How Does Playing Scrabble Help My Child?

Do you remember the long holiday afternoons that were spent playing board games with your cousins and friends, when you were a child? Board-games are not just fun but can aid your child’s mental development. And what’s better than a game that is not just entertaining, but does wonder for your child’s vocabulary– Scrabble! It is a great way to get your child interested in the English language and learn words that are used in everyday conversations. Read on to find out how your child will benefit from playing Scrabble.

What Is Scrabble?

A common household favorite with children and adults alike, Scrabble was invented in 1938 by an American architect called Alfred Mosher Butts. It is an indoor board game that encourages both competitive and cooperative play. It can be played by 2 or 4 players. Here’s a quick know things of the game.

How Does Playing Scrabble Help My Child?

Besides being great fun, playing Scrabble comes with several advantages, especially for children. Our education expert Swapna Nair, shares more insights on the benefits of introducing scrabble to your child. 

Why Scrabble Is A Family Game?

Scrabble is a game for children, parents and grandparents alike. There’s no age limit on fun and creativity, right? Get together with other parents in the neighborhood and organize a board game evening for the children. You’ll be surprised at how competitive things can get when children get together to play! Children play to have fun, so make sure you keep it light and entertaining.

Players have to score points by placing one tile (that has a letter printed on it) at a time on a board made up of 15x15 grids of the square.

The tiles must, when read, form words either left to right or in columns. Each tile has a “score” value, with a number printed on it. The objective is to form “accepted” words, and the rules are many. But once your child gets a hang of it, there’s no stopping him.

Benefits of Playing Scrabble for Your Child

Read on to know why your child should pick up this competitive game sooner rather than later. Here’s how Scrabble can help with your child’s development -

1. Memory training and cognitive skills: Playing Scrabble can strengthen your child’s memory, and her ability to recall. It also improves one of the most essential cognitive skills – problem-solving, as the relevant parts of the brain are being used extensively. Basic Math skills can improve by adding up scores, and calculating points.
2. Vocabulary Building: Your child will learn not just commonly used everyday words, but he can use a dictionary to find meanings of several ‘difficult’ words, too. By playing the game regularly, his vocabulary improves over time
3. Quick response time: You will observe that once your child begins to play this game, her response time improves. You will see these in little things every day, such as spending less time searching for misplaced books or pencils
4. Fun and play: It is an ideal game with which to unwind and relax. This is because when you come up with accepted words like PHIZ, QUIFF, and MEZQUIT, your child is sure to double up with laughter
5. Family time: Board games guarantee to bond. You may not be able to have all your meals together on most days, but you could allocate a time to hang out on the weekends playing Scrabble. You are bonding as a family, laughing, building trust and sportsmanship, and love. And nothing works better at busting stress than love and laughter!
6. Building immunity: The family that has fun together stays healthier too. Laughter and love release chemicals that reduce stress and negativity. So, in turn, you are helping in strengthening your child’s immune system
7. Mental development: Playing a board game like Scrabble can help children develop reasoning skills and creative thinking. It can help improve concentration span and focus, too, since it enhances spatial reasoning
8. Occupational therapy: This board game needs motor skills and dexterity to work the tiles. So, it is a fine form of occupational therapy for children with special needs and for those recovering from accidents

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, dust off that Scrabble board and enjoy yourselves. You’re soon going to have a wordsmith on your hands! Are you an avid Scrabble player, or are you hooked to a completely different board game? Do you and your children play together? Let us know in the comments below!