What Pokemon Go Teaches my kids

Yes this Pokemon Go is a huge fad all of a sudden, but who doesn’t remember Pogs, I love playing Pokemon Go with my boys and there are a number of ways that Pokemon Go is a great learning tool for your kids.

1. Family bonding time

I love going on missions with my boys to find the wild Pokemon. This does not mean we are at a park with my face in my phone and they are running in the opposite direction, we do it together. We take turns who gets to hold the phone, who gets to capture the Pokemon and we celebrate together.

2. Gets you moving

Pokemon Go does exactly that it makes you walk to find and hatch your Pokemon. People have tried to find a way to skip this step (pun intended) but you can not. You need to be going a certain speed (less than a bike pace) for the gps to be counted towards your Pokemon hatching.

3. Finding new places

One of the things I love about Pokemon Go is discovering places and locations that I was not aware of. In the game there are Pokemon stops where you find pokemon, potions, eggs and more. Most of these Poke stops are landmarks of importance within the city. It has been amazing discovery these places within my own city.

4. Learning Directions

I have to admit reading a map and a good sense of direction has never been my forte. In fact if I have a fifty percent of choosing which way to go I will almost always pick the wrong way. Pokemon go has a small navigation tool in the right hand cornerand your person walks along a map. I like showing the boys which way we need to go.

5. Patience

It is true Pokemon Go teaches the boys patience, it teaches them when you you need to wait for your Pokemon to hatch and when you need to save up a certain number of candies to evolve your Pokemon.

6. Sounding Words Out

Have you seen some of the names of these Pokemon? We have been doing a lot of sounding out the names out and working on how to pronounce them.

7. Hand eye coordination

To catch the Pokemon you need to to a little flick of you finger with the Pokemon but you need to know how far away the Pokemon and aim it properly. There are ways to can do curve balls as well, but beware when the Pokemon have more CP they can be tricky and not as easy to catch.

These are just some of the skills that Pokemon Go is teaching my boys. It has given us lots of reason to explore our city and get walking together. There are some dangers when people are not paying attention to their surroundings but that is why I love to do it with my boys and share the fun with them.

Please note I do not receive anything from Pokemon Go for endorses this game, but I wanted to share with all of you.