5 Holiday Brain Games to Play This Year
Whether you’re traveling this holiday season or staying close to home, you’re probably going to have some downtime to fill with people of all different ages. Collaborative brain games are a great way to practice some attention, memory, and thinking skills while having fun together!
Here’s a roundup of 5 holiday-themed brain games you can play any time, anywhere, with any ages or number of people!
5 Fun Holiday Brain Games for a Group or a Family Road Trip:
Christmas Carol Connect
One person starts to sing a holiday song and then stops after a line, and it’s the next person’s job to sing a line of a different song that starts with that same word the first person ended with. See how many different songs you can link together!
Themed Letter List Memory
Decide on a letter of the alphabet, and everybody thinks of a word somehow related to winter or the holidays that starts with that letter.
Begin with one person and go around in a circle saying your word AND the words that came before you! Continue the circle around, adding a new word each time it’s your turn, growing your list until someone forgets. This is a great test of memory and attention skills!
Example using the letter S in a group of 4 players:
- Person 1: snow
- Person 2: snow, Santa
- Person 3: snow, Santa, stockings
- Person 4: snow, Santa, stockings, star
- Person 1: snow, Santa, stockings, star, stable
- Etc.
Alphabetical Categories
Decide on a category (like Christmas, holiday movies, winter, etc.) and work together to find something that starts with each letter of the alphabet in order.
For example, if your category was food you could do: Apple, Banana, Cake, Donut, etc. (If someone says an option that’s a bit of a stretch, like “orange carrot” for O, the rest of the group gets to vote to see if it goes!)
Triple Tale
Take turns making up silly stories using 3 assigned (random) words. Take turns in both roles and see who can create the best story! For a holiday twist, just require that some element of winter/holidays be part of the story (even if the words have nothing to do with it!)
For example, you could say “elf,” “mistletoe,” and “carrot” and the storyteller needs to use those 3 things as key elements of the story.
Next level: Make it 3 rhyming words that the storyteller needs to make into a short poem! Who knows; maybe one of you will write the next great “Twas the Night Before Christmas” poem!
Name the Most
Decide on a holiday category and a time limit and see who can name the most items!
For example, you could set a 10 second limit and see who can name the most holiday movies, songs, activities, things that are red and green, or any other category that’s relevant to your family!
Looking for More Games to Build Brain Skills?
Click here for our roundup of board and card games that also strengthen skills like attention, memory, visual processing, thinking speed, and more.
We also have a FREE brain training game pack that is based on our unique LearningRx brain training procedures that you can try at home!
These make great challenges for kids and adults alike who want to grow their thinking skills.
