5 Board Games for Improving Attention

It’s important to develop and work on this ability from the time children are young. This is because being able to pay attention is fundamental when it comes to the optimal functioning of any cognitive process. So, take note of the following games and make plans to play them with your family.

5 board games for improving attention

Lince

In Lince, a card game of Mexican origin, players draw a card that displays a specific image. Then, they must look for the same image among more than 200 objects that appear on the board. As they play, children not only develop concentration and attention but also maximize the development of:

• Hand-eye coordination.
• Improved observation skills.
• Visual acuteness and discrimination.
• Reflexes.

As the name of the game indicates (Lince means lynx in Spanish), you need the eyes of cat in order to win at this game.

Simon, the electronic game

Simon is an electronic game that first appeared during the decade of the 1980s. However, today it’s a popular tool for improving a person’s ability to pay attention and remember. The game has a disk-like shape that is divided into 4 different quadrants: green, red, blue, and yellow. The quadrants light up and make a sound in a specific order, creating sequences that players must memorize . 

So, players must reintroduce the sequence they’ve observed by pushing on the correct colors. As they advance, the game becomes more difficult and the sequences become longer.

Spot it!

Spot it! (also known as Dobble) is another great board game that improves attention and mental agility. It consists of a total of 55 cards, and 8 different images appear on each of them. Each card is different, and one of the images always matches an image on another card.

In this case, the objective of the game is to draw two cards at random and identify the objects that appear on both. And of course, in order to win, you must do so as quickly as possible.

Speed Cups

This game for improving attention, reflexes, and mental agility is unique in that it involves playing with cups. Players must first observe a series of objects of different colors and then, based on this series, they must take 5 colored cups and put them in the same order as quickly as possible. The first player to complete the last must ring a bell which is located in the middle of the table.

Jenga

Jenga is a simple game, but it offers multiple physical and mental benefits. For example, playing Jenga improves attention, concentration, and more:

• Logical reasoning.
• Hand-eye coordination.
• Visual-spatial perception.
• Fine motor skills.

Before the game begins, players must build a tower out of small rectangular blocks. First, placing three blocks alongside one another, and then another 3 on top, turned the other direction, and so on. To play, players take turns removing any one block from the tower and placing it on top. They must be extremely careful not to cause the tower to fall over. Whoever makes the tower fall, loses the game.

The benefits of board games for improving attention

Board games are a great way to have fun and spend quality time together as a family. But, what’s more, they’re also ideal for boosting the practice and training in a variety of cognitive abilities… Including attention and concentration.

In this sense, it’s important to keep in mind that the best way for children to learn is through play. Play provides stimulation in a dynamic, fun, and attractive context. With this in mind, we’d like to close with the following phrase from the poetry of Diane Ackerman: