Cards laid face down in neat rows, and a simple, maddening challenge: remember where you saw that picture two turns ago. The Memory Match is one of the oldest card games there is, and it remains a genuinely good way to build a young child’s concentration and recall.
What you need
A set of matching picture cards (two of each image), enough for the group playing.
How to play
Before playing properly, let children look through all the cards once, face up, so they know what pictures are in the set. Then shuffle and lay every card face down in neat rows where everyone can reach.
Players take turns. On your turn, flip over two cards, one at a time, so everyone can see them. If the two cards match, you keep the pair and get an extra turn. If they don’t match, turn them back face down and the next player goes. As the game continues, everyone, not just the player whose turn it is, can see which cards have been revealed and where, which means watching carefully during other players’ turns genuinely helps your own.
The player with the most matched pairs when all the cards are gone wins.
Variations
For a first attempt with younger children, start with far fewer cards, six or eight rather than a full set, and build up the number as they get more comfortable with the game.
Why it works
Unlike many games, luck plays almost no role here once a few cards have been revealed, success depends entirely on paying attention and remembering, which makes it a genuinely good exercise for concentration rather than just a fun distraction. Children often surprise the adults playing with them by being noticeably better at this game than the grown-ups, since young children’s working memory for this kind of visual-spatial task is frequently sharper than it gets credit for.
This is a game worth playing with your child rather than only watching them play, not least because you will very likely lose more often than you expect. There is something good for a child in beating an adult fair and square at something, and memory games are one of the few places that happens reliably and honestly.
