for kids on boardgamegeek in the dedicated list.



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