From online learning to lack of social interaction, the Covid-19 pandemic may well have a long lasting impact on children.
Some reports have highlighted declines in young children’s sleep, behaviour, activity levels and mental wellbeing, whilst others have shown concerns over social developmental.
But can table top gaming clubs – a place where kids can come together to play strategy, fantasy, role-playing, or deck-building games – help offset some of the impact of the pandemic?
With the popularity of these clubs booming in Dundee, we went along to one in Fintry Library to find out more.
See how the table top gaming clubs work in the video below:
“It’s just gotten bigger and bigger”
The first local table top gaming club started at Dundee Central library around five years ago but since the pandemic, their popularity has grown.
There are clubs now running, or about to launch, at Blackness, Broughty Ferry, Douglas, Fintry, Charleston and Arthurstone libraries.
David Michie, an ICT tutor for Dundee libraries, helps coordinate them all.
“After Covid it’s just gotten bigger and bigger”, he said.
“I think it’s a lot better than computer games because they [children] socialise and interact with each other. It gets them interacting with each other outside of school.
“And from our point of view, it brings children into the libraries and that’s good.”
The Fintry table top club launched around two months ago and started off with 13 kids but now has around 20 coming along each week.
Perhaps part of the appeal is the fact the children get to choose which games they can play, with a vote being held the week before to decide.
David said: “It’s whatever they want to play really, they run the club and we just guide them.
“They started wanting to play Pokémon but there are board games they can play like Star War Legion and Warhammer.”
Education benefits
There’s no doubt children’s learning suffered during the pandemic and Education Scotland has reported some have “found it difficult to re-engage in learning on return to the classroom”.
There are also reports of others experiencing “gaps in their learning evident on their return to school”.
But how can playing board games help children catch up the learning they have missed out on the past two years?
David explained: “One of the games they played had a Roman theme and they voted that one because they were doing the subject at school.
“So they were learning history through that, and maths is always an element of every game with the dice and working out points etc.”
Community effort
The Fintry club has received money from Dundee City Council’s community regeneration fund which has enabled them to purchase some of the games.
But the library has also received support from the local community, as Louise McDermott, library and information officer at Fintry, explains.
“I took over here about seven months ago and there was nothing in the area for kids, so I spoke to David about doing a table top club here”, Louise said.
“We’ve had so much support from the local community. We are able to provide free snacks for the kids at the club.
“It’s been really good to see.”
For more information on the table top gaming clubs in Dundee, contact David Michie at david.michie@leisureandculturedundee.com
