Family Game Night: Playing Chutes and Ladders to Build Emotional Regulation and Executive Function Skills

Chutes and Ladders

If you've ever played Chutes and Ladders (also known as Snakes and Ladders in some countries), you probably remember the fun of climbing the ladder and the frustration/disappointment of sliding down the chute. It might seem like a simple game of chance, but it offers more than just family fun. Beneath the surface, this classic children's game provides a rich, developmentally supportive experience, especially when it comes to two crucial areas of child development: emotional regulation and executive function skills.

Let's explore how a simple game can help kids practice feeling their feelings, co-regulate, and strengthen their cognitive control to become more resilient little humans.

Emotional Regulation: Learning to Handle Ups and Downs

In Chutes and Ladders, emotional highs and lows come quickly and unexpectedly. One moment, you are celebrating climbing up a ladder past the other players and the next turn, you are sliding down a chute below your sibling. This can lead to "I don't want to play", "I always lose", and "I hate this game". This makes the game a powerful (and safe, with some help from parents) opportunity to practice emotional regulation.

Kids learn to:

1. cope with frustration

2. manage excitement

3. accept loss without meltdown

4. practice emotional recovery by continuing to play even when they're disappointed.

Rather than shielding kids from disappointment or intense feelings, the game provides an opportunity to gently expose them and allow parents to teach their child how to stay engaged and bounce back.

Executive Function in Action

Executive function (EF) refers to a set of mental skills that are the brain's management system or "air traffic control system" as Harvard's Center on the Developing Child refers to it. They allow a child to plan, focus attention, follow instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. EF skills include: working memory, impulse control (self-control) and cognitive flexibility (adaptability).

• Working memory: Players must remember....

  • how many spaces to move

  • their current position on the board

  • rules of the game

  • who plays before them

• Impulse control

  • waiting their turn

  • kids must move the correct number of spaces, not more or less, even if it would land them on a ladder or slide.

  • following the rules (even when it is not fun)

  • staying calm after setbacks

• Cognitive Flexibility

  • when the game doesn't go as expected, kids learn to adjust their emotions. One "bad" spin doesn't mean the game is lost and they learn over time to adapt and continue.

Tips for parents and teachers

• Narrate the experience: "That was a big slide, but you didn't give up. I saw you take a deep breath to help you stay calm. So proud of you"

• Acknowledge feelings: "It's ok to feel frustrated. You didn't want to land on the slide. I feel frustrated too when that happens to me. "

• Model self-regulation: show how you react when you land on a slide or another player moves ahead of you. Say how you are feeling, "I don't like that Paul landed on the big ladder and now he is winning." And what you are going to do to help you stay regulated "I am going to take a deep breath and keep going".

Chutes and Ladders is a simple game that is also a powerhouse for a child's development. It is a gentle and fun way to introduce a child to important lessons: patience, resilience, cause and effect, and the idea that setbacks don't define the outcome.

So the next time your child asks to play Chutes and Ladders, grab the board and spin the wheel. You're not just playing a game, you're helping them grow.