10 Memory Games for Kids You Can Play at Home
Memory games are some of the oldest games in the world, and some of the best for children: they need almost no equipment, they work at any age, and kids are often better at them than adults. This article collects ten simple memory games you can play at home, in the car or in a waiting room, with tips for making each one easier or harder. We designed our own card-matching game, Evidence Match, around several of these ideas.
What kind of memory are we practising?
Most of these games use working memory: holding a few pieces of information in your head for a short time and using them, like remembering where a card was or what came next in a sequence. Games also practise attention, because you can't remember something you never noticed.
A fair word of caution: these are games first. Playing them is fun and gives children practice at paying attention and remembering, but no game is a magic brain booster. The value is in the playing, the talking and the time together.
1. Classic pairs (concentration)
Lay out pairs of picture cards face down. Players turn over two at a time; a match is kept, a non-match is turned back. Start with 6 pairs (12 cards) for young children and work up.
Make it harder: add more pairs, or add a "joker" card that cancels your turn. In Evidence Match, red herring cards do exactly this — they cost a move and flip straight back.
2. Kim's game (what's missing?)
Put 8–10 small objects on a tray. Let your child look for 30 seconds, then cover the tray and secretly remove one. Which one is gone?
Make it harder: remove two items, swap positions instead of removing, or shorten the looking time.
3. I went to the market
The first player says "I went to the market and bought an apple." The next repeats the list and adds one item: "…an apple and a bicycle." Keep going until someone forgets.
Make it easier: go in alphabetical order (apple, banana, carrot…), which gives a built-in clue.
4. Copy the pattern
Clap, stamp or tap a short rhythm and ask your child to copy it. Add one beat each round. It's the same idea as the classic electronic colour-sequence games.
5. Story recall
Read a short paragraph or show a picture from a book, then ask three questions: What colour was the dog's collar? How many children were on the bench? This practises noticing details, not just memorising lists.
6. Study the scene
Show a busy picture for a fixed time (try 20 seconds), then hide it and ask your child to list everything they remember. It is a favourite of young detectives. Our Evidence Match uses a version of this: each case starts with all the cards face up for a few seconds — 4 seconds on the first case, shorter later, and none at all on the final case.
7. Shopping list challenge
On a real shopping trip, give your child three or four items to remember without writing them down. They're in charge of making sure nothing is forgotten.
8. Number plates and phone numbers
Older children can try remembering a car number plate for one minute, or learning a parent's phone number in chunks (three or four digits at a time). Chunking is one of the most useful memory tricks there is.
9. Where did it go?
Hide a small object under one of three cups and slowly swap the cups around. Speed up as your child gets better, or use more cups.
10. Memory drawing
Show a simple drawing — a house, a sun, a tree with three apples — for 10 seconds. Your child draws it from memory, then you compare. Kids love catching what they missed (and what the grown-up missed when it's their turn to test you).
Strategies kids can learn
Memory games get more fun when children discover that there are tricks:
- Say it out loud. "Cat, top left. Key, bottom row." Naming things helps them stick.
- Make groups. Remember three blocks of three instead of nine single things.
- Make a story. For a list, invent a silly story that links the items.
- Use places. In pairs games, remember positions by row and column, or relative to the edges.
- Start systematically. In card games, turn over cards in a pattern (row by row) rather than at random, so you know which ones you have already seen.
We wrote more about these tricks for our own game in How to Play Evidence Match.
Keeping it fun
- Keep sessions short — five or ten minutes is plenty.
- Let children win sometimes, and let them test you too.
- Praise the strategy ("you remembered by saying it out loud — clever!") rather than just the result.
- Stop while it's still fun, so they want to play again tomorrow.
Wrapping up
Memory games are cheap, quick and endlessly adaptable. Pick two or three from this list, adjust the difficulty to your child, and play little and often. For a screen-based option, Evidence Match offers 12 cases from 12 to 36 cards, with no timer, so children can take their time. For more brain-teasers, see detective games for logic, memory and observation.