We always want our children to be physically healthy, but we also want to prepare them mentally for the future.
That's why we want to be encouraging kids to play any fun game that enhance mental health for our child's development.
However, we all know that getting kids playing mentally stimulating playground games such as puzzles can be difficult because not everyone, including adults, enjoys playing them.
Don't worry, these playground brain games for kids will improve their cognitive abilities without them even realizing it.
Cognitive Challenges: Incorporating Puzzles and Problem-Solving Into Outdoor Play
Interactive Memory Games for Group Play Sessions
Enhancing Spatial Awareness with Orientation Games
Strategy Games to Play on the Playground
Building Concentration Skills with Timed Playground Challenges
So what exactly is cognitive skill? Why is it important?
To put it simply, cognitive skills enable us to focus, learn, remember, and think which are all important for our child's development.
And to improve these skills, we must engage our children in cognitive playground games that will help them build problem-solving and other cognitive skills
Enhances problem-solving skills
Encourages critical thinking
Enhances brain development
With your playground already set up, all you need to do is create a guide, such as a colorful rope, and the children will race through the playground equipment as an obstacle.
You can then time them individually or as a group to see who finishes in the least amount of time.
ObjectiveThis encourages them to think on their feet and plan ahead of time to find the quickest way to overcome obstacles while maintaining balance, coordination, fine motor skills and overall physical abilities.
Identify the Smell or SoundBlindfold the children and ask them to identify a sound or smell that occurs naturally on the playground.
This improves sensory perception and critical thinking because children learn to rely on senses other than sight.
ObjectivePerfect for younger children, they will inherently develop sensory awareness by identifying different smells or sounds, all important for child development.
Learning Activity PanelsWhile some games require an adult to serve as the game master or referee, you can always incorporate learning activity panels with puzzles into your playground that encourage kids to develop skills by themselves.
This teaches kids to improve their cognitive skills even if you're already exhausted from facilitating all of the games.
ObjectiveEncourage cognitive development with interactive learning panels.
We know that a lot of our work as adults requires a lot of memorization.
Wouldn't it be great if we could start jumpstarting children's memorization skills with these simple educational playground games?
Boosts memory and concentration
Encourages social interaction
Enhances auditory and visual memory
Collect natural materials like twigs, stones, and flowers. Show them to your younger kids, then remove a few items or rearrange the order while they are looking away. When your children return, they must identify the missing items or the correct order.
One more beneficial aspect is that they can do this as a group, which improves communication and teamwork.
ObjectiveStrengthen memory and attention to detail in a fun way.
Visual Line-Up GameYou can also let them play against each other and introduce a little bit of healthy competition. Divide the children into two groups. One group lines up, while the other group memorizes the order.
After a short time, they must reorder the line correctly, which enhances visual memory.
ObjectiveA fun way to improve visual memory and recall skills.
Audio Sequence GameImprove your children's listening abilities by having them close their eyes and listen to a series of sounds made by their friends.
They must repeat the sequence to win a point.
ObjectiveDevelop auditory memory through sound recognition.
You might be thinking that memorization skills are the best, but what about your kids who aspire to be firefighters, police officers, and other heroic professionals?
Develops spatial reasoning
Enhances problem-solving skills
Improves navigation and directionality
A classic game encourages children to consider the overall space and distance they have to the seeker.
Their strategic minds are also improved by knowing where to hide and when to emerge from hiding to relocate.
ObjectiveHide and seek can help you develop spatial awareness and strategic thinking skills while maintaining a healthy competition.
Outdoor NavigationLet's think about the younger age group too. Take your little ones on a walk and give them directions to follow.
This helps them learn orientation in space and practice directionality.
ObjectiveImprove physical development, orientation and navigation skills through exploration.
Outdoor TrackingNext, provide children with a list of items to find outdoors, such as leaves or rocks.
This activity helps them understand spatial orientation and object recognition in the environment.
ObjectiveImprove spatial awareness through tracking and identification.
Next up! Strategy games! We all understand how important it is to plan how to manage our workload.
Let's give the children's strategizing minds the workout they need.
Enhances strategic thinking
Promotes teamwork and collaboration
Encourages planning and foresight
Split the children into two teams and try to capture the opponent's flag while defending their own.
This encourages them to strategize together to emerge victorious in this game of wits and athleticism.
ObjectiveFoster teamwork, strategic planning, and gross motor skills through competitive play.
Treasure Map AdventuresSet up the playground by hiding treasure on playground equipment. Give the children a map and clues to help them find the treasure.
Give each treasure a point system, and the child with the most points wins; they can form a group and divide the points evenly among themselves, or they can go at it alone to get more points but at a disadvantage when looking for treasure.
ObjectiveImprove their navigation and strategic planning skills.
DodgeballA strategy may be obscured in this outdoor play, but by picking who mainly throws the ball and who to target first, should you protect your main hitter or do your best to avoid getting hit?
This is a game of wits as much as it is a game of agility.
ObjectiveImprove agility and strategic thinking, and overall executive function skills through dynamic play and collaboration.
When daunting, hard tasks come knocking on our desks, concentration skills are our best way through them.
Being able to focus on the task at hand and concentrate on the goal is a skill that we all want our children to have.
Boosts concentration and focus
Encourages attention to detail
Reaction time
In a game that usually starts slowly, one child walks around a circle of seated players, tapping each on the head and saying "duck" until they choose one player to be the "goose."
The "goose" must then chase the first player around the circle and try to tag them before they take the seat of the “goose".
ObjectiveThe child must maintain a sharp focus and concentrate in order to quickly react and catch them, as they only have a few seconds before the "it" takes their seat.
Red Light, Green LightChildren move toward the "traffic light" when "green light" is called and freeze when "red light" is called.
They're out once they move while supposed to be frozen.
ObjectiveA child should focus and concentrate on what the "traffic light" is saying and strategize on how far they should go while keeping in mind the time constraints of moving.
Balloon Defying GravityChildren must keep a balloon in the air for a set time without letting it touch the ground, using different body parts.
ObjectiveWould you be able to keep the balloon floating at the set time without concentration and focus?
Developing crucial life skills while playing games on the playground is amazing.
By playing games on the playground, your children will not only be physically fit, but they will also enhance their cognitive skills, which will be an important skill when they grow up and fulfill their dreams.
Whether it's enhancing problem-solving, memory, spatial awareness, strategy, or concentration skills, these games are definitely educational.
Playground games may seem ordinary at first, but they're genuinely outdoor cognitive activities that will enhance our children's lives.
Start planning your child's brain-boosting playground activities now and watch them as they reach their full potential.
Learn about the author: Nic Breedlove
