So many parents worry about the amount of time their children spend on their laptops, iPads or mobile phones, but the good news is that some online games may be more constructive than you think. So its a resounding YES there are some benefits to your children, of playing online video games.
Benefits of Video Games for Your Kids
Lots of games are played with partners or opponents, they can develop friendships with each other. Not every game means isolation for your children.
Many online games are actually good for managing stress in a child. They can put the worries of the day behind them, and just relax for a short time, and enjoy some distraction.
Online games can enhance many skills in a child. Games like Hidden Objects, requires focus, concentration and observational skills. With this particular game, they player chooses an area, set up as maybe a garden, or a kitchen, and the player has to find hidden objects within the area. Once click of the mouse on the object and a friendly little ping, tells you that you’ve found it. The challenge part of the game is to complete it in a set time, and once you have logged your first score and time, thereafter you can play to beat that score. This has the added benefit of strengthening memory and critical thinking.
Another game which will help strengthen cognitive skills and spelling as well is Letter Scramble. In this game, letters drop onto the screen, and the challenge is to make as many words as you can from the letters. As you make each word, you click ‘submit’ and the scores add up. This game requires any level of spelling, as you could just find the words ‘and’ and ‘the’, or reach any level you are able to, so it’s suitable for any level of spelling skills. It will also enhance reading skills too.
But no matter how educational any online game is, any parent would be right to put some kind of time limit on screen time. It is widely felt that up to two hours of total screen time a day is acceptable. The hour or two before bedtime should definitely be ‘device’ free. The blue light emitted from screens, is well known to act as a brain stimulant, even in the calmest of children,…and indeed adults too!
Gaming can be an entertaining and enriching activity for your child, in moderation, and if you choose games wisely for your children, they can also be educational, stimulating and enhance many of their academic skills.
