Little kids constantly need to be kept entertained and engaged. At the ages of 6-14, their growing brains are working overtime to learn new emotions, remember new experiences and build new pathways. It’s the best time for them to learn whatever they can!
Memory games are a great way to boost different aspects of your child’s development. At the same time, they help pass those long waiting hours in the car or outside somewhere, when your kids are restricted from moving around. Such games not only help kids to hone their memory skills but also help them learn strategy, force them to think, teach them concentration, and improve their reflexes.
Below, we will share some interesting visual and auditory memory games you can play with your child, have fun and bond with them in the process.
15 Brain-Boosting Memory Games For Children
1. The Memory Card Game
Card games are a great past time and also great for helping kids with their memory. This one, in particular, is easy to play and hassle-free.
What Do You Need
A 52-deck of playing cards
How to Play
- Place the 52 cards face-down on a smooth surface, in four rows of thirteen each. You can also use the jokers, in six rows of nine cards each.
- Play starts when the first player picks up two cards from anywhere on the set and places them face up.
- If they are of same rank and colour (for example, a seven of hearts and a seven of spades), then that player wins the pair and gets to play again.
- If the two cards don’t match, then that player loses the round, returns the card’s face down to their original places and the next player gets to play.
- The game ends when a player picks the last pair. The winner is the player with the most pairs. A tie is also possible.
This game can be played with many variations. Like for young kids, the rule may be to only match according to colour, or players can match cards only of same rank but opposite colour.
2. The Coin Game
A popular favourite as it is fun and fast-paced.
What Do You Need
A handful of coins, a cloth, a timer or a watch
How to Play
- Choose 5 coins from the pile and place it in a certain sequence. For example, you can line up two 50 paise coins, a 1 rupee, 2 rupees and 5 rupee coin.
- Ask the players to look at the coins and then cover them with a cloth.
- Ask the players to now pick up coins from the pile and arrange them in the same order as what was shown.
- Use the timer to time each of them. The player who gets the sequence right in the shortest amount of time wins!
3. The Magic Cup Game
Everyone would have played this at least once in their lives. In fact, people even play this with their pets! This is a great game for concentration.
What Do You Need
Three paper cups, a coin/or any small object
How to Play
- Invert the three cups and place them in a line.
- Put the object or coin under any one of the cups, making sure whoever is watching knows which cup it is under.
- Move the cups around for a while, stop and put them back in line. Ask which cup the coin is under. Whoever chooses right, wins.
- Take turns with moving the cups. You can see which player is best at finding the coin.
4. Memory Train
This one is perfect for long car rides as it is completely verbal and depends only on your concentration skills.
What Do You Need
Just yourself and your kids!
How to Play
- The game starts with a player saying, “I am going shopping. I pick up a…..”
- The next person repeats the phrase and adds another item. The second and third player does the same.
- The game continues with each player mentioning all the previous items and then adding another item when it is his or her turn. Players drop out of the game if they make a mistake.
- The player able to repeat the phrase for the longest time wins. You can use any line to begin with, like “I am going on vacation. I am taking my….” or “I am going on a picnic. I am packing my…..”
5. Rhyming Game
This game is similar to the memory train but is also is great for developing vocabulary in children.
What Do You Need
Just yourself and your kids!
How to Play
- The game starts when a player says a sentence. It can be anything, from “I fed the dog” to “I love toys”.
- The next player has to say the sentence followed by a word that rhymes with the last word and having the same vowel sound. For example, “I fed the dog” can be followed by “I fed the dog….log…”.
- The other players follow up with other rhyming words. They have to say all the words in order and are ‘out’ if they repeat a word already said.
- The player who is left in the end is the winner.
6. The Sound Chain Game
This is an auditory memory game, based mainly on listening and which is big on concentration powers. Gets a bit noisy but double the fun!
What Do You Need
Just yourself and your kids!
How to Play
- The game starts with a player starting a pattern of finger snaps or claps (for example, two snaps and a clap).
- The next player must do the same pattern and add a pattern of his or her own.
- The game goes on with each player repeating the entire pattern along with adding a new one each time.
- The player who forgets or makes a mistake in between is ‘out’ and the last player remaining, wins.
7. Memory Experiment
This is a fun family game, a little more scientific and suitable for slightly older kids.
What Do You Need
Pieces of paper and crayons
How to Play
- Give each player a piece of paper and a crayon
- Read out a list of 10 nouns (people, places or things)
- Wait a few minutes and then have each player repeat as many words as they can remember
- Next, list out 10 different nouns
- Have the players draw out the ones they remember
- Ask them to write down the 10 words
- Compare to see whether the drawings helped with recall
8. The Tray Game
A party game to help develop visual memory skills in your child
What Do You Need
Pens, pieces of paper, a tray, small objects from around your home (e.g coins, spoons, plants, toys, shoes etc)
How to Play
- Take the tray and fill it with a bunch of small objects taken from around your home.
- Give the players a minute to memorize all the objects and give them a pen and paper.
- When a minute is up, take away the tray and ask the players to write down as many objects as they remember.
- Whoever correctly remembers the most is the winner!
9. Spot the Difference
A simple game you can play literally anywhere – your house, the car, the doctor’s office, the parking lot of the mall…
What Do You Need
Again, just yourself and your kids!
How to Play
- If you outside, ask your child to close his or her eyes.
- Rearrange something about yourself. For example, take off/put on your glasses or take off one earring or even rearrange a lock of your hair.
- Ask your child to open his or her eyes and figure out what has changed. You can even put a time to it.
- Alternatively, if you are at home, ask him or her to leave the room, rearrange items in the room and ask to figure out the difference.
10. Flashcard Memorization
This is a party game you can play with a bunch of kids. A great way to get all of them to sit and have fun in an organized way!
What Do You Need
A pictorial set of flashcards with a good degree of detail, pen and pieces of paper
How to Play
- Select a flashcard and hold it up
- Give your child or the group of children some time to memorize what is there on the card
- Hide the card
- Ask them to write down what they recall of the image, as much as possible
- Play a few such rounds. The player who recalls the most details of each round as possible wins!
11. Round Robin
This is a group game which helps children not only with memorization but also with creativity.
What Do You Need
Yourself and a bunch of children
How to Play
- Get all the players to sit in a circle
- Choose one player and have him start a story with a sentence
- The next player has to repeat the sentence and add one of her own
- The game continues like this until a player cannot remember all the sentences
- As the kids are free to add their own creative touch to the story that is developing, it usually gets very funny with the number of twists and turns they add. Will get the whole family laughing!
12. Simon Says
This much-loved game is a classic and is a great concentration game for ages 3 and above!
What Do You Need
Yourself, your children and a wide space you can move around in
How to Play
- Gather around the players and give them an instruction, preceded by ‘Simon Says’. For example, ‘Simon says jump up and down’ or ‘Simon says bend your knee and hop around the room’.
- The rule is that the players follow the instructions only if it is preceded by ‘Simon says’. If the instruction is simply ‘dance around the room’ then the player who does it is out.
- The winner is the player who remains until the end and has successfully followed the instructions.
13. ‘I Went on Holiday’
This game is better with older kids as it requires at least some geographical knowledge.
What Do You Need
Just yourself and your kids!
How to Play
- The first player thinks of a city, continent or country beginning with the letter A, and then says it out loud. For example, ‘I went on holiday to America’.
- The second player repeats the sentence and follows it up with a place starting from the letter B. ‘I went on holiday to America and Beijing’
- The next player does the same and follows with a place starting from the letter C.
- The game continues in this way till a player makes a mistake or forgets the order of the places. The last player to remember the order and continue without a mistake wins!
14. Map It
This game is a fun one to help your child to remember what he or she sees or hears in their immediate environment.
What Do You Need
Paper, crayons
How to Play
- Take your child on a drive or a walk through a common everyday route
- Ask your child to note her surroundings and observe everything carefully.
- Once you get home, give her paper and crayons and ask her to draw whatever she saw on the route, including landmarks, buildings, and people
15. Storytelling Word-by-Word
Similar to the round robin game, this game is the shorter version but can go much faster and is much simpler!
What Do You Need
Just yourself and your kids!
How to Play
- Get the kids to gather in a circle
- Choose the first player and ask him to start a story with a single word. For example, ‘The’ or ‘Once’.
- The second player then repeats the first word and adds a second word to it. For example, if the first word is ‘the’ and second is ‘bird’, the sentence will be ‘the bird’.
- The third player also repeats the sentence from the beginning and adds a third word. A tip is to keep sentences short so that players can start new sentences with new words.
- In this way, a story is built up in words. The game continues till a player forgets the sequence or gets stuck in between.
- The last player who remembers everything wins!
Memory games increase a child’s awareness, cognition and the best thing is that they learn while they are not even aware that the activity is learning! The above are a few great games you can play with the family, with your child’s friend group or even one-on-one. Pretty soon, your child’s memory powers and observation skills will be much improved, maybe even better than your own!
