Sneaky Skill-building Games for Summer

Memory building skills are great to develop before memory demands are high, such as when children reach the age where they need to remember all facts before a test.Can be done daily for 3-5 minutes, keeping track as the score increases. Aim for a sequence of 12-15 for a 9 year old and 15-18 for middle schoolers and up.

A cooperative mystery game that focuses on recalling placement of the king’s treasures to avoid them being stolen while time is ticking. A lot of fun, strategy and memory skills are developed as the whole team plays together to beat the board’s robber. Ages 5-8.

These fun games work on memory, joint attention, and decision-making. Other visual memory board games include Mental Blox, Lite Brite, Sequence, Qwirkle, Blokus, Qwixx, and Scattergories.

Games that work on processing speed can help those that finish work last, these games work on speed skills. Blink is known as the world’s fastest game.Two players race head-to-head to be the first to play all of their cards by matching the shape, count or color on the cards. This action fast card game is perfect for younger kids and teens!

Requires players to process the visual information on the cards, find a match and call it out as quickly as possible. Over time, players get faster at spotting those matching pictures and boost some healthy competition!

This fast-paced game of takes and double takes has players compete to pick matching cards in order to form a set and aim to hold on to them while every player is stealing cards as fast as they can!

The competitive, fast-paced magnetic game that clacks when you stack based on the dice and the pieces. Who can clack the tallest stack to match the dice in each round? For younger kids, this is available in two versions.

The electronic game works on processing speed and shifting by having players anticipate and do any of 3-5 activities at random in increasing speed. Scores are kept so tracking progress is motivating.

Q-bitz stimulates the brain to use spatial reasoning and visual memory, while working on dexterity and speed too. Players each get their own Q-bitz board with 16 cubes, and race to be first to replicate the pattern to win the card. Available in a Q-bitz Jr version for 5+, Q-bitz for 8+, and Q-bitz Extreme for those that love a spatial challenge. We have spent many hours together laughing, competing and building skill with this one.

These are excellent options to develop the ability to locate objects within a busy scene, for learning to scan and search, as well as to build figure-ground abilities. Figure-ground difficulties include a challenge to separate an object or form from its surrounding background, which can lead to difficulties in various visual tasks like reading and writing. Find Where’s Waldo here.

Word search books, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and tangram puzzles all build visual perception skills.

The Junior version, for ages 3-6 years, teaches how to ask smart questions with unique question-prompting tiles and can be found at Amazing Savings and on Amazon. I start at this level even with my older kids, then move on to the 6+ version so there is a solid foundation in place.

To improve picture reading skills, getting the main idea and important details, problem solving and language processing skills, use Kinder Shrift’s book in Yiddish titled Kliger, or Spark Cards, which are Jewish-themed story sequences that also work on problem solving and language, developed by a frum language therapist with beautifully drawn cards.

The Mix and Match Wooden Bear Family by Melissa and Doug, is great for role-playing, building understanding of social interactions and emotional intelligence. It includes a baby bear, a mother bear, and a father bear, so many social scenes can be played out, using the different facial expressions, matching the outfits based on the situation. If the bear doesn’t listen, the mother gets upset, the bear gets yelled at, then he starts to cry, and so on, developing cause-effect understanding. Scenarios can be played out, thought processes explained and improved social endings created with this simple toy. I have two sets so that two kids can create, imagine and play together, matching outfits and coming up with stories that are relevant to their lives.

Games that require paying attention to detail and planning will work on impulsivity when playing the game and focusing on the process and the learning experience, not the outcome or results.

Rush Hour is also a great option in this category. Focus on how the game is being followed, the planning and organization of the board and the pieces as well as the ability to hold the details and create a plan without assistance. There should be a shift from doing without thinking (guessing) to doing with self-corrections as the plan created needs tweaking to doing the card strategically.

Another option in this category.

Another great educational game from Foxmind.

These games are easy to play, fun to follow and should be done without checking the answers in the back. Spend time over it, helping your child learn how to plan mentally, try different moves and problem solve.

These are also excellent, and include the added thrill of building creations using patterns and symmetry, including cards to copy and challenge or a chance to build your own creations.

This is a unique game that includes story background cards and over 5o creative, rubber items. Storytellers randomly pick seven items out of the bag, select a story scene and need to use all items while they’re spinning the story. Leads to a lot of laughs and a lot of imagination as creativity is needed to make the storyline stick.

This is an old-fashioned board game great for students that need practice with money skills including change. This is the ideal game before kids can play Monopoly and our version is tattered and beloved for 8+, played with many neighbors and siblings.