Tabletop & Kids

[admiraldick]

Hi all,

As a parent and teacher, I've always held up gaming as an important educational tool as well as awesome fun. However, when searching for advice and support on the best ways of using gaming with youngsters, it has always been sporadic and limited. So I set up a Facebook group, so that people can discuss just that. Topics like: how to run a school club; the best games to play with your family; and just what age to start your kids in the hobby.

The group is open to all tabletop gaming, including board and card games and RPGs.

If that sounds like something that would interest you, or you have something you'd like to share search for Tabletop & Kids, or find us here

Thanks for looking,

Richard

[N.C.S.E]

As a young gamer (20 - began miniature wargaming at (bloody hell...) I guess I can provide some ideas.

My father used to do scale modelling. My first memory ever was him cutting his finger open doing a Revell Dr.1. I was about 2 and a half at that time. So, yeah, never too young! I was doing models under his supervision from when I was about that age. I've basically taken up the mantel at this point.

For the rest, I'm not so good with advice. Warhammer - specifically the Lord of the Rings stuff that came out in deagostini magazines, was all the rage at my primary school. A warhammer group (where basically all anyone did was create "terrain" out of polystyrene foam) ran for a while at lunch. Being only an hour, you couldn't "run" (remember, these are primary school kids (i.e. 9-11 or so) a game and any attempts usually ended when the bell went before a turn had been played! So, first lesson, make sure you've got time! Lunch time won't cut it.

The advice I've seen from elsewhere is to go for skirmish games and (especially for kids) make sure there's lots of character. The reason everyone went for Lord of the Rings was that the movies were coming (or had just come out) then and that was in everyone's mind. So something topical would do too. (I can see X-wing doing well, but I've never been into Star Wars or the game itself so can't comment.)

Perhaps painting (with figures you can afford to lose, remember, these are kids, I cringe every time I open my old Warhammer figures) as well, keep it cheap and cheerful, don't expect a mona lisa or anything. But if you've painted something you become invested in it.

Our area was pretty wealthy, these are kids with pretty rich parents. (To keep up I had to beg, borrow, busk and anything in between to keep up in the arms race - hint, I lost)

And don't be disheartened when they lose interest.

That's about all the two cents I can give.

 

[warlord frod]

Checked out your face book page and hit the button to join.

As an avid gamer I have always felt it was important to promote this great hobby. As a schoolteacher I have found the hobby is a great help to me as I use it in the classroom.  I have used a civil war game to teach my Jr. High History classes what it was like to fight brother against brother, friend against friend.  I have used my Roman Legions to tell the story of the rise of the Roman Empire. I have used “Chain mail” Jousting rules to increase my student’s interest in Medieval Europe.  Gaming and toy soldiers have sparked many a paper on Hannibal, World War II, Vietnam etc. I have used Role-playing to create a world where every room was locked with a history question and have had students beg to play after school.  I can honestly say I have successfully used my hobby to help students learn. 
   School clubs have long been considered a creative way to further student learning. A game club provides an excellent opportunity to develop student skills in a variety of areas. I have repeatedly demonstrated this in the schools where I have taught. I started game clubs in schools where I taught for grades 5-12. We have had as many as 20 members and met once a week.  When you consider the skills we use in gaming you can see why it can help young people become better students:
1.   Problem solving skills – how to over come an opponent, what will be the best strategy in a given situation, What forces can I bring to bear?
2.   Reading skills – Rules, charts, scenarios, not to mention background reading about a particular battle or time period.
3.   Math skills – figuring odds, estimating, measuring along with basic addition and subtraction.
4.   Research skills – Who where the Louisiana Tiger Zouaves? What did their uniform look like? What kind of elephants did Hannibal bring across the
Alps? The possibilities are endless.
5.   Creativity – Painting toy soldiers, building scenery, creating story lines for role-play just to name a few.
All this and good healthy social interaction! When you approach a school administration with these facts its hard for them to say no. I can tell you it can be done and it makes better students while promoting the hobby we all love

[werekake]

Thanks for that - be very interested to see what peoples' thoughts are on this from their own experiences, particularly the role of gaming in education. Socrates' argument, in Plato's The Republic, about educating and play:  ‘play’ can reveal student strengths and weaknesses, it can help students retain learning through engagement, and it encourages analysis, critical thinking and ‘limberness of mind’.

I've been involved in trying to get gaming recognised as a valid assessment tool for tertiary level education - in particular 'serious gaming' in some first-year courses at the uni I work at.  I know it's very different from school-ed, but I think there are some useful parallels.

One interesting article I came across a while back, relating to wargaming & education in particular:

https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/413220cd-a209-4447-bac2-af6cdaeabd4f/Why-Wargaming-Works