Visual Memory Game

Tips for parents:

We strongly recommend you to buy a whiteboard and use different coloured marker pens.

You can make an advanced version of this game by writing two words or drawing two pictures or one word and one picture. You can use shapes and numbers. Erase what you have written/ drawn and after 10 seconds or so and then ask the child to recall the images.

Repeating the activity will improve your child’s short term memory. In short term memory we hold the image for less than a minute unless we rehearse the material again and again. Short term memory is very useful while copying from the board and especially while doing maths.

The child can be asked to recall the chapter headings, paragraph headings of the lessons. The child can be asked to remember the diagrams in the texts. Some of the things that can be done by you are:

1. A good visual recall activity is to recall the names of house in the street you live in, or places you and your child regularly visit- shops, park, places of worship etc.
2. Ask the child to close her/his eyes and tell the details of the place. Gradually make the child tell finer details of what she/he had seen.
3. You can also ask your child to tell what happened in the school, what was the colour of the dress that the teachers wore,  which subject was taught first, was any teacher absent, what happened in the assembly etc.
4. Ask the child to tell you the important buildings/ shops/restaurants etc in your place. Also ask where the building is located on the left or right side of the road.  

Asking these types of general questions is a good training for your child’s brain. These activities would definitely help the capacity of your child to notice (observe) and remember what was seen. These would help your child to be a better reader by observing and memorizing what was read. Another important thing is you spend more time with your child and she/he may have so many things to share with you!

Buy memory games from a toy shop. You can play these games with your child. Search the net for memory games. Many games are available free.

You can make your own memory game with a pack of playing cards. You can have fifteen pairs of identical cards and shuffle them and place them face down. The player can open a card and try to lift another card which matches with the card already opened. If the two cards match, then the child can keep the cards. The player who has the maximum number of cards is the winner.

You can also search the internet to locate more games. Play with your child! Have fun with your child!