Kidz Korner: Educational Games For Kids ...

Play these games and you'll develop the brainpower to remember names, faces and facts like a genius. You will also build and maintain the mental energy to strengthen your memory and achieve your wildest dreams.

Use it or lose it! This applies equally to muscles and brains. The brain thrives on new experiences and we provide the required "exercise" by reading, by traveling to new places, by thinking and by talking about things -- by doing things or playing games that engage the mind.

These games help children successfully build mental vigor. They can be played while traveling in the family car, at home on wet days, with a friend on cold days, and even when someone is in bed with a cold.

Most games can be played by two or more people. When you have many participants, select two teams and ask each team to choose a leader. Be creative. Award simple prizes when appropriate e.g. the winning team could be served dinner by the other team or the winner could get an ice cream, etc.

Remember the KISS principle -- Keep It Simple, Smartie. All you really need is two active minds and the willingness to play. Are you ready?

Debating: Choose an article from a magazine or newspaper and make two copies. Have the teams read the article and choose to support or be against the views of the author. If both teams make the same choice, flip a coin to see which team gets their choice.

Select an adjudicator who will be responsible for declaring a winner at the end of the debate. Allow time for preparation and have a formal debate with a special prize for the winner.

Easy Learning: This game was designed by eight-year-old Nicole and her sixteen-year-old brother Nathan during the summer of 2005. It is an effective tool for learning math tables or spelling words and can be played by parent and child.

Child: Cut small pieces of paper in any shape. Write one word or math table on each piece of paper e.g. 7 x 7 = 49. Place all the paper in a hat.

Parent: Pull the paper out of the hat, one by one, and ask the question e.g. 7 x 7 = and wait for the child to answer. Return those that the child did not answer correctly for additional study.

This game could also be played with a group of friends by asking each player to cut some paper and write their own words or math tables. When the question is pulled any player could answer the question. The player who answers the most questions will be the winner.

Eye Spy: This is a very popular game and even smaller children could play. The first player secretly identifies a unique object and says, "I spy with my little eye something that is small and blue." The other player(s) look around, try to find the item and ask, "Is it the pen?" or "Is it that blue ball?"

The players try until they locate the item or give up. If the players are unable to locate the item, they say, "I give up." The first player spies another item until one of the other players win. The successful player then spies the next item and the game continues.

Film Director: This game could be played by one or more persons. Read a chapter in a book. Imagine that you are making a movie about what you've just read. Decide who will be the actors. Who will play which roles? What will they wear? Which scenes will be changed? Will you change the sequence of the scenes? Where will the movie be filmed?

This is excellent for getting children to develop creative thinking skills.

Kim's Game: This is my personal favorite and must be played by at least three people. One person secretly gathers 10 to 15 small items, place them on a table in a separate room and cover them with a towel or blanket.

The other persons are invited into the room. They are told that they will have a limited time to see the items on the table and the person who remembers the most items will be declared the winner.

The person who gathered the items will lift the towel to expose the items for a brief moment. That person will then interview each player separately to see who remembered the most items.

If there is more than one winner, the interviewer could ask 3 to 5 simple questions and have the contending winners write their answers on a blank sheet. The one with the most correct answers will be declared the winner.

The questions could be, "How many items were on the table?" or "What was the color of the largest item on the table?" or "Which was the smallest item on the table?"

This game helps children to be observant. It also builds confidence and interviewing skills.

Policy Maker: Read a current acticle in a magazine or newspaper. Discuss the positive and negative points. Identify an issue that affects people e.g. Pets using the slide in the play ground by the beach. Are you for or against pets using the play ground? Would you allow some pets or all pets? Big ones or small ones?

Write a short policy and indicate what kind of pets would be allowed. Include limitations e.g. during weekdays, before 2:00 PM, etc.

Primary Colors: Each player writes their favorite color on a piece of paper and place it in a hat. The first player pulls one piece of paper from the hat and reads the color e.g. I've got Green.

The player then says, "The primary colors in green are yellow and blue."

Professor: Read a current article in a magazine or newspaper. Prepare a short lecture, stand in front of the room and deliver it. Ask for questions and provide appropriate answers.

An excellent game for developing analytical, report writing and oral communication skills. It also builds confidence and self-esteem.

Interviewer: Read a chapter in a book. Ask each other questions about what you just read e.g. How many people are in the story? Who caught the biggest fish? What is the dog's name? Does this remind you of a real life situation?

This game helps children to strengthen their memory and build confidence by asking good questions.

Word Games: These games will boost your vocabulary and can be played by any number of people at any time of the day or night.

Take turns naming anything: animals, birds, cities, people, reptiles, pets, cars, singers, etc. Older players should name them in alphabetical order e.g. Alligator, Bear, Cat, Dog, Fish, Gorilla, etc.

Choose a word for the next player to spell e.g. Spell French or Spell Germany.

Choose a word for the next player to ask a question e.g. Ask a question with the word Princess.

Choose a word for the next player to make a sentence e.g. Make a sentence with the word friendly.

Choose a word for the next player to provide the meaning e.g. What is the meaning of the word synonym?/p>

Choose a word for the next player to provide an antonym or synonym e.g. What is the antonym for the word friend? Answer: Stranger.

Tell a story and stop in the middle of the second or third sentence. The next player continues the story for two or three sentences. Continue until everyone in the room had at least two chances. Every effort should be made to maintain the original story line.

Example: The first player says, Last Friday, I went to Toronto to visit my brother. We played video games before going to the ...

The next player continues with ... cinema to see the new Christmas movie. After the movie, we stopped at Tim Hortons for donuts. Aunt Vera was there having coffee with some of her friends, she asked me to ...

The next player continues with ...

The possibilities are inexhaustible. Encourage your children to play one or more of these games via e-mail with a parent who is working away from home or with relatives and friends around the world.

These games teach children to spell words to master oral and written communication. It also builds confidence and self-esteem.

Did you ever wonder why you feel so excited and sometimes overwhelmed when you go to a place for the first time? Everything looks so clean, so nice, so new -- just perfect!

You feel that way because your brain is actually searching through the vast collection of experiences it stored in your memory. Because the experience is new, it will not be found and your brain will get busy recording every detail of the experience -- the colors, lighting, temperature, etc. etc.

The result of your brain recording the experience creates the excitement that you feel. By contrast, old experiences are quickly located by the brain. It then stands ready for the next new experience. Old experiences just do not create excitement!

The Lily Pad Riddle: On day one, a large lake contains only one small lily pad. On day two, that single lily pad doubles. On the subsequent days, each lily pad doubles until the thirtieth day. On that day the lake is totally choked with lily pads.

On what day was the lake half full?
When was it only quarter full?

Meow: The Cat's Promise.