For people who love playing card games or tabletop games, learning a new game that you can add to your collection can be a lot of fun. But for many people, as they get older, it can get harder and harder to learn new games. Luckily, there are things that you can do to help your older loved ones learn the new games that you love without overwhelming them. This way, you can continue to play the games that you love but also learn new games that you can play together now and when your loved one is in a senior living facility.
To help you learn how this can be done, here are three tips for teaching your elderly loved one a new card or tabletop game.
Choose Games Like Ones They Already Know
When learning something new, it’s always going to be helpful to base this new knowledge off of old knowledge that you already have. The same is true when teaching your elderly loved one a new game. If you can find a game that has some of the same elements of a game that they already know and love, it will be much easier to help them learn this new game.
When you’re just having to add a few new elements to a game that your elderly loved one is already familiar with, there’s a much better chance that they’ll be able to grasp these concepts and build on that knowledge to quickly become comfortable with this new game.
Consider Letting Them Watch First
Once you’ve found a game that you’d like to teach your elderly loved one, it can be helpful to have them watch others play the game first so that they get a little bit of exposure to the play of the game in its entirety.
If you have someone with you that you can play the game with while your elderly loved one watches and can ask questions along the way, this could be a great option. You can also find videos of people playing this game online and watch this with your loved one before you play the game together.
Know That Learning New Games Takes Time
While you might have picked up all of the ins and outs of this new game very easily, it’s quite likely that your elderly loved one will have a harder time with this. As people age, it can take them longer to create the connections in their brain that allows them to learn and recall new information. So as you try to teach and play this new game with your elderly loved one, make sure you give yourself enough time and practice patience.
If you want to teach your elderly loved one a new card game or tabletop game, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you in doing this.
