This game is good for kids who need help with:

Time Management

Being efficient and aware of our use of time and effort.

There are few game types better than a sim for illustrating simply the concept of time management, and many children will find find the idea of overseeing their own farm operation appealing. Players begin the game with a small selection of crops (corn, wheat) and animals (chickens), and the cyclical concept of growing food to feed animals that provide us with food is quickly made apparent. These processes take differing amounts of time; if a player wants eggs to sell, they have to wait for chickens to produce them, and they must feed the hens when they are done laying. But chicken feed takes time to make, as does growing the corn it is comprised of, so it becomes necessary for players to efficiently juggle the subtasks that fall under the larger process of producing eggs for the community. Once players move past the tutorial, it is up to them to prioritize certain crops and livestock. Chickens produce eggs more quickly than cows, and soybeans take longer to grow than wheat and corn, so good time management is needed to ensure there aren't too many gaps in production.

Organization

Arranging and coordinating materials in order to complete a task.

Players are given relatively free reign in designing their farms. While your child will start the game with a few squares of soil in an already designated area, it will be up to them where they place the next squares. Keeping the soil squares together in a highly visible area will enable players to easily see which crops are ready for harvest and what they have growing. This rule goes for the rest of the farm machinery; if a player’s bread oven is over by the pond and hidden by trees, it is far less likely the player will notice when the oven has made all the orders of bread and lies dormant. The more machines produce, the more gold and points a player gets, though most of the gold and points come from making deliveries at the request of the community. The local church might need ten ears of corn, 2 loaves of bread, and 2 sticks of butter. Working to fill these delivery orders rather than selling your last ears of corn to the neighbor who just walked up your driveway, means knowing your inventory. You don't want to sell the last of your corn to the church either, or it will be very difficult to get the crop started again, and the animals that also depend on it won't produce. Knowing when there's a glut and when to conserve means staying relatively organized.