Simple group games build memory, self-control and turn-taking — the exact skills that predict how well a child does at school.
Our flex-care afternoons are deliberately screen-free, and the games we play are older than any of us: Simon Says, Red Light Green Light, memory pairs, I Spy, obstacle courses in the yard.
These games are quietly demanding. Simon Says asks a child to hold a rule in mind and stop an impulse. Memory pairs trains working memory. Board games teach losing gracefully — arguably the hardest lesson of the primary years.
Mixed ages help here too. Older children explain the rules, which cements their own understanding, while younger children stretch to keep up with the group.
If you want one game to bring home, make it a nightly round of "highs and lows" at dinner. It costs nothing, takes four minutes, and it teaches children to put feelings into words — the foundation of everything else.
