Family Game Night Picks to Boost Cognitive Skills

Looking for ways to connect as a family without more screen time (and also maybe keep everyone’s brains active and growing, too)? One simple and affordable solution: Family Game Night. 

In addition to creating an opportunity for fun and family bonding, games require us to use a variety of cognitive skills, the core skills our brain uses to think, read, learn, remember, reason, and pay attention. Each of these skills plays an important role in processing new information, which means that if even one isn’t performing up to par, grasping, retaining, or using that information is impacted. In fact, more than 80% of learning struggles are caused by one or more weak cognitive skills. 

Understanding Cognitive Skills

As you skim this list of cognitive skills, note some of the struggles that arise when a particular skill is underperforming. If you recognize a particular weakness—or have received the results of your child’s Brain Skills Assessment, you may want to invest in games that work on that skill. 

Attention (Divided, Selective, Sustained)

• Divided attention: This skill enables your child to remember information while doing two things at once. When divided attention is weak, your child may make frequent mistakes or have trouble multitasking.
• Selective attention: This skill enables your child to stay focused and on task despite distractions. When selective attention is weak, your child may become easily distracted.
• Sustained attention: This skill enables your child to stay focused and on task for a sustained period of time. When sustained attention is weak, your child may have lots of unfinished projects due to jumping from task to task.

Auditory Processing

This skill enables your child to analyze, blend, and segment sounds. When auditory processing is weak, your child may struggle when learning to read or may have issues with reading fluency or reading comprehension.

Logic & Reasoning

This skill enables your child to reason, form ideas, and solve problems. When logic & reasoning is weak, your child may feel stuck or overwhelmed. They may frequently ask, “What do I do next?” or admit that they don’t “get it.”

Memory (Working, Long-term)

• Working Memory: Sometimes referred to as “short-term memory,” this skill enables your child to hang on to information while in the process of using it. When working memory skill is weak, your child may need to reread directions in the middle of a project, may struggle to follow multi-step directions, or might forget what was just said in conversation.
• Long-term Memory: This skill enables your child to recall information stored in the past. When long-term memory is weak, your child may forget names and other things they used to know or perform poorly on tests despite studying.

Processing Speed

This skill enables your child to perform tasks quickly and accurately. When processing speed is weak, your child may take longer than their peers to complete tasks for school, frequently being the last one in a group to finish something.

Visual Processing

This skill enables your child to think in visual images. When visual processing is weak, your child may have difficulties doing math word problems, reading maps, following directions,  or understanding what they’ve just read.

Games to Boost Cognitive Skills

Because the age, maturity, and interest of your kids will dictate which games to consider, we thought it might be helpful to share a variety of age-appropriate options, as well as the cognitive skills that they may help boost. 

1. Scrabble: Create words with letter tiles worth varying points.

• Ages: 8+ (or 5+ for Scrabble Junior)
• Cognitive Skills: Deductive and inductive reasoning, long-term and working memory, sequential and simultaneous processing, visual processing, word attack

2. Sequence: Be the first player or team to score the required number of five-card sequences.

• Ages: 7+
• Cognitive Skills: Logic & reasoning, planning, problem solving, sequential processing, visual processing, working memory

3. Simon: Repeat random sequences of flashing lights and sounds by pressing the colored pads in correct order.

• Ages: 8+
• Cognitive Skills: Deductive and inductive reasoning, executive processing, math computations, numerical concept and fluency, planning, processing speed, selective attention, sequential processing, short-term memory, sustained attention, visual processing

4. Battleship: Track hits and misses with pegs to be the first to sink your opponent’s ships.

• Ages: 7+
• Cognitive Skills: Logic & reasoning, planning, problem solving, working memory

5. Bop-It Extreme: Follow the fast-paced commands to be the fastest and most accurate to complete the actions.

• Ages: 8+
• Cognitive Skills: Auditory processing, logic & reasoning, executive processing, inductive reasoning, numerical concept and fluency, planning, processing speed, selective attention

6. Perfection: Race against the clock to complete this fast-paced puzzle game.

• Ages: 4+
• Cognitive Skills: Long-term memory, numerical concept and fluency, planning, selective attention, sequential processing, short-term memory, simultaneous processing, visual processing, processing speed

7.  Apples to Apples: Convince the judge that your card is the best choice in this fun game of comparisons.

• Ages: 9+
• Cognitive Skills: Executive processing, inductive reasoning, logic & reasoning, planning, problem solving

Beyond just having fun, Family Game Night provides the opportunity to bond with others, learn to take turns, and boost cognitive skills. Ask for feedback from your children regarding which games they enjoy most and then look for opportunities to turn the most enjoyed activities into a long-term family tradition.