We love memory games at our house... and I definitely think my son has a better memory than me these days. This game helps strengthen memory skills. The child has to remember the following things:
- the number of eggs in the bowl
- the colors of the eggs in the bowl
We started off with 4 plastic eggs in the bowl and then added more eggs as he showed he was capable of remembering more.
1. Put 4 eggs in the bowl
2. Rehearse the colors that you see
3. Take 1 egg away (while your child closes his eyes or you put the bowl behind your back)
4. Have your child guess what color egg you took away
If he guesses right, replace the correctly named egg and try again. We took turns hiding the basket and removing the eggs. He loved taking all five out and hiding them when it was my turn to guess.
To make it harder, take more than one egg away.
After awhile, change the number of eggs in the bowl and colors of eggs in the bowl.
Mental games help improve or strengthen memory and concentration. These skills are important in every aspect of life- language development, learning in school (reading/writing, etc.), problem solving, relationships with friends/family members, etc.
Some other ways I help my son work on memory/recall skills are...
- giving him practice following multiple step directions throughout the day
- talk about our schedule for the day and then ask him throughout the day to summarize what we have planned and what we have left to do
- having him remember our grocery list (usually on short trips when we need 4-5 things)
- telling him things to remind me to do... and then cuing him to remind me later in the day ("What does mommy need to remember to tell daddy tonight?")
- asking him what happened at specific activities/events throughout the day? (friend's house, church, during a music class, etc.)
By taking pictures to use as cues (and then showing them to him) or having him tell someone else about our day or what he needed to remember, his memory continues to be strengthened.
What other memory strengthening activities do you do at your house?
Idea from Preschool Express
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