Do you sometimes play a game with your child at home?
What kind of game do you play?
When I was in the toddler room and preschooler room, I could sometimes see some children who struggled with losing after doing a game with peers.
Losing is not fun for everybody, but not everybody reacts to losing with crying, anger or other undesirable behaviours. The reaction to losing is related to self-regulation skills, practice, self-worth and a mindset about life.
Losing a game and dealing with that losing is something that young children need to experience and learn to live their lives in this world. We are gonna live our lives with a growth mindset but we can’t be the best at everything and not lose at anything. Our children will experience losing and failures here and there while growing up and what we want for our children is being able to cope with the unhappy experiences and moving forward despite of hard feelings.
Do we need to give an opportunity to our preschoolers to be in a competition-like environment? I would say yes but it has to be age-appropriate because too many or too big failures can destroy self-confidence in young children who are still in the process of growing.
So today, I want to introduce a simple game that you can do with your preschooler to teach how to cope with losing and move forward with a growth mindset.
Preschool Game with Paper Chips
Game #1
Materials
- Construction papers (2 different colours)
- Glue
- Scissors
- Music
How To
Glue two construction papers in different colours together.
Cut them into small squares.
Two people are needed for this game. Choose your colour.
What you need to do is flipping the paper chips until one song is ended. The person who has more chips of her/his colour wins.
(Both colours start with the same number of chips.)
(When the song ends, everybody stops flipping and count the number of chips for each colour.)
You can repeat the game with different songs.
If only one person is winning (😦🫣), try a different game.(😉)
Game #2
Materials
- Construction papers (2 different colours)
- Scissors
- Painter’s tape
How To
Cut 2 different colours of construction papers into small squares.
Sit across from each other. (You and your child)
Draw a line by putting a long strip of painter’s tape in the middle.
(If you think your child can be a little wild during the game, you can make a big box with the tape, like a soccer court, to give boundaries.)
At the beginning, put all the paper chips on the middle line.
Play a song.
Using only one finger, move the paper chips to the other person’s side.
When the song ends, count how many paper chips are on each person’s side. The person who has less paper chips wins.
Game #3
Materials
- Construction papers (in different colours)
- Scissors
- Baskets/bowls
How To
Cut the construction papers in square/circle/whatever shape you want. (You can use the paper chips made from Game #1 & 2 if you want.)
Sprinkle the paper chips around the room.
Play a song.
Move around the room and collect the paper chips in your basket/bowl.
When the song ends, the person who got more paper chips in their basket/bowl wins.
Things To Remember
🥐 Play a song, so the game is quick and fun.
🥐 Try different games, so your child learns that different people can be better at different things. (→ Uniqueness, self-esteem, self-confidence)
🥐 Be a model of good loser who can gracefully lose.
How To Be a Good Model of Losing Gracefully
☕️ Acknowledge disappointment and sadness.
☕️ Accept the result.
☕️ Reflect on all the games (won and lost). Talk about the skills and traits that helped winning and losing.
☕️ Praise your child’s good skills and traits in the games.
☕️ Praise the effort.
☕️ Emphasize the fun part of games – Enjoying the game itself.
☕️ Remind that we can learn and practice.
☕️ Remind AGAIN that everybody is different, everybody has their own unique skills and traits and there are enough different games for everybody.
Happy learning and quality time!
Teacher Gela 👩🏻🎀