Kids

What Parents Need To Know About DnD For Kids

by Kevyn Gohu
August 24, 2021

Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) is a table-top game famous among kids. Here’s a basic list of what parents need to know about the game.

You’ve probably heard the term DnD before from your kids especially during this ECQ. They’ve mentioned some dragons, a gnome, or a dwarf here and there before laughing out loud about it. DnD or what we know as Dungeons and Dragons has both an online game and a tabletop version of the game. It’s a game where kids can create characters and venture through different worlds created by someone known as the DM or the Dungeon Master.

But is DnD safe for kids? Well, here’s a list of things you’ll need to know about it.

1. DnD encourages kids to role play or engage in Pretend Play

We’ve heard several studies that showed that Pretend Play would encourage the growth of a kid’s imagination and creativity. DnD encourages that within a set of rules, depending on the edition played. Kids, when playing DnD, can create characters that allow them to explore the world. They can interact with other story elements that the Dungeon Master (DM) adds in order to progress. The best part is, they can do this over a chat room. No need for them to go outside.

2. It encourages them to be creative

In DnD, the success of a plan is generally based on 20-sided dice with 20 being the highest and getting an additional bonus and 1 getting an additional punishment. So if the plan fails, the kids have to come up with another one. But they don’t do this alone unless they are separated from one another (which is a big no-no even for experienced players). Because DnD has a lot of lore and stories to work with, kids can create all sorts of things and even include academic applications if needed.

3. There are some teachers that actually use DnD to teach kids.

Although this works best in small class sizes, teachers use DnD to encourage kids on how to work together or even to know how the subject matter is applied in the most fun way possible. For example, the Dungeon Master (if you’re the one who made the game!) can teach Filipino this way by having kids rearrange a coded riddle written in Filipino to unlock a vault that contains some treasure. Or, if they’re fighting a large sea monster — you can teach them the rules about the conduction of electricity or even the anatomy of fish or sea creatures.

4. No, it doesn’t encourage anything occult.

Probably one of the biggest issues here is that there’s a terrifying creature on the cover that looks pretty evil. Especially for a family that’s religious, DnD can raise a bunch of red flags but we assure you that it doesn’t go like that, It’s not all evil-looking creatures. There are also angels, dragons, unicorns, and other creatures which can open the door to your kids reading other books as well.

5. DnD encourages critical thinking

For this homeschool year, we’re all scratching our heads on how to improve critical thinking in our kids. DnD here does encourage that because the Dungeon Master can take several concepts from Science, Math, and other subjects and apply them to the story especially when they start crafting. If Minecraft is too expensive right now then, finding a DnD group for your kids is a cheaper alternative and at the same time, it can be with people they know.

6. It’s a game best played with friends!

While Minecraft does get kids going with the whole building and crafting, DnD engages a kid’s desire to go out on an adventure. And especially if they’re all holed up during this pandemic, they’ll want the thrill of going outside even if they’re just in their room. The quests in Dungeons and Dragons are best enjoyed when they have friends and even older players are more than willing to teach them. It can eventually be a family activity to help pass the time.

DnD: It gamefies learning for kids!

We’re sure that homeschool’s been testing every creative fiber in our brains and DnD can be something new to add to the roster. Although it’ll take some time to learn, there are a lot of videos on YouTube that can teach us how to set up a campaign for our kids. Besides, the words “campaign” or “quest” sounds a lot cooler to kids rather than just “homework”, “tasks”, and “worksheets”. Happy campaigning, moms, and dads!