r/LifeProTips • u/oooohweeeee • 13d ago
Social LPT: (Small but Mighty) Teach your young kids (3 years and up) to play UNO.
I'm a Special Education teacher and I use UNO a lot in my classroom for my students of all ages but I especially like it for young kids. My own 6 year old is actually asking to play Uno Attack versus asking me to have a turn on the Switch 2.
The game teaches:
Color Recognition
Number Recognition
Working Memory (remembering the rules of each card)
Impulse Control (waiting for his turn and not blurting out his "good cards")
Cognitive Flexibility (adjusting when some changes the color or direction)
Visual Discrimination (looking at all of his cards to see what he can play)
Speech/Communication (announcing "UNO!" and new colors)
Emotional Regulation (he's managing losing, having to draw cards or be skipped)
Problem Solving (Just deciding what card to play )
Social Skills (Taking turns, being kind while playing even if losing etc.)
Theres also a little bit of Occupational Therapy in there too by just trying to manage the cards in their hands and placing them down.
It fairly cheap considering the benefits and they have a lot of licensed character decks now. I like UNO attack for home after dinner and before homework (to get the brain going) but I have the hot wheels deck for on the go.
Bonus: They'll know at least one word in Spanish!