Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Could booming board game clubs help children’s pandemic recovery?

Children at one of Dundee's board game clubs
Can table top gaming clubs help offset some of the impact of the pandemic?

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 youngsters enjoying their gaming competitions. Pictures by Kim Cessford / DCT Media.

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”.

David Michie.
David Michie. Pictures by Kim Cessford / DCT Media.

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.

Youngsters enjoying their gaming competitions
Youngsters enjoying their gaming competitions. Kim Cessford / DCT Media.

“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