Dungeons and Dragons has been around for ages and played by many people. Of course, there are many players that still play the game in their adulthood, it can be forgotten just how fun and beneficial it can be for kids to play. If you are a parent that is unfamiliar with D&D and how it can be beneficial to kids, here are some ways that the game of dungeons and dragons will help with a child’s development.
Decision Making And Understanding Consequences
There are many skills that children will develop as they learn and play dungeons and dragons. One of those skills include the ability to make critical decisions under stressful situations. During many encounters you stumble upon during a dungeons and dragons session, you will have to think quickly about the different decisions at your disposal. With each and every decision, there are going to be consequences, and kids will learn that they cannot prepare for every situation and understand that there are different outcomes with every decision you make.
Facilitate Creativity
One of the great gameplay mechanics of dungeons and dragons is the fact that it uses a vast amount of imagination. The story and world building is all established by the players. From the dungeon master that builds the physical world and lore around it, to each individual character that is responsible for their own history and the dialogue and future paths that each one chooses. In addition to story building, each encounter poses an opportunity for its players into situations to make decisions, the perfect time to explore creative ideas of problem solving and out-of-the-box thinking. The world is yours to build with D&D game. Playing through such campaigns encourages all the creativity in children to explore, where other games with rigid rules, or hobbies might discourage such alternative thinking.
Literacy Building
For those that are looking to get into and learn dungeons and dragons, especially those that are looking to run their own dungeons, there is a lot of text to act as resources when you are first getting into Dungeons & Dragons. You can use these to either help guide you through scenarios and story building or create inspiration. You will also need to read and write when building your characters, recording your progress on character sheets as you go. For children, this curiosity and such resources encourages them to read, which is something extremely important at such a young age. As you further develop your interest and passion in the fantasy realm and theme, this could be enough to draw you to other books and novels to satisfy your dungeon crawling itch in between your gaming sessions.
Basic Mathematics
WIth the incorporation of dice and numbers into the game, one of the ways that children will see developmental benefits is with basic mathematics. In combat, you will have to frequently keep track of changing numbers in hit points or health points. These will reinforce the basic mathematical skills in addition and subtraction, as well as possible basic multiplication if there are other aspects such as modifiers that would adjust those numbers. This inclusion of basic math is perfect for children as it masks the task of doing such problems in a fun way.
Introduction Of Probability And Game Theory
Dice rolls play a significant part in everything dungeons and dragons. Of course, it is prevalent in combat, but also is required for other situations and tasks such as dialogue and persuasion situations, as well as performing certain abilities. Such inclusion of dice rolls comes down to your dungeon master and how they want to incorporate luck and other chance encounters. With each and every dice roll, you will be utilizing the principles of probability and game theories. If you want to create more learning opportunities, be sure to explain such situations and the different chances of success and failure for every dice roll. Of course, most children will simply want to roll the dice, so it may take multiple repeated explanations for that kind of information to sink in.
Cooperation And Socialization
One of the other benefits of playing dungeons and dragons is learning cooperation and socialization. Playing dungeons and dragons will take you and your party across many adventures and put your companions and yourself through many difficult trials and through dangerous risks. Such tribulations that people will go through will inevitably bring them closer together, strengthening such interactions. You will be forced to not only look out for yourself but your other party members, consider choices that impact the well being of everyone playing. Such a mentality will go a long way in facilitating growth through cooperation and socialization. Children will learn important lessons of working within a team and doing so will allow them to take those lessons and apply them to other circumstances as they encounter different situations in their lives.
Confidence And Self Identity
As children continue to play dungeons and dragons, this can help facilitate growth as it provides them the opportunity to gain confidence and build lasting relationships with their friends and families. Unlike other games that may be played in one sitting, Dungeons & Dragons is best enjoyed over many sessions and campaigns. These situations may help provide children the chance to view themselves differently or in a positive light, seeing themselves as able to take risks, be brave, and develop important traits such as honesty, courage and trust. Even if they make mistakes, those lessons can be all the same as this will encourage them to take risks and not fear making mistakes but seeing it as part of a learning process. The characters they build may be a reflection of who they can identify and grow into becoming as young adults.
Each child and D&D player will have different personalities so the lessons and values one person gets may vary from what another person takes away. Still, there are so many different benefits that children can gain from playing Dungeons & Dragons, and you should have no hesitation to jump into the next dungeon crawling journey ahead.
