Play the Memory Game – with just a pen, paper and scissors!

Cognitive evolution gave human beings the most superior brain on the planet. As a result, the ability of humans to remember things is unmatched. However, unlike most animals, human babies have to be taught these things. Humans spend up to 5 years learning some critical skills of survival.

As the famous philosopher, Confucius says,

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand”

We’ve designed an activity for you to help kids develop in a major domain of cognition – Memory. In this game, we will have 8 pairs of matching shapes drawn on cards, i.e., 16 cards. These are now arranged facing down and sorted randomly.

In the first round, two cards are randomly revealed. If the shapes match, the 2 cards are removed. If not, the player must try to remember the shapes of the cards and their locations. In the next round, the player can flip cards of their choice so as to find matches. The final goal of the game is to get rid of all the cards. 

Materials required:

1. 1 A4 size paper
2. Scissors
3. Sketch pens/ colour pens/ ballpen

Procedure:

1. Cut the A4 sheet into a square shape. Then cut this square sheet into equal-sized 16 square-shaped cards. 
2. Divide the cards into 8 pairs. Draw a unique shape on each pair of cards.
3. Place the cards next to each other in 4×4 grid on a table. Ensure that the side with the shapes is facing the table. 
4. Now randomly flip any card, notice its shape. Now you need to find its pair. 
5. Flip another random card from the grid. If the shapes match, take the pair out of the grid. If the shapes don’t match, flip both the cards back. Take the next turn, repeat the same procedure.
6. The key is to remember which shape lies where so that the player can remove as many pairs as quickly as possible.

You can customize the game in ways suitable for your requirements. For example, instead of 8 pairs of shapes, you can draw just 4 pairs of shapes, and repeat the set with a different colour filled shape. You’ll have 2 pairs of squares, say one pair filled with red colour inside and other say green! This will help your kid in identifying the colours along with the shapes. Similarly, you can draw alphabets on the cards instead of shapes etc.

To make the game more engaging, you can make it a multiplayer game by adding a timer to it. The player who finishes the cards fastest wins. Or you can do this without a timer by making it turn-based. The player with most pairs at the end wins.

This DIY is really easy to make and fun to play. Did you try it yet? Share your experience with us in the comments section.

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