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Thinking Activities for Kids

Thinking activities and games can stimulate and challenge a child's mind. You can use thinking activities for educational or recreational purposes, whether in a classroom or outside of school. There are different types of thinking activities that can challenge a child's skills in reasoning, math, critical thinking and logic. If children engage in thinking games, they can sharpen their knowledge and improve their concentration.

Online Games
- Kids can find Internet games and activities that challenge their thinking skills. On the Goofy Smart Kids website, there are interactive thinking games and brain teasers for kids. In one game, "Spot the Difference," kids must examine two nearly identical pictures and try to spot the differences between them. On the Discovery Education website, kids can play different Brain Boosters that focus on logic, spatial awareness, words, numbers, reasoning and lateral thinking.
Books
- You can find different books that have thinking activities for kids. For example, Susan S. Petreshene's "Brain Teasers! Over 180 Quick Activities and Worksheets that Make Kids THINK" has activities that teachers of kindergarten through sixth grade can incorporate into classroom learning. Kids can do activities and worksheets that focus on thinking and reasoning, math, language and writing, and listening and remembering. Another book is Elaine Richard's "10 Critical Thinking Card Games" that focuses on strengthening a child's critical thinking and reasoning skills. The book has cards and game boards that you can photocopy for children.
Numbers
- Number games can help strengthen a child's mathematical skills. Create different math problems, along with the answers. Assign each child a number that corresponds to a math answer. Make sure to assign two children the same number. Have all the children try to solve one of the math problems. The two children whose number matches the answer must run to a "math chair" and sit in it. Whoever gets to the chair first gets a point and wins that round. Play multiple rounds with different math problems. Another idea is to give each child a slip of paper and have him write a number between 1 and 100 on it. When you say "Go!" children must think quickly and arrange themselves in numerical order. A player with the same number as another must stand behind that person.
Words
- Think of a word then create three different sentences that include that word. Read the sentences aloud. The children must try and think of which word you repeated in each sentence. If a child guesses the correct word, read another set of sentences containing a different word. Another idea is to teach children a word of the day. You can teach them the meaning of the word and then let them think of different ways to use the word in a sentence.

Kids Games