Why Should You Let Your Kids Play Memory Games

Encouraging kids to enhance their memory can help immensely towards the daily endeavors of their lives. Given the benefits of playing memory games with toddlers, it’s important to always play them regularly. It helps encourage bonding with your kid and still improving his or her memory skills. There’s no denying that a good memory can help one excel in different areas of life. It’s important that you encourage and work towards promoting this skill in your toddler from a very young age. Kids learn fast, but also love to play a lot. It's important to incorporate the memory enhancement game into their play routine and encourage your child to learn as they play.

Even though memory games are fun and entertaining, the main purpose of It is to make an impact and help our kids in boosting and retaining a good memory. Having a great memory will benefit a child in every area of life either academically, socially and morally. The following are some great benefits of playing memory games with your toddler;

1. Improved concentration
2. Exercise for the brain
3. Better attention span
4. Improved cognitive skills
5. Quicker thinking skills
6. Improved focus
7. Enhanced brain functions
8. Training for visual memory
9. May prevents memory related problems

Below are a few recommendations of memory games, using pictures, animals and even online to build up your child's memory.

This engaging, basic words game features color-coded cards for 3 levels of play and includes 36 word cards, 36 picture cards, and a two-sided game mat. It is perfect for 1 to 4 players.

Children learn about taking turns and matchmaking in this game as they try to make pairs of elated elephants, panting puppies, smiling suns, and other familiar objects. Original Memory is a quiet activity for developing concentration and memory. With more players, it's even more of a memory challenge to remember where the cards are that have already been turned over. And you have to wait for your turn, which is sometimes harder than anything. The printed rules in the box set the tone for this child-friendly game: the youngest player always goes first.

The Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Matching Game is picture-matching fun for everyone. This classic game of picture matching features Disney Mickey Mouse and Friends. Flip cards over, two at a time, to make a match. Make the most matching pairs, and you win the game. No reading required to play. Game promotes observation, matching, memory skills, turn-taking and playing together. Includes 36 picture cards and instructions. 2-4 Players, Ages 3 and up.

Animals are loved by all and what better way for a kid to connect and relate to an animal than studying and remembering them. The following are some great memory game featuring animals:

this game comes with 12 large matching cards and 12 high-quality assorted plush animal heads that include a cow, frog, pig, tiger, bear, puppy, bird, duck, monkey, penguin, zebra, 
and giraffe. A great opportunity to develop color and shape recognition, teach your kiddo all about animals, and even make 
things extra fun by telling them the noises each animal makes.

Tots love to learn about animals and the sounds they make. This game reinforces those animal identifications in a fun format. Large scalloped on heavy board tiles are easy to handle and feature favorite animals kids love, such as turtles, horses, bears and ducks.

Banana Panda is dedicated to all little explorers who are curious about the world. With an emphasis on great design and top-quality components, Banana Panda offers products that excite and inspire through educational play.

An online memory game with fruit images. Find 2 of the same images and complete the game as fast as possible.

Fun and special memory game with fishes. Find two of the same fish but to reach the goal you need to find the fish that is indicated on the bottom.

The match game is pretty easy, match the same cats. Remove all cats as fast as possible for a higher score.

Memory game with the cute Zoobies. Locate 2 of the same Zoobies, with are cute cartoony head of animals.

You can easily play this game with everyday household things. Place them in front of your toddler and ask him to name the objects. Once this is done, tell him to close his eyes. Hide one of the objects from the group. Ask your tot to open his eyes and let him tell you what the missing object is. This is a great brain exercise to improve memory. Keep in mind that your child may take some time to get acquainted to the game. Continue playing it using different objects.

Take your little one for a walk in the neighbourhood. Point out the houses of his friends and tell him who lives where. He may take a few days to get accustomed to the game. Once he seems ready enough, point out a house at random and ask him whose it is. Try to do this as often as possible. It’s an easy game to improve working memory in children.

This is an awesome exercise to improve memory and concentration in children. You can use similar types of fruits or vegetables or flash cards if you have them. Start by placing three pairs of cards face down on a table. Ask your toddler to open the first card and call out what he sees. Then, ask him to open the next card. If the card is identical to the first one, he can keep both the cards. However, if the card is different, he needs to place the two cards back, face down. Encourage him to continue until he’s paired up all the cards.

When kids are little older at 7 years old and above, you can introduce more complicated memory games to challenge their growing brains and build up a strong set of memory skills which will be a useful skill set in education and even as an adult.

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.

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.

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!

Memory games are considered as one of the primary methods for ensuring that our brains are working at their best. These games have become a subject of great interest to people because they are founded on sound science. Memory is the ability to register, store, hold and retrieve new information, and therefore necessary to engage our kids in such activities that will forever keep their brain active and memory fresh.

There are a lot of memory games available for kids, you just need to find the age-appropriate ones and the one right for your child. It’s never too early to start playing games that will provide kids with great memory retention, the earlier the better.