Concentration

Concentration, also known as "Memory," is a classic game that helps to build the mental skills of children and adults alike. While there are many versions available to help teach things like object constancy and reading, you can play the game with even a regular card deck. By swapping out cards, you can also alter the difficulty level of the game. As a general guideline, the more cards that you lay out, the harder that it will be.

First, you pick out a number of cards that you keep in pairs. Shuffle the separated deck and then lay out the cards face down in rows. The player picks out two cards from the mass, and if they are matches, you take them aside. If they aren't, you flip them back around and keep trying until all of the cards are off of the table.

You can either play the game competitively, just for fun, or to try and beat a score. If you're playing with multiple people, the object of the game is to finish all of the cards as the player with the most pairs. If you're playing for score, you should try to make as many matches as possible in as few attempts as you can.

Many versions of this game are available to help teach math concepts, reading, foreign languages, object identification and a number of other skills. Depending on what is trying to be taught, children as young as three or four years old can have a lot of fun playing Concentration.