Cognitive Benefits of Traditional Games
Cognitive Benefits of Traditional Games - Cognitive abilities are intellectual abilities that help in thinking, learning, and communicating. They help in analyzing information visually and spatially and are made up of various aspects of thinking and reasoning. There are many cognitive abilities on which traditional games have an effect, and many studies have focused on such effects. In this age of modern gadgets, parents tend to buy gadgets for their children rather than playthings, which are actually healthy for the children. Even if some parents buy playthings for their kids, they are mostly made of plastics that are harmful to health; when kids put them in their mouths, they may be contaminated by plastic. This paper tries to study the effects of traditional games and the benefits of using traditional games for kids.
Traditional games can also benefit children in the cognitive aspect. One of the cognitive abilities improved by traditional games is attention. By constantly playing these games, children learn how to concentrate during storytelling, ask for help from parents, or while completing a task. Another cognitive benefit is lateral thinking. After playing a certain game, a child can interpret a new possibility from what has been said before. Pattern recognition is the next cognitive aspect that is improved by traditional games. By playing traditional games, children can discover patterns as these games arise and can use these patterns to solve problems. Cognitive flexibility is also improved when playing these types of games. The player has to switch to an opposite variety of reduced brainstorming from within the same scenario. Moreover, a stronger brain is also developed, as the number of games played is related to higher levels of thinking ability. Traditional games also promote mindfulness by requiring the player to consciously focus on their behavior in the present while managing stress and frustration.
Problem-Solving Skills
Problem-solving skills are basic in traditional games, especially those that involve manual skills, that is, games with a higher semiotic load. These games propose different levels of demand from a transformation of the semantic context of the activity. There are different levels of a typology of tasks to carry out, and different strategies must be deployed considering different variables. The patterns and decision algorithms that are implemented affect the development of the skills trained in the subjects themselves. This type of game trains children in a series of problem-solving strategies, in redirecting tasks with variable difficulties, with adaptive response processes, generating action–reflection–action schemes, and with different results from the exercises carried out. The implementation of these devices generates a partial vision of reality that the child must complete using cognitive and operational resources, experience, reflection, and decision-making to complete the whole conceptual framework. The work is on model training and on the diversification of operational strategies and systemic thinking. The child shapes a conceptual matrix that establishes relationships between perception, expression, knowledge, reflection, projection, and action.
Critical Thinking
Over the years, developing critical thinking has been identified by many scholars as one of the goals of early educational models. In that sense, traditional games of children around the world can be considered activities that have proven to facilitate this process in a playful atmosphere, where children develop complex patterns of thinking for problem-solving. Critical thinking refers to the discipline of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information generated by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. Traditional games, the ones that have been transmitted from generation to generation, are characterized by their spatial and mathematical structure, which is the core of the game’s rules. Rules have to be understood and practiced, creating endless moments of conflict.
Despite the fact that games are partially motivated, it is clear that long sessions of games turn into boring activities. After a while, excitement dissolves into dissatisfaction. The children will demand challenges. To be able to win the game, children must understand the rules and mark the essential moves that can lead them to victory. Also, children will imitate their older peers and will create new strategic moves. Misinterpretation of a move by the children or an attempt to establish a new move will trigger an extended conflict. Therefore, children learn how to discuss a problem and how to respect the rules.
Memory Enhancement
Traditional games require players to remember specific rules, game patterns, and instructions in order to decide the next steps or moves. Each player is required to have a good memory capacity in order to maintain the game process. In designing a traditional game, it is important to modify it according to children's cognitive development, making it easy for them to remember. The need for referencing rules from time to time is an indication of an incomplete memory, so children are motivated to improve their memory in order to play better and achieve higher scores. When traditional games that require recalling the detailed process in the game are played frequently, it becomes good memory training. Four traditional games that were applied in playing were utilized in the experiment, which showed that language-based traditional games can help to develop long-term memory as well as improve children's brain functions. In addition, they can improve children's attention, as they serve as a fun and joyful way to build cognitive ability.