14 MEMORY GAMES FOR CHILDREN, ADULTS AND THE ELDERLY - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The games memory are very useful to improve memory skills, study better and avoid forgetting knowledge. It is common to think that memory is something innate, each one has a certain capacity and if we have a bad memory we can do little to it.

However, this is not the case, since it is scientifically proven that memory is a capacity that can be exercised. Therefore, having a good memory depends, to a large extent, on the amount of time we invest in working on it with exercises, activities, games and habits.

In addition, it is not necessary to be constantly studying or "brooding" to enhance our memory, we can also do it through dynamic, creative and fun games.

The games and exercises that I will show you serve to develop, reinforce, stimulate and activate memory in the elderly and the elderly, adults, children and adolescents.

You may also be interested in these games to train the mind.

Games, activities and exercises to exercise memory

1- Chained words

It is a perfect game to train language but at the same time it becomes a very useful activity to exercise our verbal memory, the speed of processing and information retrieval.

It has to be played in a group, with a minimum of 3 or 4 people, and it consists, as its name suggests, in chaining one word after another.

In this way, one person says a word and the next has to say another that begins with the last syllable of the previous word.

For example: if I start by saying printer, the next participant must say a word that begins with the syllable "ra" such as trace, the next participant must say a word that begins with "ar" as closet, and so on.

• Printer
• Rat
• Card
• high heel shoes

A priori it may seem like a very simple game but if it is done in the best possible way, you will realize that it is not so simple.

Personally, I recommend playing in teams, doing a series of words for a minute and competing for which of the two groups manages to complete a greater number of words during that period of time.

You will see that if you try to go as fast as possible it will not always be that simple, and you will have to demand your mind to find the right word as quickly as possible in each case.

2- Memorize people and cities

Cities

1) Try to memorize these cities

2) Answer these questions

• Which city is the one in the top box in the center?
• What city is the one in the center box on the right?
• What city is the one in the bottom left box?
• …

Persons

1) Memorize the following row of people:

2) Answer these questions:

• Where is the woman with the yellow scarf?
• Where is the tallest man?
• What is the man in position 4 like?
• What is the man in last position like?

3- Repeat phrases mentally

This game is possibly the best for working on immediate memory, the ability to learn and the retention of new information.

As in the previous case, you have to play in a group or as a couple, and it consists of remembering as many phrases as possible.

To do this, you must first choose a semantic formulation of the sentences. The simplest thing is to compose the sentences of a subject and a verb, such as "baby dog."

However, if you want to increase the difficulty you can create any kind of longer phrase, such as "the black dog drinks", "the dog drinks water", "the black dog drinks water", "the black dog drinks water in the park ', etc.

The game begins when a participant says a phrase: "the dog drinks." Subsequently, the next contestant must say the previous phrase "the dog drinks" and a new one that is invented, for example "the hen runs."

The game continues and the third participant must say the first two sentences "the dog drinks", "the hen runs", and a new one. The game is continued until one of the participants is unable to remember all the previous sentences.

• Participant 1: the dog drinks.
• Participant 2: the dog drinks, the hen runs.
• Participant 3: the dog drinks, the hen runs and it's sunny.
• Participant 4: the dog drinks, the hen runs and it is sunny in the park.
• Again participant 1:…

4- How many are there?

This game will help you to work your short term memory. You have to find the number of: elephants, dragonflies, giraffes, stars, hippos, parrots, butterflies, monkeys and zebras.

5- Semantic fields

It is very useful to work on the memory of those things that are stored in our brain.

In fact, we spend our lives storing memories and information in our minds, but often we do not do the exercise of remembering many of the things that we have stored.

When we stop recovering that stored information, the structures of our brain that contain it weaken, so to avoid forgetting things it is advisable to carry out memory exercises.

To do this, a suitable exercise is what I have named as semantic fields.

This game consists of choosing a certain semantic field: drinks, food, furniture, clothing brands, types of food, etc. The semantic field that is chosen can be of any type.

Once it has been chosen, each person must say a specific word that is included in that semantic field. For example, if drinks are chosen, the first can say water, the second beer, the third wine, etc.

Words are said (without repeating any of the above) until one of the group does not come to mind new ones.

• Drinks: water, juice, soda, beer…
• Types of food: vegetables, fruits, fish…
• Furniture: chairs, tables, shelves…

This exercise can also be performed with other types of memories that are not semantic fields, such as things that happened on a specific day in which all the participants were present, names of the members of the gang of friends from when they were young, names of presidents of state, etc.

6- remembering numbers

One of the most important forms of memory that people have is working memory.

This type of memory is what allows us to remember a short series of new information for a certain period of time (6-8 seconds).

In this way, working memory becomes key to determining our learning, since if it works well we will be able to remember a greater number of information, and we will have more abilities to store information in our brain.

To enhance this type of memory you can play a game that consists of remembering series of numbers.

It is that one person is saying series of numbers to another, and this has to remember and write them once the series has finished pronouncing.

For example, if person A says: 6-4, after saying the series, person B should write it down on a piece of paper.

Each time you match two or three numbers, the series can be increased: (6-7-2; 7-8-9-1; 5-4-9-2-8, etc.).

Although at first it is very easy to remember the series, as it gets longer the person will have to make a greater effort of concentration and memorization to be able to remember it.

7- visual memory

This game manages to exercise working memory like the previous one, but in this case, instead of a verbal way such as listening and playing numbers, it is done in a visual way.

In fact, visual working memory is almost more important than verbal working memory, as it allows us to learn new information through the things we perceive visually.

The game consists of making a matrix with squares like the one shown below.

In this example, the matrix contains 4 squares, but you can make as many as you want (8, 10,12,16,20 etc.).

It is convenient to play the team game, in such a way that each team draws an equal matrix, with the same number of squares. In this example each team would draw a matrix of 4 squares.

The game consists of one team (for example team A) painting (without the other team seeing) half the squares of the matrix black. In the example we have shown you would paint two squares black and leave two squares blank.

The other team (team B) will leave the matrix blank and wait for the other team to finish painting theirs.

Subsequently, a player from team A will show the painted matrix to a player from team B for two to three seconds.

The objective is for the player of team B to be able to remember which squares of the matrix that the participant of team A has shown him are painted, and reproduce them identically in his matrix (which will not be previously painted).

If it is done with a matrix of 4 squares, it is quite simple, since visualizing the matrix for a couple of seconds you can easily remember which were the two painted squares (the one on the top left and the one on the bottom right in the example).

However, if the numbers of squares in the matrix are increased, the game will get more complicated. For example, try to see if you can remember the next image and reproduce it in an identical way by viewing it for only 2 or 3 seconds.

In this way, when the matrices have more than 10 squares, the display time can be increased and the contestant from team B can see the image for 8 seconds.

8- Fit sheep

In the next game you can work on short-term memory. You have to match each type of sheep with each silhouette.

9- Form pairs

The game of matching pairs is a very good exercise for working memory, immediate memory and learning.

This famous game consists of putting papers (if you do it yourself) or figures (if you buy one of these ready-made games) in such a way that a drawing is shown at the bottom.

Each drawing contains a couple on another figure / paper, and the game consists of lifting them two by two, remembering which drawing has come out, to be able to lift two figures that contain the same one.

10- Copy and reproduction of figures

Finally, to work on visuospatial memory, a game can be played that consists of visualizing, copying and later reproducing a figure.

The game consists of the member of a group drawing a figure, with the shapes and characteristics they want.

Once done, show the figure to the member of the other group, who has to copy the drawing in the most identical way possible for a certain time (depending on the complexity of the figure drawn, they may be given more or less time).

Once you have copied it, the drawings of the figure will be covered and you must reproduce it in the most similar way possible without looking.

As drawings are made, more complex figures can be configured, so that it costs more to make the copy, remember the characteristics of the figure, and be able to reproduce it without looking.

11- Find the differences

Find the differences games help to work on short-term memory.

12- Where is it?

This game is used to improve your short-term memory and increase the speed of perception. To play you must first memorize some words. To do this, unfold the button and when 20 seconds have passed, close it again:

Words

NEWSPAPER CD-ROM TEDDY BEAR MIRROR CUSHION BRACELET

When you're ready, find the objects in this image without looking at the list again.

13- Apps in order

Take a screenshot of the layout of your smartphone apps. Then give it to a friend or close person and they can change the order at will. When finished, you have 3 minutes to try to remember the order in which they were placed at the beginning.

To check if you had memory, go to the screenshot and compare the hits and misses.

14- Stroop Test

This test seeks to process our attention span. In the original test, you have to say the colors without reading the word, which corresponds to a different color.

In this case, to give priority to memory, look at the image for a minute and try to remember which color corresponds to each word. After time, another person will tell you the word and you will have to respond with the assigned color.

Then it can be done the other way around and, instead of saying the word, mention the color and have it tell you the assigned word.