What are the 25 Interesting memory games for kids?

Introduction

Games are important for children to explore their life and their self-expression. The games can be described as a tool for them to reflect their thoughts and feelings. Playing also can build a test area for the children where they can have such experiments and consolidations.

The contemporary era is overwhelmed with swiftness and convenience. There’s no wonder that the millennials overlook for instantaneous results rather than persistence and consistency. The golden rule to ensure a better future for your kids is to teach them young. Memory games for kids are not just about having fun.

Also read:

• 20 Best Brain Games for Kids
• 50 Block Games for Kids

What makes it more appealing is the way it trains your brain to provide it with the necessary skills required for memorizing. Kids' memory games help them to gain perspectives and ideologies that are necessary for recollection in the long run. In addition to that, games to help your memory plays a pivotal role in adhering to the concepts of logic and memory at a young age.

Since they are gained through word memory games, they tend to leave an indelible mark on your kids’ psyche and will flourish their memory power over the course of time.

25 Interesting Memory Games for Kids

Young kids need to be constantly entertained and engaged. Memory games boost different aspects of your child’s development!

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! Here are 20 memory games for kids that will boost their memory and insight.

1. The memory card game 

Card games are a great pass time and also a great kids’ memory game. This one, in particular, is easy to play and is hassle-free. All you need is 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.

• The game starts when the first player picks up two cards from any set and places them face up.

• If they are of the 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 facing down to their original places and the next player gets to play.

• When a player picks the last pair, the game ends. The player who has the most pairs is the winner. 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 the same rank but opposite colour.

2. Coin game

This is a popular memory game for kids as it is hassle-free, fun, and easy. All you need are coins, a piece of cloth, and a timer or watch to track the time.

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

Amongst memory games for kids, this one is specially targeted to boost concentration and attention. Three paper cups and a coin is what you need for this particular game. 

How to Play

• Invert the three cups and place them in a line.

• Place the coin under a cup while the player is watching.

• 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 and find out who is best at finding the coin.

4. Memory Train

A game to help your memory while you are on the run is what memory train is all about. What makes this word memory game handy is that a company is all you need to start playing this game. You can sit with your children and start playing the game without the need for any other material.

How to Play

• The game starts when a player says, “I am going to the market. 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 who is 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 is another word memory game that will help them boost both their vocabulary and memory. 

How to Play

• The game starts when a player says a sentence. It can be anything as trivial as “I ate pancake”.

• The next player has to say the sentence followed by a word that rhymes with the last word and has the same vowel sound. For example, “I ate pancake” can be followed by “I ate pancake….mandrake…”.

• 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. Sound Chain Game

This is an auditory memory game for kids and is proven to boost listening skills and concentration power. 

How to Play

• The game starts when a player starts a pattern of finger snaps or claps (for instance, 1 snap and 3 claps).

• The next player must do the same pattern and add a pattern of his or her own.

• The players have to repeat the previous pattern along with adding a new pattern. This way the game goes on.

• The player who fails to recollect the pattern or makes mistakes in the pattern, fails. 

7. Memory Experiment

This game is suitable for slightly older kids and you can include your whole family whilst playing this game. The materials required are paper and crayons.

How to Play

• Give each player a piece of paper and a crayon

• Readout 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

• Ask the players to draw the ones they can recollect.

• Ask them to write down the 10 words

• Compare to see whether the drawings helped with recall

8. The Tray Game

This is a party game to help develop visual communication and interpretation skills. Pens, trays, pieces of paper and small objects like spoons, toys, shoes, etc from around your home are what you need. 

How to Play

• Fill the tray with a bunch of small objects from your home.

• Ask the players to memorize all the objects and give them a pen and paper.

• After a minute, take away the tray and ask the players to write down the objects they remember.

• Whoever correctly remembers the most is the winner!

9. Spot the Difference

This is a simple game that you can play literally anywhere and is proven to boost attention skills! 

How to Play

• If you are 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 time into 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. Flash Card memorization   

This is a party game that you can play with a bunch of kids. A pictorial set of flashcards with a good degree of detail, pen, and pieces of paper is what you'll need

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 game that accentuates creativity along with memory.

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. This game will get the whole family laughing!

12.  Simon Says 

This classic game is a much-loved memory game for kids. 

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 a player does an action that does not precede with “Simon says”, he is out.

• The winner is the player who remains until the end and has successfully followed the instructions.

13. ‘I went on a holiday’

This is a memory game that demands geographical knowledge.

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 letter C.

• The game continues in this way till a player makes a mistake or forgets the order of the places. The player who remembers the order and continues without a mistake wins!

14.  Map It

This game gives them knowledge about directions and what happens in their immediate environment. 

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.  Word by Word Story-telling

This is a shorter version of round robin game. But compared to the latter it can go much faster and is simpler. 

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!

16. Picture Bingo

This is an effective memory boosting game that improves your child’s visual ability along with memory.

How to Play

• Each player selects a baseboard. The matching cards are shuffled and spread out on a flat surface, face down.

• Players take turns to select a card. They get a chance if the image and the card matches. If they are not matching, the card is placed back, face down.

• The winner is the first person to match all of the images on their baseboard.

17.  What's Missing

This is a challenging and engaging game for young children. 

How to Play

• Take a few household items in your tray.

• Tell your child to have a close look at the items on the tray. Ask your child to name them. Remember, the more the number of items, the more fun.

• Cover the items with a tea towel. Now ask them to close their eyes and during this time remove one item from under the cloth.

• Ask them to open their eyes, remove the cloth, and tell you what’s missing!

18. Draw a Word on my Back

This is a game that requires attention. The child has to translate physical sensation into words. For this, they will have to create a mental picture.

How to Play 

• One player uses their finger to ‘write’ a word on the back of the second player. The second player tries to identify the word. Players switch positions and take turns being the ‘writer’ and the ‘guesser’.

19.  Number String

Similar to The Shopping Game, using numbers makes this game more abstract and therefore more challenging. Perfect for older kids!

How to Play

• The first person says a one-digit number. 

• The next player repeats the first number and adds another one-digit number. The third person says the first and the second numbers and then adds a third number. 

• The game continues until someone forgets a number. That person is out. 

• Play continues and the winner is the last person standing – the person able to correctly identify the longest string of numbers.

20. Card Recall

This is another way to use the cards for memory benefits. 

How to Play

• Played in pairs, five cards are placed in a series on the table (these can be playing cards or other picture or word cards). 

• One player is given time to memorize the sequence.

•  Then their partner takes the cards, shuffles them, and places only four of the cards back on the table. 

• The player who initiates must identify the missing card.

21.  2048

This memory booster game is available online for both Android and iOS users.  

How to Play

• You will start with the digit 2 and you will proceed in multiples of the same.

• Your goal is to combine the numbers to make 2048.

• Use the arrow keys to move the tiles and match them with the same digits and beat the highest score.

22. Daily Sudoku

This is a fun online game to boost maths skills. It is to be played in a similar fashion as goes offline sudoku.

How to Play 

• There is a 9*9 grid divided into 9 smaller 3*3 grid.

• The objective of the game is that each digit between 1 to 9 must appear only once in every smaller grid, vertical lines, and horizontal lines.

23. Math Mania

Math Mania is an educational math game to strengthen your mental addition skills.

How to Play

• In each level, there is a math equation on the left, in random order. On the right side are the sums, scattered randomly.

• Kids have to drag the math equations from the left to the correct sums on the right. 

• Once they've matched all the additional facts with their sums, the level is complete.

• Each level is on a timer. The faster you complete a level, the higher your score.

24. Broken Calculator 

Broken Calculator is a virtual game available on an online platform. 

How to Play

• The play is all about calculations. 

• The player should act as a calculator and solve the problems. 

25.  Concentration memory game

This is available on online platforms and is predominantly built to improve memory skills. 

How to Play

• This is a matching game. 

• Match figures and shapes and follow the instructions to complete this online game. 

Conclusion

Memory games increase a child’s awareness, cognition, and the best thing is that they learn while they are not even aware that it’s a learning activity! 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 observation skills and memory powers will be much improved, maybe even better than your own! Throughout their school years, children are introduced to new, abstract concepts that require them to store information in both their short and long-term memories – letter sounds, sight words, multiplication tables, historic dates, the periodic table and so much more. Hence, developing memory power is imperative in one's life.

Cuemath Gym app has a variety of games and activities that will help your students fall in love with maths. Learning is not that hard with Cuemath. On the contrary, the engaging activities in the gym app provide your kids with a regular mental workout that'll reward them in the long run. Cuemath comes up with regular articles that encourage their students to develop different skills with regard to mathematics. 

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