What it is: It’s not the card game – it’s a quiet game of perception and memorization
Best for: Any size group, with players old enough to write
What you need:
- Paper and a writing utensil for everyone
- A tray or flat area to display items
- Items to display and memorize. It works great if there’s a theme to follow, like items from a diaper bag if it’s a baby shower, or jewelry and accessories for a princess themed party.
How to play: First, assemble your items. The number of items you have will vary depending on the age of your players and how hard you want the game to be. Let’s pretend you’re playing the game at an art themed birthday party. You might gather items such as these:
- An orange crayon
- A blue marker
- Watercolor paints
- Big paint brush
- Small paint brush
- Sheet of paper
- Pencil
- A red colored pencil
- Eraser
- A purple bottle of paint
- Pencil sharpener
- One paper towel
- A piece of green construction paper
- A yellow pipe cleaner
- Two googly eyes
Seat all your players in a room. Give each a piece of paper and something to write with. Then bring out your items. It’s handy if you have them on a tray or a table. Set a timer and give your players a set amount of time to study the objects. Depending on the age of your players and the number of your objects, this might be one minute, three minutes, or even 30 seconds.
When the timer ends, remove all the items from your players’ view. If they’re on a table or on the floor, you could throw a towel or sheet over them.
Set another timer and give your players a chance to write down as many of the items they can remember. Again, you could give them one minute, five minutes, or whatever you think is appropriate.
After everyone has had a chance to write down as many items they can remember, show the items one by one. Anyone who wrote down the displayed item gets a point. You can offer two points to players who remember something about the item, too; for example, if they wrote “orange crayon” instead of just “crayon.”
After players tally up their own points, ask things like, “Who remembered at least 10 things? Who remembered at least 12? Who remembered more than 15?” until you narrow down enough players and eventually find the player or players who remembered the most. They get a prize!
It’s a great shower or party game. Have fun!