Turn a selection of household items into a fun memory activity.
Cover the items and challenge your child to remember each one, asking them plenty of questions along the way, like the family in the video below.
The benefits of playing observation and memory games
- This game offers a chance to boost your child's attention skills by asking them to carefully look at items and remember details about them
- It helps to challenge their short-term memory
- It's an opportunity for them to practise answering questions about the different objects
- It can introduce them to lots of ways to describe items
How to play hidden item observation games
Pick a selection of different items to place on the kitchen table, worktop or floor in front of your child. These could be some of their favourite toys, books, household objects, stationary, fruits and vegetables… anything child-friendly really.
Ask your child if they can name each of the items in front of them. You could ask them questions about the items too, for example 'What colour is the fire engine?'.
Place your sheet or towel over the items. Ask them to list as many of the items they can remember. Lift the sheet off - are there any they missed? Can they say which ones they were missing?
Put the sheet back on. This time, you could ask them questions about the details of the items under the sheet to see what they noticed and remember about them. For example, you could ask 'how many pencil sharpeners were there?' or 'which is bigger, the blue car or the red car?'.
For an extra challenge, you could take turns with them to remove an item without the other person seeing. When you lift the sheet off, can they guess which one is missing?
More memory games
Taking time to chat with your little one about activities you've done over the course of your day can be great for asking them all sorts of questions about details they might remember. This is great for helping children practise talking about the past, a key skill for when they start school.
Image caption, Playing a memory game helps to introduce new words to your child.
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