Board Games Help Young Children Get Better At Math, Study Shows

Playing board games such as Chutes and Ladders can help young children get better at math, according to a new study.

The format of number-based games helps improve counting, addition and the ability to recognize if one number is higher than another, the research found.

The findings provide further evidence in support of gamification – the use of games in education – building on previous studies that found board games can improve understanding and enhance socio-emotional skills and motivation.

“Board games enhance mathematical abilities for young children,” says Dr Jaime Balladares, from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, in Santiago, Chile, lead author of the study.

“Using board games can be considered a strategy with potential effects on basic and complex math skills,” he adds.

Researchers looked at 19 studies where children aged from three to nine took part in special board game sessions, run by teachers, parents and therapists.

Board games typically involve moving a piece around a board, and have a fixed set of rules that limit the moves a player can make, unlike games that require specific skills, such as table football.

A number of the studies examined in the review used Chutes and Ladders – known as Snakes and Ladders in the U.K. and originally from India – while other games tested include The Great Race, 100 House and Gem Heroes.

Some of the studies separated children into those who played number-based games and those who didn’t, while in other studies children were allocated to different games, such as a game of dominoes based on colors rather than numbers.

The children taking part were then rated on four key math skills: basic numeric competency, such as the ability to name numbers; basic number comprehension, such as knowing that one number is larger than another; deepened number comprehension, where they can add and subtract, and interest in mathematics.

Math skills improved significantly among children who played board games for more than half (52%) of the tasks analyzed. And in almost a third (32%) of cases, children who played board games got better results than those who didn’t, according to the review, published in the journal Early Years.

In the study that looked at dominoes, for example, the students who played numerical dominoes were subsequently faster in a comparison task than students who played color dominoes.

Another study found that children who played a version of Chutes and Ladders showed improvements in rote counting, identifying numbers and addition, as well as displaying more interest in math.

“Board games can easily be adapted to include learning objectives related to mathematical skills or other domains,” says Dr Balladares.

Designing board games and evaluating their impact on children’s number and other cognitive and developmental skills was now an “urgent task”, he says.

“An interesting space for the development of intervention and assessment of board games should open up in the next few years, given the complexity of games and the need to design more and better games for educational purposes,” he adds.