THE PARENTING SERIES: GAMIFICATION

Children are simple creatures. They seek play, affection, exploration, attention and to sate their curiousity. Anything that exists outside of these domains, are things that they simply don't care about and are unmotivated to do.

They do not yet understand the concept of work and delayed gratification. So their behaviour will be shaped by their selfish desires within the current moment. This presents a challenge to parents, educators and anyone that works with children.

How can we motivate children to learn, work, care about and complete difficult/undesirable tasks?

CHILDREN WANT TO PLAY

Them kids just want to play hey!

Kids have an amazing talent to be able to find joy and play in the most mundane tasks and things. I've seen kids play with legos, cars, dolls and scribble for hours on end. So why not leverage this and transform learning, work and difficult tasks into a form of play through gamification!

You will find yourself surprised how much more enjoyment there is for everyone when you apply this concept. Maybe you're having a difficult time teaching your child math. It's driving you and your child insane and no one is having fun. Gamifying this process transforms this stressful, pressure intensive and unfun experience into a competition/play. Examples of this in the context of math include but are not limited to:

- Buying or making your own math games.
- Introduce the concept of a race and/or competition (Let's see who can answer the math questions/complete the math worksheet the fastest, etc).
- Use PC, tablet and/or mobile math apps.
- Use board games that have mathematical concepts in their mechanics (point scoring for addition and multiplication, push your luck for probability, etc).
- Role playing a profession, work and/or situation that would involve applying these mathematical concepts (working in the kitchen to follow a receipe, working as a cashier to accept money and provide change, etc).

Your options and application of gamification are endless and only limited by your imagination and creativity. I've found once you have acquired some experience in doing so, you can almost gamify anything when it comes down to kids.

Want them to learn how to efficiently fold laundry? Split the clean laundry into two baskets and propose a race between you and your child.

Want them to learn to eat and try new/more foods? Create a gameshow where you play mini games and the loser has to eat a new food.

Want them to practice and master tying their shoelaces? Challenge them to a time trial to see who can tie their shoes faster.

Learn how to be creative with your application of gamification and you'll find motivating your child to learn, work and complete difficult and undesirable tasks, not just more easier, but a process that will be enjoyable for both you and your child.

TRANSFORM EVERYTHING INTO PLAY

THE FORMS OF PLAY

What do we do when we run into a situation where we are struggling to transform things into play?

You've exhausted your creativity and brain. You still are unsure how to gamify and create a fun motivating experience. In situations like this we have to remember that play comes in many forms:

- Cooperative play: Working together to achieve a goal (Build a lego together, beat a boss in a game, complete a level or a routine, etc).
- Competitive play: Competiting against each other to see who is the best at something (time trial and/or race).
- Creative free play: The provision of a general goal with no fixed rules (any creative art, music, drawing, etc).
- Structured play: The provision of a specific goal and fixed rules (sports, games, etc).
- Explorative play: Play that involves a new location, experience and/or things/people.

I've found that most people's perception of play to be confined to either structured or creative free play. This self-induced limitation also restricts our creativity and application of gamification. Once we are aware of the numerous forms of play, it provides us with more options and variations of play.

So even when your child may be bored of a type or form of play, all it may take is for us to shift or incorporate a different form of play into the experience, to reconfigure it into a new fun and motivating experience.

For example, if we continue with the math example. Our structured play goal could of been for our child to be able to complete a simple addiction worksheet without making an error. Typically, at the completion of the goal of structured play, motivation diminishes. To renew this motivation we could introduce a competitive aspect to it. Whether that is racing each other (parent vs child) or to have a time trial challenge (see how fast one can complete the worksheet without errors), this small shift transforms the task into something fun again.

The next time you are struggling with gamifying an experience for your child. Remember the numerous forms of play. Incorporate, adapt and change them to accordingly to you and your child's needs.

To continue to transform everything in life into play!