Play Inner Magic… a powerful new children’s game

I had the privilege of testing a newly launched board game, Inner Magic, a children’s self -esteem game. I played with my grade 00 class at Rainbow Babies & Kids Nursery School and I loved the witty answers as well as the expressions of self love.

This fantasy game based on magic lands touches each of the developmental pillars – Language, Gross Motor, Cognitive and Emotional. A great tool for any parent or teacher to help develop happy, confident kids that are not afraid to express themselves.

• Broadens emotional vocabulary of children
• Stimulates conversations of feelings through well executed cue cards
• Develops positive self esteem through drama
• Builds on life skills by encouraging conversations around coping e.g. bullying, sibling issues
• Demonstrates relaxation techniques
• Spiritual growth in self reflection

I found it totally amazing that the 4 and 5 year olds were completely engaged after 45 minutes of playing and wanted to continue playing when I suggested it was time to move onto another activity.

One very special moment was when a child drew a challenge to recite a poem and was too shy. His friends asked if they could say it with him so that he could earn the token for completing the challenge. The friends all counted out loud as each player moved his token according to the dice rolled and encouraged each other to visit various magic lands.

There was great excitement each time someone landed on a magic land and had to answer an appropriate question such as “What would you say if you were feeling sick?”, a little boy told me he would ask his teacher if he could go home and his friends chorused in agreement. Or another question that created huge debate was “How would you feel if your friend hit you during break?” besides saying “I would feel bad” a big discussion was held between the little friends about telling the teacher and telling off the friend who hit them.

The questions and card challenges don’t only deal with life skills, but  also speaking wishes out loud, with a wish being made for rain. Another card invited a child to choose a feel good sticker, read it out loud 3 times to his friends and wear it for the day – his feel good sticker said “I am fantastic!”

I found the game really effective with my  4 and 5 year olds in that it was:

• Engaging
• Stimulated great conversations
• Encouraged them to assist each other to complete challenges
• and generated lots of giggles

We encouraged a lot of non judgemental, fun in which no answer was wrong, but could be used to understand the child, share feelings and information with friends and guide the children should their responses be inappropriate for a certain situation.

The question cards are age appropriate ranging from 5 -14 years of age.

Playing Inner Magic is a great opportunity to get to know your children better, while having fun!

Click here to order the game from Carol Surya, the games creator.

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