Fun Moves: How Games and Activities Help School Kids Develop Skills

The National Education Policy gives a lot of stress on Games and activities at school level as they are very important for children because they are the only means of developing many foundational skills. 

Hundreds of thousands of years ago when homo sapiens took tentative steps outside Africa, our fate as a species was by no means guaranteed. Our ancient ancestors faced threats on a scale which are difficult to visualize – minimal protection from the environment and predatory animals and almost no remedies for injury or sickness. Yet, we managed to become the apex species on earth. Why? One important reason is that our brains and bodies had evolved to encourage and reward co-operation. Our ancestors flourished and survived because they were social and knew how to work in teams.

Games and activities are very important for children because they are the only means of developing many foundational skills. We often hear the adage that a healthy body is essential for a healthy mind, but what is less often discussed is that a healthy body will not automatically lead to a happy and healthy mind. It is well known that games and activities are vital for the physical health of children but games and activities do much more than that. Games and activities – are very useful for helping kids hone their social and emotional skills.

Games are a natural and easy way to help kids learn social co-operation. Social co-operation is as relevant in modern corporate boardrooms today as it was in the jungles of Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago. Multiple research studies have demonstrated that a high emotional intelligence (High EQ) is a much better predictor of career success than a High IQ or some specific subject matter expertise. Whilst emotional intelligence can be honed at any stage in life, but it is easiest done as a child when the neuro plasticity of the brain is highest. Participating in games and activities help kids understand that there is a strong connection between effort and reward, it also helps kids learn that most activities are simply more pleasurable when they are done in groups and to thrive in groups there is a natural give and take where the outcome of the game will not always go in one’s favour.

Games help in honing a good attention span

Games and activities are also very helpful in honing a good attention span. The early exposure to social media and the internet has led to most young kids struggling to focus for a long time on one task. Games and activities are useful in inoculating kids from some of the ill effects of social media because playing a game or activity requires the child to focus and pay attention not just to the game but also to the other participants in the game. Games facilitate the process of learning verbal and non verbal communication, observing body language and moods and being able to read and relate to other kids emotions. Thus playing games is a very effective tool for building lifelong social fitness.

An inevitable part of playing games is the rapid realization that the game or activity will not always go in the favour of the participant. Not all games lead to zero sum situations in which one person's gain is equivalent to another's loss, however most games will have some winners and others who don’t fare as well. Acceptance of defeat and reversals helps develop resilience, grit and perseverance. These skills are very important for children to learn how to self-regulate their own emotions. The single biggest factor which hinders our personal fulfillment as adults is the inability to regulate our own emotions. Games and activities are the easiest way to help kids sharpen this skill. Patience, empathetic communication and the ability to pay attention to the needs of others are the foundational skills for forging strong personal and professional relationships. Game and activities all foster this very organically.

Games and activities help not just kids but are effective even for adults – hence the popularity of corporate retreats and team building workshops by the means of games and activities. Ultimately- either as children or adults we all have an evolutionary need to forge connections, to feel like we belong to a tribe and to learn the dance of competing, conceding and co-operation to thrive in life.

By Praneet Mungali- Author is an alumnus of the London School of Economics & ISB Hyderabad and Trustee and Secretary of the Sanskriti Group of Schools, Pune.

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