Jack Welch once said, “Before you become a leader, success is about building yourself. Once you become one, success is about growing others”.
The road to leadership and success comes through effective decision-making. But efficient decision-making skill takes time to come.
It’s a lifetime process that needs to be nurtured from an early age. Research says Decision making game for kids is the first step in helping your child learn decision-making skills.
So, without further ado, let’s get sporty and talk about these games.
13 Decision Making Games for Kids
1. Musical Chair
The musical chair is a great activity that helps children to make effective decisions by improving speed, balance, and coordination.
This is how you play the game:
- Gather 5 or more children in a space
- Set a couple of chairs beside one another in a straight line
- Play the music and make the children circle around the perimeter of the chair
- Stop the music after a while, and see who’s standing and who all are sitting
- The person standing will be out of the game
- Remove their chair and continue the game; the winner takes their final seat
The musical chair helps kids to think and make fast decisions. If a child cannot run and sit fast, they will lose.
Therefore, through the musical chair, your child’s motor skills increase and they can run, stand, sit, and crawl effectively.
Moreover, the musical chair also helps your child plan faster and in advance. While making towards the chair, children must decide where to sit, thus helping their decision-making process.
2. Naughts and Crosses
Naughts and crosses, popularly known as Tic Tac Toe, is a simple yet effective decision making game. Only two participants can play naughts and crosses at a time.
Here is how you can play the game:
- Draw a hash outline on a piece of paper or board. It will be your Tic Tac Toe board
- Assign naughts to one player and crosses to the other player
- Now, taking turns each player will mark 0 (naughts) or X (cross) on the board
- The player who makes a row (horizontal or vertical) with their assigned signs first wins the game
As simple as it may seem, naughts and crosses are among the most challenging games for kids. Children need concentration to find out how they can make their row before their opponent and win the match.
Thus, once children learn the techniques of this game, they develop logical and critical thinking, strategy skills, concentration, and focus.
3. Chess
Chess’s impact on children’s minds needs no introduction. It’s a great board game to improve decision-making skills. Every move you make in a chess game is decision-making.
Here are the basic rules of the game:
- Each player takes a turn to make one move
- Players cannot skip any turn. They must move their piece
- Each chess piece has a specific path and must be moved according to the game’s rule
Chess has several clinically proven benefits. Playing chess improves critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
When kids play the game, they have to make meaningful choices to make their move across the board. This activity helps children make quick decisions and learn from their mistakes, thus making them smart decision makers.
4. How the Story Goes
Here is you play the game:
- Write a story, with two alternate endings and offer them to your child
- Ask your child which end did they like and get to the ending
Or you can also choose different paths for the protagonist and ask your child to choose one path and complete the story.
It will help your child learn that there are choices, and they can choose what works best for their situation.
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Read Why Learn Hindi to find out.
5. Ant or Elephant
Ant or elephant is a unique game that builds your child’s reasoning and thinking skills. And just because the name’s ant or elephant, doesn’t mean you can’t use other animals as examples.
Here is what you have to do:
- Take pictures of two different animals with contrasting qualities
- Highlight each animal’s quality and ask your child to choose from one
After they choose their preferred animal, you can ask them questions like:
- What does your child like about their chosen animal?
- Would they rather be beautiful or intelligent?
Answering these questions will help the child state why they chose what they chose. And how would their choices affect their life and career?
6. Dominoes
Dominoes is an ideal game for preschool children. It helps kids to make tough decisions and teamwork.
Here are the rules of dominoes:
- Choose 4 players (a team of two each) and make them sit opposite each other
- Shuffle the dominoes and draw to select the team who would go first
- Make them draw 7 domino tiles each for themselves
- Place the first tile on the table and ask the kids to place any tile next to it
- Make the kids take turns building tiles on the board with tiles given to them. Ensure that the tile children plan on placing match with the one on board
If a child does not have a matching tile in their hand, they must pass the chance to the next player. Thus, making children learn that sometimes letting go is the wisest decision.
7. Pick Up Sticks
For this one, we have a good old-timer. Pick-up stick is a classic game, and you can use wooden sticks, straws, or twigs from the garden.
Here is how the game is played:
- Hold the sticks upright and straight in your fist on the floor
- Drop and let the sticks fall on the floor
- Make your kids take a turn and move one stick from the pile without moving any other stick
- Sticks lying on the surface are relatively easy to move. But sticks that are touching each other cannot be easily moved
- Kids who touch or move other sticks while moving their preferred ones would have to let go and give other players their turn
- The kid with the most sticks is the winner
Pick-up sticks games help children make careful and responsible decisions while playing the game. Therefore the game enhances students’ decision-making process and teaches them that situations that seem easy are difficult at times.
8. What’s for Dinner
Confused about tonight’s dinner? Ask your children what to cook, and let them decide.
- Ask your child to pick one ingredient for dinner. Ensure it’s not spice or condiment
- It can be a vegetable like a butternut or fish.
- Now cook dinner with assistance from your child. You can make grilled fish or butternut soup
The what’s-for-dinner game helps children make quick decisions in case of emergency. Thus, they assist your children in bringing forth the best result with the minimum available resources.
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9. Memory Game
Memory game is one of the best educational activities to teach kids. All you need is a set of picture cards with exact pairs.
Here is how you play the memory game?
- Keep the cards face down on a table
- Ask your kids to pick two random cards and turn to see what they are
- If they choose exact pairs, they can keep them. If not, they must put them back face down
- Ask your children to repeat their actions until every card matches
- The one with the most cards wins the game
The memory game helps your child make responsible decisions. For example, if they already know where one picture of an apple is and still start turning it again, it lowers their chances of winning.
Therefore helping your children make wise choices in the future and not repeat their mistakes.
10. Stuck on a Deserted Island
Stuck on a deserted island is the perfect game for older preschoolers. In this game, you present a scenario where they are stuck on an island.
This is how you play the game:
- Ask your children what things they would like to settle for
- If they choose their toys, ask them what they would eat to stay healthy and play with their toys
- If they choose phones or electronic devices, ask them where they would charge them
- Where will they sleep, and how will they protect themselves from danger?
Keep asking questions until they understand the difference between necessities and luxury.
This game will help your child differentiate between essential factors of their lives, thus helping them make wise decisions in later life.
11. Checkers
Checkers is a wonderful board game for children too young for chess. Checkers or English draughts has lesser fields and blocks compared to chess, thus making it easier to play.
Here is how the game is played:
- Choose the child who will have their first turn. Remind them that in checkers, only black checkers go first
- Set up the board with 32 light squares and 34 dark squares. Place the board in a way where the light-colored square is on the right side of each child
- Place the checkers on the black squares. Also, remind your kids that checkers only move in diagonal directions
- Time each child’s move and note it down to see who makes their move first.
Like chess, checkers also hone your kid’s cognitive skills. It makes them more attentive and helps them with rational decision making in the future.
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12. Role Play
Role plays are a great way to raise your child with a strong character. You have to write a skit for this game and make your children play various characters.
Here is how the game is played:
- You prepare a skit with two or more characters and impose challenges and solutions for these challenges
- Make your children enact these characters and experience the challenges and opportunities
Role plays help your child to put themselves in others’ shoes and experience their challenges.
Therefore your child can learn empathy, emotional learning, and courage to fight various ethical arguments, which are essential for decision making.
13. Monopoly
Monopoly is a popular game around the world. Research has proven Monopoly promotes higher-order thinking in children and helps them with higher knowledge retention.
So, playing this game can help your child learn about financial decisions, investment taxes, and more.
Here is the rule to play monopoly:
- An ideal monopoly game requires 3 to 5 players
- One of the players will be the banker and will be in charge of the accounts
- Set the board and pick a game piece
- Each player gets $1500 monopoly money from the banker
- Roll the dice and move your game piece
- Notice where you have landed and buy or rent a property
If your child is still a preschooler, you can play monopoly junior with them.
Here is a video on how to play monopoly junior:
FAQs
How can simple games help my child make significant decisions?
Games provide children with a structured way to make ethical choices and experience the consequences of those choices. Thus, they help children in effective decision making and negotiating.
Is 6 the best age for children to start playing decision making games?
3 is the correct age for your child to start playing decision making games. The earlier your child starts playing these games, the better for their cognitive development.
Can my older child play decision making games with my younger child?
Of course, they can. It will help your children gain perspective, understand how minds function and make unique decisions.
Other than games, how can I help my children hone their decision making games?
Besides games, books can help your child gain perspective, critical thinking, and decision-making skills. Make your child read as many books as you can. It will help them learn about umpteen characters, their challenges, and how they overcome them.
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Conclusion
Decision making games for kids are nutrition for their minds. The more a kid plays such games, the better they become at rational thinking.
So, help your child play these games and succeed as a young mind!