Smart Mom’s Toybox 2022: Games and Toys that Build Brain Skills
Here’s this year’s roundup of some fun games and toys that build brain skills (even though they’re so fun you probably won’t even realize it!) As the holiday season quickly approaches and sales are happening, here are some fun and engaging things to add to your shopping lists:
Family Game Night Picks That Build Brain Skills
Family game night is a great way to connect and strengthen some thinking skills in a fun environment! Here are a few of our favorites:
- Skip-Bo (2-6 players, recommended age 7+). This family-friendly card game is great for building strategy, executive functioning skills, processing speed, attention, and numerical awareness.
- Tall Tales (any number of players, recommended ages 4+). This can be a solo game, a family game or a party game to engage any number of players! Grab a story card (no reading required) and random pieces to craft a creative and fun story. This game builds creative thinking, processing speed, executive functioning, attention, verbal expression, and more great skills!
- Brain Freeze (2 players, recommended ages 5-10). A game of strategy and deduction, Brain Freeze is a great new game to add to your family’s game night repertoire! A “sweeter” version of something like “Guess Who,” players try to identify their opponent’s treat of choice by asking questions and eliminating possibilities. It’s great for building memory, logic skills, executive functioning, and more!
- Dimension (1-4 players, recommended ages 8+). This 3-D puzzle game gets the whole family thinking visually and racing to earn the most points! Dimension strengthens skills like processing speed, visual-spatial awareness, visual processing, logic & reasoning, and attention.
- Quick Pucks (1-2 players, recommended ages 7+). Race against an opponent or work together to slide pucks to match a challenge pattern card! This game builds visual processing, logic, memory, processing speed, and other important brain skills.
- 30 Second Mysteries (2 or more players, recommended ages 8+): work as a team to solve mysteries! Read a scenario, a question, and several clues to narrow down your answer in a time limit that players have set. This game builds processing speed, logic, deduction, attention, and memory skills!
Looking for more games to try with your family? Here are a couple other lists to check out:
Independent Games That Keep Your Kids (or You!) Thinking
Looking for some independent puzzle games for your kids (or yourself!) to strengthen some thinking skills? Here are a few fun options:
- Rush Hour (recommended ages 8+). This is a great STEM game that engages logic skills, processing speed, memory, visual processing, attention, executive functioning, and more. Arrange cars on a grid according to a pattern and move them systematically to clear a path for one vehicle to get out! (Have a 5-7 year old? Check out the junior version, too!)
- Scramble Squares (recommended ages 6+). This unique take on puzzles makes players practice visual discrimination, executive functioning, processing speed, attention, and more skills!
- Kanoodle (recommended ages 7+): Solve puzzles and create 2-D or 3-D patterns to match over 200 puzzle challenges! This game builds attention, visual processing, executive functioning, logic, memory, processing speed, and more.
- Cat Crimes (recommended ages 8+). Perfect for the quirky cat-lover in your life, Cat Crimes leads you through a series of clues to figure out which kitty is to blame! This game builds logic skills, attention, memory, thinking speed, and more.
- Logic Links (recommended ages 6+): Kids and adults can both get in on this one. Read clues, solve puzzles, and build skills like logic, visual-spatial awareness, processing speed, working memory, and more!
Activity Books for Screen-Free Entertainment
Whether you’re heading on a road trip or are looking for some more screen-free options to keep your kids busy this winter, here are some great options for activity books for all ages:
- Paint By Sticker books build visual processing, executive functioning, fine motor, attention, and other critical learning skills.
- Logic Puzzle books help build reading, deduction, reasoning, working memory, attention, and more important cognitive skills—and are super fun for passing time on cold winter days!
- Crossword Puzzles, word searches, mazes, and Sudoku are classics but still great tools for screen-free activities that help build important brain skills.
- Hidden Pictures are good for kids of all ages to help with visual discrimination, working memory, attention, and more great skills that your brain uses for learning.
- How-to-Draw Books are great for budding artists or hesitant draw-ers alike! These help build confidence, learn how to follow instructions, build visual processing skills, and more. You can get one tailored to your child’s interests to keep them engaged!
Toys for All Ages
Finally, whether you’re looking for one last stocking stuffer or are trying to find some toy options that have value beyond entertainment, here are some great toys to help engage your kids’ thinking skills:
- Legos
- Simon Says
- Bop It
- Keva Blocks
- Gravity Maze
- Rubik’s Cube
While many of these things are simple classics, their value does not go away. These all can help build visual processing skills, logic & reasoning, attention, processing speed, working memory, and more!
More Games & Toys That Build Brain Skills:
Download this chart for over 30 games with a breakdown of exactly which brain skills they strengthen. This is a great tool to pick ones that align with the areas you or your child need to strengthen most! Or check out last year’s game & toy roundup here.
Games are great tools for your family to help build these skills. But if you want a deeper dive into ways to help build your child’s attention span, reading skills, thinking speed, executive functioning, and more, give us a call today to learn more!
