3 Holiday Brain Games to Challenge Your Memory
Looking for a fun way to engage a group this holiday season? What if you could challenge your memory and strengthen your thinking skills at the same time? These are opportunities for some brain games!
The best thing you can do to alleviate stress and open the door to easier learning is to make stretching these skills fun and game-like. Brain training takes this approach daily! Pushing processing speed, memory, attention, logic, and other skills can make some individuals shut down as a stress response. But if you do it in a low-pressure, fun environment, you can do so much more than you thought possible!
Whether you’re around the campfire, the dinner table, or fighting off your post-dinner food coma, here are 3 fun holiday brain games to try this season:
Christmas Carol Connect
One person starts to sing a holiday song and then stops after a line, and it’s the next person’s job to sing a line of a different song that starts with that same word the first person ended with. See how many different songs you can link together!
Themed Letter List Memory
Decide on a letter of the alphabet, and everybody thinks of a word somehow related to winter or the holidays that starts with that letter.
Begin with one person and go around in a circle saying your word AND the words that came before you!
For example, if the letter is “T”, it would go like this:
- Person 1: “turkey”
- Person 2: “turkey, toboggan”
- Person 3: “turkey, toboggan, tree”
- Person 4: “turkey, toboggan, tree, tinsel”
- Cont’d for as many people as you have, then back to Person 1: “turkey, toboggan, tree, tinsel, … turtleneck”
Continue the circle around, adding a new word each time it’s your turn, growing your list until someone forgets. This is a great test of memory and attention skills!
Name the Most
Decide on a holiday category and a time limit and see who can name the most items!
For example, you could set a 10 second limit and see who can name the most holiday movies, songs, activities, things that are red and green, or any other category that’s relevant to your family!
Do You Struggle with Focus and Memory?
People of all ages have cognitive skill strengths and weaknesses. If you find that you, your kids, your parents, or some other member of your family just can’t keep up in games like this, it may be pointing to a cognitive skill deficit!
Evaluating cognitive skills is a helpful look into the way your brain works. It can help explain why certain things are a struggle—and what you can do to help learning, focusing, remembering, and performing in school and work better and easier!
Contact us today to learn more.
