Why Memory Games Should Be Number One in Your Home
Memory games such as Kim’s Game have been around forever it seems, and with good reason – they help us to develop our working memory. In the Squoodles household, we find that playing memory games is a nice way of slowing down the pace of our day and gives us a chance to relax. So we thought we’d share a few of our favourite games and a bit about the importance of the working memory.
Memory Games and Our Working Memory
Working memory helps us to remember the things we have thought, seen, heard or done within the past few seconds or minutes earlier. This is important for many day-to-day tasks such as having a conversation, following instructions, understanding what we are reading and organising ourselves. It also impacts on academic performance, with poor working memory possibly leading to problems with maths, problem solving and reading comprehension.
Memory games are a great tool that can be used to improve the working memory of both kids and adults. They can help with improving:
- Visual recognition – having to find the differences or identify matching images, visual discrimination is improved. This means that your child can identify differences and objects quickly and decide what to do about what they’ve seen.
- Attention, concentration and focus – these areas of the brain rely on a good working memory.
- Reading – from first recognising the letters, then the sounds that they make, moving onto the sounds letters make together and then word recognition.
- Critical thinking skills – being able to make decisions, organise information, process information and ask questions more easily.
Let’s take a look at a few of our favourite memory games.
NZ’s Favourite Games
There are some clear winners when it comes to memory games in the Squoodles house. Our top favourites are:
- Kiwiana Memory Game – it’s the cute food characters that first attracted our boys and since then, they’ve been playing it heaps.
- Kim’s Game – we like to put a range of things onto our tray, such as keys, toy cars, pipe cleaners and yup, pet rocks. The boys have fun figuring out what their brothers have removed from the tray.
- Cat Donut Shaped Memory Match Game – we call this a win because it combines two awesome things – cats and donuts!
- Draw a Word On My Back – don’t stress because these are words drawn with fingers, not pens. A short word is written on the back of one child by another. They then have to guess what they word was. The older kids love this!
Do you have any favourite memory or matching games you play often in your family? We’d love to know what they are, so please share them with us in the comments.
