3 Memory Games You Can Play With Your Childhood

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The thought of memory improvement excites you, doesn’t it?

But then you start reading all the books and watching the video courses and within seconds …

Improving your memory suddenly starts to feel like a LOT of hard work!

It’s understandable. Using a Memory Palace, associative-imagery and practicing Recall Rehearsal can be tough.

The practice involves a lot of moving parts.

But don’t give up!

There is a fun and easy way to experience rapid improvement.

To help you out, here are three games and exercises you can play that will help you handle those moving parts without even noticing the effort involved.

They will exercise your memory, move the muscles of your imagination and renew access to parts of yourself you’ve probably long forgotten.

Ready?

Let’s dive in!

How to Prepare To Play These Personal Memory Games

Before we get started, you’ll need something to write with. And what you’re about to experience could well change your life forever. (In a good way, of course.)

And when I say write, I mean “write.”

Sure, you can play these memory games by writing in Evernote or whatever. But don’t. You’ll get more from completing the activities I’m about to share by using old-fashioned pencil and paper.

You can also use your mind on its own too. These exercises can be completed while daydreaming on a park bench, during a guided meditation or wherever you find yourself.

But by writing, you’ll enjoy the benefits of sensory learning that only writing can provide. And the pages you fill will prove to you that your mind is a vast place with many recesses. And you’ll enjoy the exercise more when you see what emerges from the depths of your imagination with your own eyes.

Plus, you’ll be able to feel the weight of your memory in the paper on your hands. And that is a sensation you can’t get from any app in the world. (Though a device that gets heavier the more information  it contains could be a fun option for those who want to go on a data diet!)

Play These Mental Games Now
(If You Want To Improve Your Memory Without Blood, Sweat Or Tears)

I don’t want to sound preachy, but I think you know the drill.

If you don’t actually use the “instruction manuals” for the mental games I’m about to share, nothing will change or improve for you.

So here’s what to do:

• Read the descriptions below
• Pick one of the games
• Schedule time for it
• Come back for more
• Rinse and repeat

That is the path to success, and yes, as I’ve explained in this discussion about the effectiveness of brain games, these kinds of mental fitness activities do work. You just have to be willing to experiment with them.

1. Make a list of all the places you can remember visiting throughout your life.

Start local and go back as far as you can remember. For example, here are some of the first places that I remember visiting:

• Where my dad used to train his duck hunting dogs
• The farm at Tranquille where my mom used to work
• A chocolate factory we visited on a field trip in Kindergarten

Immerse yourself in your own memories as you complete the exercise. Think about colors, smells, textures. Recall the people you were with and call up as many people as you can.

Then you can start listing other towns and cities. Again, go as deep into the past as you can.

Technically, you’re digging into what we call autobiographical memory in the world of memory science.

Amplify Your Memory With Guidance From Someone Close To Home

Next, take these early memories and ask someone in your family to give them your version of the events and locations you jotted down.

For example, I remembered flying to Prince Rupert with my dad while playing this game. When I pressed my memory for sensory detail, I remembered nothing of the flight. I do have glimpses of how the city looked, and I can smell beer on my dad’s breath. But beyond that, there’s very little.

So I called him up and asked him what he remembers. He said he was surprised that I wasn’t nervous about flying at all.

Extend Your Timeline In Adulthood

For bonus points, move from the deep past of your childhood memories up until the present. And do your best to establish a linear time line so you have a feeling for the chronology.

True, you’re taking yourself into your adulthood, but that’s fine.

You can also extend the exercise by thinking through different people you’ve met or spoken with only by phone. For example, I’ll never forget speaking with memory expert Harry Lorayne on the phone.

Even more prominent is the memory of shaking Tony Buzan‘s hand after he gave me the Warrior of the Mind emblem for Outstanding Contributions to Global Mental Literacy.

For the purposes of this game, just following the basic historical memories you hold. Move from as early in your childhood as you can and proceed up until as close to the present moment as you care to explore.

Don’t Worry About Exact Dates …

… except for seasons if your sensory memory provides them.

For example, in my first memory of watching my dad train one of the dogs, he’s wearing the white sweater my mom knit for him.

Although there was no snow on the ground on those mountain plains, white clouds were shooshing from the dog’s noise as it ran after the dummy (it feels like a flashbulb memory, to be honest).

And I remember my dad letting me the starter pistol and how cold it felt in my hand. These details make it safe to assume it was Fall.

Once you’ve gotten your sensory details gathered, come back and add dates if you wish for an extra memory massage.

And I do mean massage. When I think through my age and try to work out how old I was during different grades of elementary and high school, it gives my brain a real workout.

If you find some dates that you’d like to commit to memory after going through this exercise, you can commit them to memory. To make adding strong recall of any historical date, please learn and start using the Major Method for memorizing historical dates.

2. Recall the names of every classmate and teacher you can remember.

Again, go as deep into the past as you can.

From preschool, I remember Ryan and Clayton.

Ryan moved away with his family in grade one, but I would know Clayton for many years to come. I believe the last time I saw him was grade nine, and we’ve only had a quick series of exchanges on Facebook since.

For each friend you can remember from this deepest place …

Fill In As Many Sensory And Narrative Details As You Can …

Recall their homes, their parents and your activities together.

With Ryan, I remember a white house at the top of a lawned hill with a backyard with white wood fences on either side and a chicken coup at the back.

We played downstairs, and he once proudly displayed an American dollar. His mom worked for the Buy & Sell newspaper, and I distinctly remember eating tomato soup.

With Clayton, I remember much more. It would take a novella to write it all out, but I find sharp highlights in my memory.

These include building blanket tents, watching Chuck Norris movies during sleepovers, going to the pool, smoking cigarettes for my first time and once getting our bikes taken by weird apple orchard farmers for trespassing.

Later our bad-ass dads, both bikers, spun by on their Harleys and sorted things out. Clayton’s bikes were always cooler than mine, but I was happy nonetheless to get mine back.

The same goes for teachers. At least once a year, I like to write out the names of all the teachers I can remember. Given that I went to three different universities on top of so many high schools, the list is incredibly long.

All the better for working out as many of the memory types the human brain uses as possible. The more you practice, the more of your personal memories you’ll jog.

But the point of all these examples isn’t to share the details of my life. I mean only to show how much amazing information lays dormant in your mind. Do a little spade work and when you hit a pipe, you’ll be amazed by the valuable oil that gushes out.

Not only will your memory get an easy workout. The exercise will expand your sense of place and time. And the more friends and classmates you list, the more you’ll enjoy the wines of those times you haven’t thought of forever.

You’ll also be able to recall other personal memories as well. The more you play, the more you’ll improve your relationship with all kinds of recall skills.

3. Recall the Rules of Childhood Games

First, list all the games you can remember playing:

• Tag
• Hopscotch
• Hide and go seek

Although with these games, there’s not a huge amount of rules to remember, you can still pull up sounds, sensations and locations.

You may also recall different versions and hear the sounds of your playmates in your ears.

Then move on to card games and board games:

• Go Fish
• Monopoly
• Uno

I can distinctly remember the friends of my parents visiting to play Uno. The sensory parts are easy, but it’s a workout to remember the rules. Plus, it’s inspiring to think  about how on earth I could have understood those rules at such a young age.

From there you can list video games and role playing games. I remember Pong as the coolest thing on earth,  Chuck Norris and Tron for Coleco, Pacman and Space Invaders for Atari and Contra for Nintendo.

The list goes on and on. The more you press your memory for the details and rules of each game, the more fitness your memory will receive. In this case, you’ll also be exercising what is called your procedural memory, especially if you play some of those games you remember from your childhood.

I recently revived an old game using playing cards and shot some footage of it so you can see one simple example of what I mean:

Did You Like Learning About These Memory Games?

I hope so.

But don’t save this information for later. Get started today.

Obviously, these are memory games you can come back to again and again. And it took me less than an hour to draft what you’re reading now – something that created great pleasure while giving me some powerful brain exercise.

Just think of what you could accomplish in a cafe some afternoon using nothing more than a pen, pencil and that special thing called memory floating between your ears.

Want to learn more about how to improve your memory?

This resource will help you learn, memorize and recall anything at any time, anywhere and under any circumstances.

Further Resources

How to Teach Your Kids Memory Techniques

3 Simple Exercises That Make Your Life Worth Remembering

Ambidextrousness And Memory: Can Dual Handedness Boost Your Brain?

Sensory Memory Exercises That Improve Memory