Playing Prepares Kids for School and Life

If you’ve ever watched your child sit at the table with Play-Doh or get completely wrapped up in a board game, you’re seeing real learning in action. These moments may look like playtime (and that’s exactly what your child thinks too!), but they’re actually packed with early learning skills that help prepare kids for success.

💪 Fine Motor Skills

Scooping up acorns with the squirrel tweezers in The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game or collecting gems in Ruby’s Gem Quest strengthens tiny hand muscles and hand-eye coordination — both crucial for holding a pencil, cutting with scissors, and writing letters.

And Play-Doh? It’s one of the best (and simplest) tools for this! Rolling, pinching, and shaping dough builds grip strength and finger control. Think of it as a fun mini workout for their hands! The Play-Doh options are absolutely endless. I have an under the bed storage bin full of Play-Doh that we pull out often and we play on our wood floor for easy clean up.

🧠 Focus and Patience

Board games teach turn-taking, following directions, and waiting patiently — all vital skills for the classroom and beyond. Your child learns that they won’t always go first, that rules matter, and that sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t — and that’s okay. These lessons build emotional regulation and perseverance.

🎨 Creativity and Language

When your child creates with Play-Doh, they’re not just making “snakes” and “pizzas.” They’re telling stories, describing their creations, and stretching their imagination. This kind of open-ended play supports vocabulary growth and storytelling skills — huge for reading readiness!

Our favorite Play-Doh sets that get used again and again are the Grocery Store Set and the Care and Carry Vet Set. My one year old walks around holding the puppy in its carrier all the time, it's adorable.

A few of our other favorite games

Math Games

Any game that uses numbers like Uno is great for number recognition. Games that deal with money such as Monopoly Junior are great for early exposure to money and counting. This game speaks for itself but if you want to start your kids young, this two sided board (for two levels of difficulty) is perfect. My son started playing this when he was 3 1/2 and he still loves it 4 years later.

My personal favorite for learning adding and subtracting is Mathemagical World. This one is so fun and it's helped my son a lot with being able to add and subtract in his head. It comes with two 6 sided dice or two 10 sided dice for different levels of difficulty. This game is made by a small business and is always a hit at our house! 

Cooperative Games

Cooperative games are great for the whole family, especially preschoolers because there is no winner. You work together and win or lose together. I think it's important that kids learn how to do both and this is the perfect place to start. It's also a great way to teach teamwork and how to cheer each other on. 

Our favorites are:

Monkey Around- This is a fun and more physical game, you take turns pulling cards and doing whatever action it says like throw the banana back and forth or twirling in a circle. Some cards are individual and some are meant for partners or groups.

This is one of the earliest games I play with my children (2+) and you can have unlimited players as it's so interactive you don't have to wait long to join in. The beanie banana that is provided is a huge draw for little kids. This game is sure to have the whole family playing and laughing.

First Orchard- This is more like a board game. You work together to get the fruit off the orchard by rolling the dice and putting the fruit in the basket. However, watch out! If you roll the crow then you have to lay a path down for him. If the crow reaches the orchard before you get all the fruit off the trees then he wins and you have to try again! Another unlimited player game but best with 2-4 players and I'd say 3+. Great for color recognition.

Dinosaur Escape- This is a board game of memory for 2-4 players. The goal is to travel around the board, as you move around you flip over chips. The goal is to find the dinosaur chips and get them to safety by flipping their chip when they are in that zone. Be careful if you roll a volcano card you have to start building the volcano, if it is built before all the dinosaurs are saved then you have to try again! This game is great for older kids (4+) and requires a little more thinking.

❤️ Connection Counts Too

Board games and Play-Doh moments also give you a chance to slow down together. Sharing laughs over a silly squirrel or cheering when your child collects the last gem builds connection — and connected kids are confident learners. 

It's the perfect way to bond as a family. I have the best memories of playing games with my older sisters and grandparents.

Playing Sneaky Snacky Squirrel with my 4 year old!

So the next time you pull out a board game or a few tubs of Play-Doh, remember, you’re not “just playing.” You’re helping your child build the foundation for school and life success — one roll, scoop, and giggle at a time.

That's a Wrap!

Leave a comment with your favorite games! I know we have many more I didn't even talk about here- another post for another day.