Recently, my five-year-old was given Monopoly Junior. The age range on the box is 5-8 years old. He has just turned five, so I was interested to see how he did with this game. While he and his father and I played the game, I noted the lessons for my son.
1. Addition and Subtraction
Using money and paying in different denominations gave him practice adding and subtracting to make the right dollar amount. He could use more practice, but this is a fun way to get practice in. The denominations are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 dollar bills, so it is an easy way to start.
2. Game Playing Basics
My son is used to taking turns in games. This game also gave him more practice counting game board squares to move ahead, following directions, "reading" dice, and using his own colored game pieces (marker to move around the board and ticket booths to set up on the spaces he paid for). I was actually surprised to see him happily end the game with Dad as the winner. He usually wants to be the winner at everything. (I don't think he's the only four- to five-year-old with this tendency.)
3. Reading
He can sound out words and read many words from context, but he also has some way to go before he can read many books on his own. The Chance cards and game spaces gave him lots of opportunity to read with very specific context clues. He did great!
4. Finance
Okay, not high finance, but this game gives a $2 "allowance" for passing Go, so it reinforces the idea of an allowance. It also shows the properties of ownership. Whichever person paid at a space to put up their ticket booth had the right to collect admission every time someone landed at their ticket booth. Our son got used to paying other people at their ticket booths and asking for money when people landed on his own booths. Another basic idea it reinforced was the accumulation of money. The person with the most money at the end of the game wins. This game is completely based on chance, so it's not due to skill, but nonetheless, if you have the most money, you win.
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