Concentration games are vital to strengthening your child's brain power and memory. These games are fun tools that primarily teach children focus on a task to completion. Depending on the type, concentration games can also help a child become more comfortable thinking and reacting quickly--skills that will become increasingly critical in high school, college, and the workplace.
Hibernating Animals Memory Match
This free matching game, found at apples4theteacher.com, is geared toward early elementary school children. It not only exercises their concentration abilities, but teaches them about animals that hibernate.
The game consists of 20 cards in four rows and five columns, equating to 10 animal pairs. The player clicks two cards at a time, trying to remember under which card the matching animal is located. When the player makes a match, those two cards uncover part of a larger picture. Both the animal pairs and the animal in the larger picture are hibernating animals. The game keeps track of how many tries it takes a player to complete the puzzle, motivating the player to improve in this area.
Simon
Simon is widely known as a memory board game recommended for children at least seven years of age. A little-known fact is that you do not have to purchase the game because your child can play online free of charge. The kidzpage.com offers this option. Though some people might enjoy the competition the board game version evokes, the online version similarly works a player's concentration skills, while keeping track of the player's high score, allowing for competition against others.
Simon consists of four colors in a circle. The goal is to mimic the computer's pattern as it highlights colors. The computer begins by lighting one color, then adds to the pattern each time the player correctly mimics the existing sequence. The better the player's performance, the more difficult the game becomes.
Find the Suspect
Find the Suspect can also be found at kidzpage.com. This concentration game challenges the player's memory by requiring quick observation during a limited time. Because of the time constraint, this game is better for older elementary school children--though it will even test adults.
The basis of the game is simple, but quickly becomes quite challenging. The player is first shown one suspect's picture for about five seconds. Then the picture disappears as three pictures appear. The player must remember what the suspect looked like and click on the corresponding picture. The game becomes increasingly difficult as next, two suspects appear. Seconds later, one face disappears and the player must choose from the three options. The game goes up to ten suspects, which requires a superior memory.
Tags: animal pairs, board game, elementary school, Find Suspect, game becomes, larger picture
