Executive functioning are the mental skills that help all of us manage and regulate our thoughts, actions, and emotions to achieve goals. It allows children to engaging in planning and organisation activities, consider consequences of their intended actions, break more overwhelming tasks into smaller, more manageable, and achievable steps, get better at time management, improve their memory development, help them adapt and be flexible in a range of contexts and situations, and further develop their problem-solving abilities.
At Bambini our Speech Pathologists and Occupational Therapists love supporting children of all ages and abilities to develop their executive functioning skills through PLAY! Why? Because not only does it make learning new skills more fun and engaging, but it also nurtures your child’s social development with their peers, siblings, and adults!
In today’s blog, our therapists have shared one of their favourite games to target a range of executive functioning skills with links to our ‘30 Days of Games’ Youtube and Instagram series for inspiration:
Game Focus: UNO (and it’s variation games such as UNO Wild and UNO Flip)
How can UNO be used to target various executive functioning skills?
Inhibition - UNO encourages children to think ahead about how playing a consequential action card such as ‘Skip’, ‘Draw 2’ or ‘Wild’ can change the game’s outcome for themselves and others.
Planning/Organisation – UNO encourages children to think strategically about organising their ‘hand’ of cards such as by colour or card value. Plays also need to plan ahead about what card(s) they want to play during each round so they can achieve their end goal of having no cards left in their hands to win!
Time management – While not traditional to the game of UNO, players can introduce a timer of 10 – 20 seconds for each player to take their turn, which can help players build resilience in working under time pressure.
Working memory – Players need to remember whose turn it is at any given moment and how to follow the rules of the game agreed upon by all players.
Flexibility - UNO ‘spin off’ games such as UNO Flip and UNO Wild are great to introduce to give children new challenges and experiences of playing a familiar or favourite game in a new or unexpected way.
Self-Regulation - Particularly pertinent to the last point on flexibility, playing challenging games such as UNO, helps players build their emotional resilience within a range of social contexts.
Metacognition – While playing UNO children can be encouraged to reflect on how they played during the game, such as answering open ended questions such as, “How well did I listen to my friends during the game?” and “How did I respond when I didn’t win this time? How did that make my friends feel?”.
Check out UNO WILD in our ’30 days of games’ series!
By incorporating activities and strategies that target each area of executive functioning, parents, educators, and therapists can effectively support children in strengthening a range of core cognitive skills. Through consistent practice and encouragement, children can strengthen their executive function skills and build a foundation for success in academics, relationships, and life in general.
What should we explore through the lens of executive functioning next? Let us know by contacting us below!
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Want to learn more about how to better support your child’s executive functioning skills? Give us a call on 0450 501 023, or email hello@bambinihealth.com.au to book in with one of our knowledgeable and passionate occupational therapists or speech pathologists today.