Little brain

Memory training for kids – how it works

Some children have a problem coping with the amount of learning required of them. Often they are simply no longer receptive after a long day or are overwhelmed by the information. But the brain is like a muscle, it can be trained. You can read here how you can playfully give your child a boost.

Your child's memory capacity increases significantly, especially between the ages of six and 15. Many processes are already automated and require less "working memory", the memory becomes more efficient. If you provide your child with additional challenges at this age, their memory will be optimally trained. New cross-connections are created and important traces are deepened. The areas of creativity, flexibility, concentration and dealing with numbers are particularly important. You can also help your child to recall certain information more quickly. A few exercises help to make the whole thing fun and incidental. 

Game 1 - Memorize terms
You list ten simple words for your child, such as sun, flower, tree, bird, butterfly, mouse, bicycle, car, cloud and person. Then your child is given five minutes to draw the words. You can also both draw "against each other" - whoever has memorized more words wins. In this way, your child learns to translate words into pictures and memorize them better. 

Game 2 - Picture stories
Show your child some pictures and ask them to tell a story with them. This trains their ability to make connections and find explanations. This is the perfect way to train your child's creativity. 

Game 3 - Find words
How many words can you find that end in "-ig", how many that have a "U" as the second letter? Forming word chains is also good training: you start with a two-part word, your child has to form a new two-part word with the second half - such as writing-table, table-leg, leg-break, break-place, place-place, place-card etc. The loser is the one who can't find a word. This trains the recall of information - a skill that is needed for vocabulary tests, for example. Instead of finding strings of words, you can also try to find as many words as possible that rhyme.

Game 4 - Error search pictures
Buy a puzzle book for your child. Especially error search pictures or simple word puzzles are wonderful training for your child's concentration and recall skills.

Game 5 - Mental arithmetic
There are countless opportunities in everyday life to get your child to do math: When shopping, they can add up the prices you tell them. When driving, they can work out the sums of the numbers on the number plates of other cars. And you can also give him easy mental arithmetic tasks. Say arithmetic steps at a slow pace, such as: 5 times 2, plus 4, divided by 2 times 3 is...? The better your child is at training, the faster you can say the arithmetic steps.