Take on the role of a Doctor
When the whole family participates in role-playing games, it not only promotes cognitive development but also improves social interaction skills and awareness in children. For example, playing the role of a doctor is not only a fun activity but also an opportunity for children to try out different professions, while receiving support and guidance from their parents.
“Guess Who?” Game
Number of players: 2 players.
Game rules: Each player has a board with 24 different and secret faces. Each player will choose a character card that the opponent must guess.
The players will take turns asking “yes/no” questions about the opponent’s mystery character to eliminate incorrect faces on their own board.
For example: “Does your character wear glasses?” or “Is your character male?”
This game not only provides entertainment but also has educational significance: it encourages children to learn color discrimination, recognize contrasts, learn to describe facial and hair features, and develop reasoning skills.
Jenga Block Game
The Jenga game requires players to concentrate, coordinate their hands and eyes, as well as make quick decisions. This game is not only a recreational activity but also serves an educational purpose, helping children learn the value of patience.
Jenga also benefits in enhancing focus and awareness, as players need to build a tall wooden tower, stacking the wooden blocks on top of each other in layers, interlocking them horizontally and vertically.
Each player takes turns removing a wooden block from the tower without causing it to collapse, then places that block on top to make the tower taller. The one who makes the tower fall is the loser. Therefore, to play this game well, players need keenness, dexterity, and the strength of alertness.
Puzzle Game
The puzzle game is encouraged as an interactive activity between parents and children. According to researchers from Ulm University in Germany, this game not only brings joy but also has a positive impact on cognitive ability.
Furthermore, experts from Hohenheim University in Germany also emphasized that participating in puzzle games can help reduce the risk of mental health problems, including memory decline, age-related memory loss, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Chess
Chess is considered an educational tool that helps develop strategic thinking and problem-solving skills in children, while also improving their ability to process information flexibly and quickly. In addition, playing chess not only offers long-term benefits for the intellectual development of children but also serves as an effective method for them to have fun and relax.
Battleship
Battleship is a strategic game played between two players or two teams. This game requires players to think deeply, use deductive reasoning, and apply logic effectively.
Players need to make a series of strategic decisions, determine the opponent’s attack position, track the results of their shots, and plan for the next attacks.
Scrabble
This is a competitive word formation game for two or more players.
In their turn, each player arranges letter tiles on the grid gameboard to form meaningful words, both horizontally and vertically.
This game not only enriches children’s vocabulary but also helps strengthen memory skills.
Research from scientists at the University of Calgary, Canada, in 2015 showed that Scrabble players activate different brain regions when selecting words compared to those who do not play this game.