Easy games that test my child's memory

When I first came across this month’s Win A Puzzle title, it reminded me of the games my five-year-old likes to play. When she was a baby, I used to show her flash cards and board books. As she entered toddlerhood, I bought more books for her. As I have always had a passion for reading, I thought I would instil this habit in my child, too.

She eventually became interested in books. She loves to be read the same stories over and over again. To test her memory, I usually stop and ask her what comes next in the story. I even get her to be my little storyteller.

Sometimes, I pretend that I have forgotten some parts of the story. To my amazement, she is able to narrate the story well.

Like other kids, she has to do her homework and this is where I face challenges. As she is not diligent and hardworking, I have to put on my creative hat to get her to do her homework. Learning to spell words turns into a simple memory game where I get her to write alphabets on small pieces of paper. These pieces of paper are jumbled up. Then, she gets to arrange the alphabets to form words. I think this is great because not only do both of us have loads of fun, but she gets to practise her memorisation skills, too. And of course, my intention to revise her school work is fulfilled as well.

As my daughter is a very playful girl, I need to use many methods to make learning fun when teaching her. I try to deviate as much as I can from conventional methods of education which I myself went through when I was young. Thus, I get her involved in making puzzles and solving them with me. To make it more challenging, I get her favourite princess picture puzzles which she solves repeatedly and has eventually mastered.

Apart from this, she loves to play cards. We like to play “Happy Families” and “Snap” as a family. These are easy memory games which require the child to be attentive. It is fun to see my child playing these games which I had once played when I was younger. Another activity which my child enjoys is drawing simple objects. I try to guide her a couple of times and then she usually does it a few times on her own before she is finally able to do it herself.

Last, but not least, one of her favourite activities would be playing games on smartphones and tablet PCs. One of the many games which I observe she loves to play is a memory-matching game. This easy game requires the child to flip the cards around and find the matching objects in the shortest time. Sometimes, I sit next to her to see how she plays. Needless to say, she can play the game better than me sometimes!

Geetha