Keeping your little one entertained and engaged is crucial for their development. Play is not just about having fun; it’s a serious business that helps children learn and grow. Memory games are an excellent way to help your child develop new skills and sharpen their memory.
In this article, we’ll share some fun visual and auditory memory games that you can play with your child to help them learn and bond with them.
Why Playing a Memory Game Is Important?
- Playing memory games can improve a child’s memory and memorization skills in the long run.
- Memory games help develop both sensory and short-term memory.
- Short-term memory development during early childhood can positively impact a child’s working memory abilities later in life.
- Play can act as a form of self-medication and aid in building safe and positive relationships that buffer against toxic stress.
- Playing can reduce stress in children, such as those who may be anxious about starting preschool.
Ways to Develop Your Child’s Working Memory (Ages 1)
1. Learning and Playing via Physical activities:
- Physical activity during play contributes to the creation of motor skills, emotional intelligence, and prevents childhood obesity.
- Examples include playing on playground equipment, games like duck-duck-goose and tag, and other activities that help children take risks in a safe environment.
2. Playing with Toys and Objects While Conducting an experiment:
- Babies use their sensory-motor skills to investigate a toy’s properties and conduct “experiments” as tiny scientists.
- Preschoolers use objects to develop intellectual abilities and concepts like symbolic meaning, sharing, and taking turns.
3. Pretend Play or Imaginary Play:
- Allows young children to try out various social roles and learn to cooperate.
- Fosters creativity and helps children develop more complex negotiation, communication, and language skills.
- Examples include dress-up, pretend play, and imaginary play.
4. Playing Outside to develop visual memory and stability skills:
- Outdoor play allows children to use all their senses and develop skills such as visual memory and balance.
- Helps with concentration span.
- Studies show that children in countries with more recess time achieve greater academic success as they grow older.
Some of the fun working memory games for parents to play with their children
Fun working memory games for parents to play with their children include:
- Create a playhouse out of a cardboard box.
- Pretend to make phone calls and converse with each other.
- Count fingers and toes out loud.
- Play fun tunes with instruments.
- Fill a tub with water or sand.
- Send your child on errands around the house.
- Let your child “write” with food particles.
- Let your child play on a sticky surface.
- Talk through a cardboard tube.
- Crawl your way through tunnels.
Tips for Improving Working Memory
- Keep a diary to recall events from the day and strengthen working memory.
- Encourage reading with your child to promote attention, mental concentration, and remembering sequences of events.
- Use active reading techniques such as highlighting or underlining to improve working memory in academics.
- Keep instructions brief and simple for better retention, and have young children repeat them back.
- Break long instructions into smaller parts to make them easier to remember and follow.
Conclusion
Memory games are a fun and effective way to improve a child’s cognitive abilities and awareness. Playing memory games with your child, whether it’s with the whole family, friends, or one-on-one, can help enhance their memory and observation skills. Your child may even surpass your own abilities!
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