Pairs

You will need a set of pictures/ letters/ numbers on cards

To play

• Ensure your set of cards contains all matching pairs.
• Shuffle and spread all cards out on a flat surface, face down.
• Players take it in turns to choose any two cards. Make a successful match and you get to take another turn. No match, the cards are returned to their original position.

Success in Memory relies upon children remembering where they have seen each picture in previous turns – both those and those of the other players.

• The winner is the person who has matched the most pairs.

What’s Missing?

To play

• Place a number of household items onto a tray (the more items, the more challenging the game so for younger children start with just 3-4 items and increase from there).
• Tell your child to have a close look at the items on the tray. Name them together (the more you discuss the items the more likely your child is to remember them so you could ask them what colour or shape each item is or what it is used for).
• Cover the items with a tea towel. Ask your child to close their eyes and as they do so remove one item from under the cloth.
• Ask them to open their eyes, remove the cloth and tell you what’s missing!

Variations

For older children, use more items and allow them to look at them for a full minute. Then cover them up and ask them to write a list or draw as many of the items that they can remember.

I Went Shopping

To play

• The first player starts the game by saying, “I went shopping and bought a ____,” identifying an item they would buy.
• The second player continues, “I went shopping and bought a (names the first player’s item) and a ___ (adding a new item to the list).”
• Players continue taking turns to remember the items purchased in order as the list gets longer and longer. The winner is the last person who can correctly name all of the items in sequence.

Variations

This game can be adapted to many different scenarios, for example, “I went on holidays and packed…” or “I went to school and took …”