Playing With Purpose: Candy Land

Top 5 Tips for Playing With Purpose With Candy Land

1. Many games require counting skills and Candy Land is no different.  You count the spaces you move, count the pieces you have left or the pieces you may need.  When you play Candy Land you can target counting by having your child count many things: how many spaces until they reach the castle, how many spaces are they ahead of mommy, or how many spaces do they get to move during their turn. Other math skills to target include adding points at the end of the game, sorting and matching pictures and game pieces, and sequencing skills.
2. Increasing social interaction is probably one of the most obvious skills we can help children learn when playing Candy Land or other games. I cannot think of a single board game you can play on your own, most for young children require 2-4 players. When your child is first learning to play games, it’s important to have an adult as one of the players. Adults can model good social skills for children and help facilitate the play. As your child gets older they can play Candy Land on their own with their friends. Once Candy Land begins and the kids start talking about the game, there are a variety of social cues they will learn.  These social cues include maintaining eye contact with others, understanding facial expressions, nonverbal gestures, and patience/waiting.
3. Children learn a lot about language and vocabulary by hearing it. They can learn a variety of words specific to each game and are introduced to new words and their meanings when you, as a parent, model use. Candy Land is a great game for helping your child learn their colors, but it can also be great to teach descriptive concepts and social-emotion vocabulary. I like using Candy Land to help children understand possessive pronouns. You can teach them to use my/your during the turns of the game.
4. Helping children learn to follow directions is another skill to address when playing Candy Land. In fact, each game we play with our children has its own set of rules and directions to follow. While playing different games, children are learning how, when, where and why you do certain things – which aid in critical thinking and problem-solving. They also will eventually learn the sequence of game play the more often they are exposed to it. In Candy Land, first, you pick up your card, next you count the number of squares to move and see your color, last you move your gingerbread man.
5.  Lastly, as I mentioned above, Candy Land is a great game to use as a reinforcer. I work with many children who need help producing their speech sounds correctly. It makes them more intelligible. One way we accomplish this is with repetition which can get a little boring. Playing games like Candy Land can relieve the monotony. Start by picking an interval, let’s say 5. The child practices 5 words and then they take a turn. This idea can be incorporated into any structured task you want your child to complete or during any kind of skill practice.

Does your child have a favorite game? Contact me to learn more about ways to increase Playing With Purpose while you engage together.