American scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Maryland found a measured improvement in the number skills of children aged four and five years old after playing a number game. Over a fortnight, the 124 children in the study played either a number board game or a parallel colour-based game with an experimenter for four 15-minute sessions.
The researchers said their counting and numerical identification skills improved and the effect was still evident nine weeks later.
Dr Geetha Ramani, psychologist and co-author of the report, said, 'Before playing the number game, the children could count to an average of eight. Afterwards the average was counting all the way to ten. We found surprising stability in all numerical tasks when we came back after nine weeks.
'The other tasks performed better were numerical magnitude, which is saying which of two numbers is bigger than the other, and number line estimation, which is placing a number in the right place between a line from nought to ten,' said Dr Ramani.
The researchers chose children from a pool of low-income families after their survey found 47 per cent of them played board games at home, compared with 80 per cent of children from middle-class homes.
'Playing number board games at nursery regularly will not only benefit children's numerical skills but also their social skills, as they can learn to take turns,' added Dr Ramani. 'It's a very easy and inexpensive way to do it, too.'
Further Information:
'Promoting Broad and Stable Improvements in Low-Income Children's Numerical Knowledge through Playing Number Board Games' is in the March/April 2008 issue of Child Development.
