Tim and I have played Battleship as teams with the kids before, because we thought it would be impossible for them to play on their own. You have to keep track of your opponent's positions on one board while answering their attacks on your board as a hit or miss. I just thought that would be too difficult for them without assistance, but Gracie begged to play "on her own team" so I thought I would let her try. I was so impressed that she could do it correctly!!!
The only thing I had to help her with was recognizing that once she got a hit, she needed to guess positions around that hit until the entire boat was sunk. Before that, she would get a hit, and then on her next turn guess somewhere not even close to that. After I explained to her that you want to keep guessing close to a hit, she picked up on that, and then was playing like a pro - completely unassisted!!! One of her own little quirks to the game though is that once one of her ships is "hit and sunk" she immediately has to clear it from the board before continuing play. I told her that she can just leave them on the board and she said, "But they are sunk." Haha! I guess she didn't want them to be "afloat" on the board still if they were sunk.
When Tim got home I proudly told him that she could play on her own and I asked him, "How many Pre-K kids do you know who could do that?" He said, "I don't know, what age does the box say?" When we checked the box it said for ages 8 to adult!
I'm so proud of you my smart little Grace!!! Quit growing up!! I must say that it is a lot more enjoyable to play a game with the kids when they can play back without help!!!
11 years ago