🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop
- 🌍 Cultural Literacy — Traditional games and games from different cultures connect children to the broader human community — building the cultural awareness and global perspective that increasingly diverse classrooms require.
- 🔄 Turn-Taking & Patience — Games with clear turn-taking rules give children repeated practice waiting — one of the most challenging but important impulse-control skills preschoolers are developing — in a low-stakes, engaging context.
- 🏆 Sportsmanship — Experiencing winning and losing in a supportive environment — and practicing how to handle both graciously — builds the emotional resilience and social grace that competitive situations throughout life require.
- 🤝 Cooperation & Teamwork — Cooperative games where players work toward a shared goal develop the perspective-taking, communication, and mutual support skills that group work in school and throughout life require.
Hi there! I’m Charlene Haukom, the Preschool Games writer on PreschoolRock.com. As a child, I resisted growing up and as a grown-up, I strive to keep my inner child strong. Luckily, I was blessed with two wonderful children (daughter 4, son 1) who help immensely in that endeavor.
It also helps that I’m married to a great guy who doesn’t hesitate to throw on his silly shoes when playing with our children.
The best way to keep my inner child happy is to play games with the kids! And I’m not talking about store bought games with rules, regulations, and cardboard cut-outs; I mean simple, made-up games that can be played just about anytime, anywhere. Those are the games that my children seem to like the best. That’s not to say the cardboard cut-outs don’t have their place – we have fun playing those, too!
When I’m not busy playing games with my children, I write for them. It has long been a dream of mine to be a children’s writer, and I’m happy to say that I am finally gaining some momentum on that front. Though I have not yet been able to crack that tough market, I get closer to it each day. In the mean time, I’m happy to print out my “books” for my children to illustrate and we have fun reading them at story time.
I also enjoy crafting with my children. My daughter (4) is just old enough to take an interest in needle crafts (sewing, crochet, weaving, quilting, etc) and we’ve made some pretty darn interesting products. My daughter also introduced me to rubber stamping and I am now an independent contractor for The Angel Company. My son (1) enjoys stamping, too, but honestly, the thought of him anywhere near the ink pad is quite frightening!
I am very excited to be a part of this great network and hope you are able to find games that are fun for both your preschooler and you.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting all screens (including video games) to 1 hour per day for children ages 2–5. Simple, educational touchscreen games have minimal harm when time-limited; fast-paced, commercial, or violent video games are not appropriate for preschoolers at any screen time level. The best educational value comes from games that are interactive and challenge thinking — simple puzzles, matching, and story-based apps. Video games should not replace physical games or creative play for any preschooler.
3–5 well-chosen games that the family actually plays regularly is more valuable than a large collection gathering dust. Prioritize: one cooperative game, one game of chance (dice), one skill-based game, and one matching/memory game. Rotate games with library game programs if available — many public libraries now lend board games. A single game played 50 times delivers more developmental value than 50 games each played once.
