Exploring Board Games for 10-13 Years
Preteens are seeking more than just simple games. They crave intellectual stimulation, social interaction, and exciting challenges. Board games for 10-13 years offer a fantastic way to connect with friends, develop critical thinking skills, and explore new worlds.
This page is dedicated to exploring the benefits of board games for preteens and tips on how to encourage and invite friends into a board game activiy.
The Benefits of Board Games for 10-13 years
Board games and card games often take a backseat to screen time in the lives of tweens and teenagers, but they offer much more than just a break from technology.
These board games for preteens can serve as powerful tools for building social skills, strengthening friendships, and even improving cognitive abilities. While many 10 year olds and teens gravitate toward video games and social media, board games and card games provide valuable opportunities for face-to-face interaction and teamwork.
If you’re looking to introduce or reintroduce board games and card games into your tween’s or preteen’s life, here’s why they’re worth the effort and how to encourage your friends to join in on the fun.
Why Board Games and Card Games Matter for Tweens and Teenagers
Strengthening Social Connections Tweens and teenagers are at a critical stage in developing their social skills. Board and card games offer a unique opportunity for players to interact in a structured environment. Unlike video games, which can often be isolating or passive, board games require direct communication, collaboration, and friendly competition. Playing these board games encourages players to talk, negotiate, and learn how to deal with both winning and losing graciously.
Maggie Dent, my favourite parenting expert, discusses that teenagers biggest fear is that the people they love the most, generally their parents, will stop loving them if they struggle with their behaviour. And as we all know, we all have our different languages of love, so simply telling our children we love them sometimes isn’t enough.
We need to show them that no matter what, even on the not-so-good days, we still love them and want to connect with them. Maggie Dent states working on the micro-connections will help your child feel loved, secure, and safe, which is incredibly important. And of course I’ve found playing and sitting together over a board game or a fun, lighthearted card game is a great way to connect.
Even if your child doesn’t want to talk, that doesn’t matter; you showed up, and you showed them you still care. Card games or board games that are fun or silly can also break down those negative feelings we may have.
Building Teamwork and Cooperation. Many modern board games are designed to promote teamwork. Cooperative games, where players must work together to achieve a common goal, can teach valuable lessons in communication, strategy, and collaboration. Games like Pandemic, Forbidden Island, and Codenames require players to pool their knowledge, skills, and resources, helping tweens and teens develop teamwork and problem-solving skills that will serve them in all areas of life.
Improving Cognitive Skills Board games and card games provide mental stimulation that can improve cognitive functions such as critical thinking, memory, and strategic planning. Games like Chess, Rummikub, and Set require logical reasoning, while others, like Azul or Clue, test memory and pattern recognition. These types of mental exercises are beneficial for teens’ academic success and overall cognitive development.
Providing a Break from Screens In today’s world, it can be difficult for tweens and teens to disconnect from their devices. Board games and card games give them a chance to take a break from their phones, tablets, and computers while still having fun. This screen-free time allows for quality face-to-face interaction and helps reduce the feelings of burnout that can come from excessive digital engagement.
In an article by Alexander Muacevic, John R Adle, titled “ Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Child Development: An Updated Review and Strategies for Management,” they state there are some positives to screen time, and they can help with education and the learning environment; however, too much time spent has shown to have a correlation to poor executive functioning and academic performance, which is really scary and sad.
Screen time also reduces the amount of quality time with family members and friends and may also have an impact on language development. Sadly, this article also touches on the detrimental impact on social and emotional growth, “with the increase in likelihood of obesity, sleep disorders, and mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety.”
Fostering Healthy Competition and Emotional Growth Playing games with friends can help teens learn how to handle both success and failure in a supportive environment. Whether they win or lose, board games offer important lessons in resilience, patience, and sportsmanship. These experiences teach valuable life skills, such as how to handle defeat without becoming discouraged and how to celebrate others’ victories in a positive way.
So lets get started, find those micro connect and set up a game. My recommendations for starting out are Flip 7 or any version of UNO.
Or find inspiration in our popular articles for 10 years plus.
- How to Play Hive
- Epic Family Game Night Recommendations
- Friends or Foes – Social Deduction Games
- Strategy Board Games
- Roll and Write Dice Games
- Fast paced card games
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