What games improve working memory in teens?
Working memory is a foundational executive functioning skill: holding information in mind while you use it.
Most teens who forget multi-step directions have already built workarounds — often by doing only part of what was asked, or by worrying about it constantly.
The games that build it have multiple steps and require knowing certain things in a certain order: card games, board games, memory match games, Yahtzee, poker, Uno, Mahjong.
Ten minutes a day is enough. Video games don't count.
On a phone is fine, and often better — a teen can learn the rules privately without an audience.
Colleen Yanez has worked with teens and tweens for 27 years, and working memory comes up with almost every client she coaches.
GAMES IMPROVE WORKING MEMORY
Card and board games with multiple steps — Yahtzee, poker, Uno, memory match, Mahjong — played about ten minutes a day.
Do you have a teen or a tween who has a really hard time following multi-step directions, or remembering things you asked them to do?
"Hey, go upstairs, grab your backpack, your water bottle, brush your teeth, and then let's go."
And then one of those four things happens.
Why can't my teen follow multi-step directions?
Once I've done a diagnostic with a teen or tween, working memory — one of the foundational executive functioning skills — is very often a huge issue for these guys.
Working memory is the ability to hold information in your mind while you're using it. The four-part instruction. The materials for the project. What the teacher said in the last ninety seconds of class.
And here's the part most parents don't see: because it's a foundational skill, and because these kids are getting older, they have already figured out ways to manage it. The workarounds just aren't great.
One strategy is that they simply don't do everything. (I'm sure you love that one.) Another is to stress all the time about the things they're forgetting.
Neither of those looks like a memory issue from the outside. One looks like not listening. The other looks like anxiety.
How do I know if working memory is really the issue?
I'd highly suggest talking to somebody, or doing some kind of questionnaire or survey, to see whether this really is an area to work on with your teen or tween. It's worth knowing rather than guessing, because the fix for a working memory gap looks nothing like the fix for not listening.
Why games instead of practice drills?
Because they're older — and because I don't need this to be boring.
So what I do with my clients is play games. You heard me right. We play games together, and I have my students play games on their own.
Card games. Board games. Even those memory games we played when we were younger, where you turn over two cards at a time and try to match them.
What makes a game count?
Two rules.
One: it has to be multiple step. They have to know certain things, in a certain order, in order to play. That's the whole mechanism — the game forces them to hold several pieces of information at once and use them, which is exactly what working memory is.
Two: this might be the only time I endorse extra screen time. If you're fifteen or sixteen years old — or even eleven and twelve — and your working memory is an issue, you've probably developed strategies to save face. And one of those strategies is probably not playing games.
So on their phone, they can play poker. They can play Yahtzee. They can go back and learn the rules all by themselves, and nobody ever has to know what's happening.
That privacy matters more than people think. It's often the safest place for a teen to practice.
I'm also not talking about video games, just to say that.
And if your teen is open to playing with you — that's totally fine. That's great. But it isn't required, and for a lot of teens the solo version is the one that actually happens.
How long does this take?
Maybe ten minutes a day.
It's just like going to the gym and lifting weights for ten minutes a day. Over time, that actually puts in the work to strengthen their working memory.
I've seen crazy increases in pre- and post-test working memory tests from teens doing this. And it doesn't stay in the game — it bleeds into chores remembered and assignments turned in on time.
Does this actually change anything long term?
As we know now, intelligence is malleable. It's not a fixed number.
So why not do something fun, and maybe make a difference across their whole life?
Where do I start?
Pick one game. Yahtzee, poker, Uno, a memory match deck, Mahjong — whichever one your teen won't roll their eyes at. Ten minutes a day, on a phone or at the table.
Then watch for the carry-over. It shows up in the multi-step stuff first: the backpack and the water bottle and the teeth, all in one trip.
If forgetting is the theme at your house, the companion piece to this is about where things go when a teacher says them out loud: Why Does My Teen Forget Everything in the Morning?
Want to know which executive functioning area is your teen's most challenged? My free quiz is built for middle school parents, but anybody can take it — and it gives you strategies that can help.
I'm Colleen Yanez, founder of Key Coaching. I'm a National Board Certified Teacher and executive functioning coach, and I've spent 27 years working with teens, tweens and their families. I work with families in Parker, Colorado and virtually nationwide.
