10 Fun Brain Games for Kids to Propel Their Thinking

Brain games are a great way to stimulate your kid’s mind. They are fun, help improve cognitive functioning, and even an effective way to minimize mindless and passive media consumption. If you are looking to develop your kid’s young mind, exercise the cognitive abilities and lay a foundation for mental health — here are the ten brain games for kids to get started.

1. Sudoku

Let’s start with the classics. Sudoku is a popular puzzle game played by kids and adults of all ages. It has stood the test of time due to its simple and straightforward rules and a number of benefits. It is a number puzzle game where the player has to fill each blank box with numbers based on the specific rules. Playing this classic number game stimulates the brain and can help improve your kid’s logical thinking skills,  concentration and memory.

2. Brain Teasers

When we say brain games we think about flexing the logical skills. But not every time. Some brain games for kids requires them to be creative and utilize the lateral brain.  And brain teasers are designed to do that — promote lateral thinking.  Developing lateral thinking is equally important as logical thinking. Ever wondered why some people come up with creative ideas that people of equal intelligence can’t? It’s because they have better lateral thinking skills. Brain teasers can promote this creative problem-solving in children. Encouraging them to come up with novel ways, looking at the situations from a different angle and solve the problems creatively. 

3. Math Puzzles

Math puzzles can boost children’s brains in many ways and even help you to engage them in math learning. These puzzles help your child grasp mathematical concepts like arithmetic, probability, and algebra while having fun. And if your kids enjoy playing with numbers — this will be a treat for them. It also comes with many cognitive benefits to young minds such as building their problem-solving skills and logical thinking. Check the following number puzzle. Can you solve it?

4. Maze 

Mazes are fun. There’s no doubt in that. You might have seen your kid solving it in the book activities — finding a way to exit the maze — kids love that. And at the same time maze provides an ample amount of challenge to their brain.

Just imagine a complex pattern of passages through which your kid has to find the way out. One has to use enough cognitive resources to solve it. This helps work on visual-motor when utilizing eyes to scan the complex network. At the same time, they built problem-solving skills — brainstorming various strategies to find the way out. All this while having fun.

5. Spot The Difference

Spot the difference is another great brain game for kids in which the observer has to find the difference in the two given pictures. As a kid even you may have solved this type of puzzles — they can be easily found in newspapers or children’s magazines.  Research shows that while engaging yourself in such games — identifying the objects, analyzing the relations between the pictures, memorizing one to find a difference in another, marking the difference — your brain goes through a good exercise. Good enough to give mental stimulation.

6. Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are fun, entertaining and at the same time a great way to keep your mind healthy. Combining the small pieces together is indeed challenging and even utter satisfaction when you finish the bigger picture. It also comes with some great benefits and provides a complete mental exercise to stimulate both the right and left brain. The right being responsible for logic and reasoning while the left for creativity and intuitive thinking. Further, research also suggests that playing Jigsaw puzzles that improve spatial skills and memory retention also helps in reducing the effect of age-related mental weaknesses such as Dementia and Alzheimer’s.

7. Board Games

Board games such as Chess, Monopoly, Snake ‘n’ Ladder are not just amusing but can also help nurture kid’s mental and social skills. The foundation of playing any board game is cooperation among players and teamwork. It is a great way to help kids develop social skills and bonding with players. Apart from this, playing board games also require engaging cognitive skills such as strategic thinking, decision making, concentration, and problem-solving.

8. Word Search

Word Search or Word Hunt is a word game that helps kids improve their vocabulary and language learning. It works like this: a grid contains some jumbled letter and the player has to find hidden words and mark it. At first glance, the grid won’t make sense. But when you examine carefully you’ll find the patterns of the letters that make different words. So it’s a great brain-boosting exercise, works on problem-solving skills, and improves language learning at the same time. A perfect brain game for your kid.

9. Riddles

Riddles — another brain game for kids that have stood the test of time. You might have tried to solve some riddles as a kid. They are entertaining, hilarious, make you scratch your head, and provide a good mental exercise. Solving the riddles utilize their brain resource and look beyond just words. A list of some crazy riddles can keep your child busy for a long.

10. Flashcard Memory Game

Flashcard memory games are great to exercise your kid’s memory. This game can be even a perfect group or party game.  You’ll need some flashcards that have some well-detailed graphics. If you don’t have it, even any detailed images would do. Select a flashcard and show it to the kids and let them memorize it for some time. Now hide the card and ask them to recall the image and its details. You can even make them draw the image rather than recalling it orally.

Since you are here, don’t forget to check our PUZZLES section. We have some crazy archives of brain games that’ll keep you and your kids engaged all day long.