Turn Taking

I took a  break today from planning and prepping to play a game with a couple of our kiddos that are practicing turn-taking. We played a Smurfs game that is similar to CandyLand. The premise is that you are trying to make it to the finish line first and get there by selecting cards that show you what colour of square to move to next.

 The game went really well. We each took turns selecting a card and moving our little Smurf the to the appropriate spot. There were some moments at the beginning when little hands had to be reminded to "only flip over one card," or "pick the card on the top of the pile." There were also a couple of opportunities when a little help was required to figure out which blue square was the next one. But in the end everyone got the idea and was able to play pretty independently!
I won, and in my 25 years of board game experience did so with class, but my little friends did an incredible job losing. That seems like a weird comment to make but it is important for our kids, especially the ones that understand the concept of success, to learn how to cope with losing. I got two happy high fives and a "Wow! Claire, you win!" The best prize was being able to see these two peanuts learn as the game went on, they all always impress me with their skills.