Cognitive Development Games: What are They and Why Do You Need Them?
Children work hard when they play. A child’s brain is in the very early stages of development and primed to absorb and learn new things. Cognitive development games are designed to improve communication, reasoning, and critical thinking in children, and these should be developed from a very young age. There are many kinds of games designed to develop skills in children, such as the hotel game, building blocks, and memory games.
How do children benefit from Cognitive Development Games?
- Develops Critical Thinking Skills: Cognitive development games range from simple memory games to multiplayer games with complex storylines that require teamwork, strategic planning, and coordination. Successfully playing these games requires critical analysis and logical reasoning in varying degrees. The better a player gets at such games, the more acute their critical thinking skills become.
- Improves memory: A lot of cognitive development games require committing details to memory. This ranges from instructions of the game, which can be of varying complexity, to the placement of certain objects within the game. These games thus greatly help in improving memory function, and are suitable for children as well as adults.
- Develops Communication Skills: Any game that requires teamwork involves effective communication. Expert players of multiplayer games develop a keen sense of communication and leadership through such games. Plus, there are simpler games that are specifically geared toward improving communication, such as word games.
- Encourages curiosity: A curious mind is an ever-evolving mind, and curious children are always learning something. Both online and offline games help in developing a sense of curiosity and wonder in children, and in turn, help them to learn and grow into well-rounded individuals.
- Boosts Imagination: Some games for children are so complex and fantastical that they find an adult fanbase. This is especially true for games that are developed from movies. These games usually have a fully-fledged storyline, and that feeds into the imagination of the children playing as they delve into an immersive world of mythical creatures and exotic locales.
- Builds Confidence: Successfully completing increasingly complex levels in games will help in building confidence in children. As they are allowed to make decisions on their own and learn from their mistakes, a sense of their own capability will be instilled in them from a very young age.
- Develop problem-solving and decision-making skills: Most games, even the simplest ones, require some level of problem-solving. Whether it is to decide where to hide during a game of hide-and-seek, or to decide how much food to prepare in advance for a hotel game- tricky decision-making is crucial to gameplay to some extent.
Types of Cognitive Development Games
- Sensory Play: Responding to sensory stimuli begins right at infancy when the newborn is fascinated by shiny, moving objects. Sensory play can be initiated with almost everything- from a simple sandpit to a fun blind tasting of their favourite foods.
- Memory Games: If you’ve ever downloaded any brain training app from the internet, you’ve probably come across memory games of various sorts. These can range from memorizing object location and object type to matching similar objects.
- Pretend Play: Children like to play using their imagination, and role-playing games feed right into that instinct. If you’ve ever seen children dress up as pirates and popular superheroes, you’ll get an idea. Pretend play opens up their receptive minds to new possibilities, rousing curiosity and possibly paving the way for lifelong interests. From complex roleplaying games such as Clash of Clans to a simple hotel game where they need to serve food within a short span of time- pretend play goes a long way in engaging and exercising the mind.
- Real-time strategy games: World of Warcraft, Clash of Clans, and Total Warfare are prime examples of real-time strategy games. These online multi-player games require a lot of strategic planning, teamwork, and decision-making, and researchers of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience have found that the expert players of these games have developed excellent memory functions, faster hand-eye coordination, and lower processing time of new sensory data.
- Arranging games: Any kind of game that involves the arrangement of objects in a certain order is a great way of developing cognitive skills. Jigsaw puzzles, for instance, require arranging pieces into a whole picture, and that needs a lot of coordination and visual recognition skills. But jigsaw puzzles are more suitable for children aged 6 and above. For younger kids, building blocks, shapes, and arranging objects by colour are all geared toward the same goal.
- Spatial Reasoning games: A lot of online games such as Tetris and Car Parking are cognitive development games. They require placing or moving an object following the rules of the game, which generally involve avoiding blockages. These require a keen spatial reasoning skill since the player has to assess the layout and anticipate probable blockades.
Whether it is a hotel game or an intense battle of clans, there are plenty of cognitive development games available for children and adults alike. Today, smartphones have made such games very easily accessible, and it is definitely some peace of mind knowing that screen time with children can be equal parts fun and productive.
