Games on the Go!
By Makena Wood, B.Sc. Neuroscience student
For many of us, life has a funny way of working in seasons of relaxation and non-stop packed schedules. While our free time in the day and the weather outside may change with passing months, there is one thing that remains true – play is important for your brain!
During these busy seasons, it can be extremely difficult to find times to incorporate play into your day. The goal of this blog is to provide you with a list of games that require no materials, and so can easily be done on the go and in or out of the house to help you find time to play every day!
A great movement break for any of your little ones! All you need to do is find a line somewhere on the floor or ground outside, and you have everything you need for this game.
Who doesn’t love the Head and Shoulders song? A great option when you’re especially short on time, Head and Shoulders can really be played anywhere.
A game to get moving in any space! Use any object you can hide or a fixture in your space and the game will last for as long as it takes you to find your mystery item.
Simon Says, make time to play! Little ones will play this game for hours if you let them, but all you need is 5 minutes to positively impact their brain development through play.
The original game to play on the go! Eye Spy is a great game for commutes, traveling, or spending time outside.
An easy game to play to get laughing! Telephone gets better the more players you have but can quickly become a hilarious mess with even just a few.
If all you have time for is a quick conversation, then 20 Questions is for you! This game can be played until you run out of ideas for objects/places/people for the other player(s) to guess.
Another simple conversational game! If you’re a fan of riddles, this game is like a riddle you can do again and again.
A game for your little one who loves conversation! Encourage them to engage their creativity and give them space to ramble as much as they’d like, and storytelling might quickly become their favorite way to play (for better or worse!).
A great game to increase your vocabulary! Categories may seem easy up front, but you’d be surprised at how fast your brain runs out of words. Be sure to try the suggestions for alternate versions listed in the curriculum.
The game where it’s fun to be a copycat! This game is a challenging and fun way to engage both motor skills and memory, as well as working together as a team of players to see how long you can have your rhythm go on.
Just like classic Rock Paper Scissors, our tag version of the game needs only the players! This game is also a great way to get outside.
A slight spin on one of our BBT classics! Usually, we play One Word Story with a ball to be passed around to the next person whose turn it is to add to the story, but this game can easily be played without the ball and adds the challenge of remembering whose turn it is in the game.
One of the fastest game to get your brain working in a group of players! Gather some friends and challenge each other to concentrate. (The animal version works just as well!)
A game to get moving and work as a team, with only your body! 1 Tap 2 Tap takes some teamwork to get going and is fast-paced fun once all players get their hands to be on the same page.
If word games are your thing, give Association a try! The hardest part is coming up with your own word rules, and from there it’s endless fun.
Suggestions for older adults:
Guess this Song: A treat for the musically inclined! Most of us have our smartphones handy on the go nowadays and, lucky for us, Guess this Song games are everywhere online, but don’t require you to be glued to a screen.
Apple, Orange, Banana: A tongue-twister for the leader and a brain-teaser for the players! The goal is to be the last player standing, but the best part of this game is getting better with practice.
Sightseeing Challenge: A game that can be played anywhere, even in your own living room! It’s harder than you think to find objects for every letter of the alphabet, no matter where you are, so this game also requires some thinking outside the box.
If any of these games sound like they could be fun for you or your family during a “busy season”, you can get the rules to all of our games for FREE by signing up for the curriculum games under the Resources tab on our website. Remember, play is crucial for developing and maintaining executive function for all ages!
