Foundational literacy skills are highly important to future academic success, as language skill gaps tend to increase with time. Affordances of table games for literacy in early childhood classrooms have not yet been adequately studied. The purpose of this study is to seek insights from early childhood educators about experiences with games in the classroom. Interviews were conducted with preschool through first grade teachers. This lead to the themes: Builds Good Social Skills, They Keep Repeating It and Its Not Boring, Intentional Teaching, They Think—Oh! It’s Fun!, We Don’t Get to Use Games Like We Used To, and All They Know of a Game is a Handheld Video Game. This study demonstrates importance of games in early child education and concerns to monitor. Exploratory qualitative research also provides feedback for developing and evaluating table game interventions with benefits for early childhood educators, curriculum developers, and table game enthusiasts.
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