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Engaging games to boost brain power

By Dina Halaseh , Family Flavours - Jun 10,2024 - Last updated at Jun 10,2024

Photo courtesy of Family Flavours magazine

By Dina Halaseh,
Educational Psychologist

Our children’s engagement in play helps them learn and develop many skills including social, emotional and even cognitive skills! Here are some good games to introduce to your children and how they can help!

Connect 4: A classic strategy game that›s easy to learn but offers depth in gameplay. It’s easy for all ages and the strategic element keeps players engaged.

The game encourages critical thinking and planning ahead, making each move critical.

Players take turns dropping coloured discs into a vertical grid with the goal of connecting four of their own discs in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally before their opponent does.

This game works on divided attention, logic and reasoning, planning, executive function and problem solving.

Tetris: This is a timeless puzzle game that is simple, yet, addictive. The challenge of fitting falling blocks together to create solid lines while the pace increases, creates a thrilling and rewarding experience.

In Tetris, players manipulate falling shapes by rotating and shifting them to create complete horizontal lines without gaps.

This game works on logic and reasoning, processing speed, planning, long and short-term memory, selective and sustained attention, as well as visual processing.

Squint: This is a fun group game that combines drawing and guessing elements. Players take turns drawing pictures while their teammates try to guess what the drawing represents. But there’s a twist! The drawings must be created using a set of abstract shapes rather than traditional drawing tools. This adds a creative challenge and often results in hilarious interpretations and guesses.

This game works on divided and sustained attention, logic and reasoning, planning, speed, problem solving, sensory motor integration, short term and working memory and visual processing.

Let us spend some fun time together as a family and help boost our brains a little! Hope you enjoy the games on this list with your loved ones.

Sequence: This is a strategic board game that combines elements of card games and traditional board games. Players aim to create rows, columns, or diagonals of five connected markers on the game board by playing cards from their hands and placing markers on corresponding spaces.

This game works on: working memory, logic and reasoning, planning and numerical fluency.

 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

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