Executive Function Activities for 7-to 12-year-olds - Age-Appropriate Games and Activities

Oct 3, 2026

Uploaded by Liam

A curated set of age-appropriate games and activities helps school-age children practice executive function and self-regulation skills. The material emphasizes gradually increasing game complexity for ages 7 to 12, using card and board games to build working memory, planning, mental flexibility, attention, and quick decision-making. It also highlights physical activities, music and singing, dance, and brain teasers to strengthen rule management, inhibition, monitoring, coordination, and information manipulation, with notes on selecting suitable options and time limits. Recommended resources support finding game reviews and proven challenges.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Card games and board games

Physical activities and games

Music, singing, and dance

Brain teasers

Resources

Executive Function Activities for 7-to 12-year-olds These games provide challenges and practice for executive function and self-regulation skills among school-age children. For children in this age range, it is important to steadily increase the complexity of games and activities. | Card games and board games
n Card games in which children have to track
playing cards exercise working memory and promote mental flexibility in the service of planning and strategy. Hearts, spades, and bridge are popular examples.
n Games that require monitoring and fast responses are great for challenging attention and quick decision-making in children at this age. Spit, for example, requires attending to your own play as well as your opponents’ progress. | | | --- | --- | | n For younger children, card games requiring matching by either suit or number continue to test cognitive flexibility. Rummy games, including gin rummy, are popular examples. Games with more complicated sets of options, such as poker and mahjong, may challenge older children.
n Any game involving strategy provides important practice with holding complicated moves in mind, planning many moves ahead, and then adjusting plans—both in response to imagined outcomes and the moves of opponents. With practice, children can develop real skill at classic games of strategy like Go or chess, while challenging working memory and cognitive flexibility. Many more modern strategy games exist as well. Mensa, the high IQ society, holds | a yearly competition testing new games, and provides an interesting list of favorites.
n Children this age also enjoy more complex games involving fantasy play, which require holding in working memory complicated information about places visited in imaginary worlds, rules about how characters and materials can be used, and strategy in attaining self-determined goals. Minecraft is a popular computer game of this sort, while Dungeons & Dragons is a longtime card-based favorite. | | Physical activities/games
n Organized sports become very popular for many children during this period. Developing skill at these games practices children’s ability to hold complicated rules and strategies in mind, monitor their own and others’ actions, make quick decisions and respond flexibly to play. There is also evidence that high levels of physical activity, particularly activity that requires coordination, like soccer, can improve all aspects of executive function. | n Various jump rope games also become popular among children of this age. Children can become very skilled at jump rope, double Dutch, Chinese jump rope, and other such challenges. Developing skill in these games requires focused practice, as well as the attention control and working memory to recall the words of the chant while attending to the motions.
n Games that require constant monitoring of the environment and fast reaction times also challenge selective attention, monitoring, and | | --- | --- | | continued | | [developingchild.harvard.edu](developingchild.harvard.edu) 10 | inhibition. For younger children, hiding/tag games, particularly those played in the dark, like flashlight tag and Ghost in the Graveyard, are fun. Older children may enjoy games like laser tag and paintball. Many video games also provide practice of these skills, but can include | violent content, so care should be taken in selecting appropriate options and setting reasonable time limits. Common Sense Media, anon-partisan media information organization, provides useful reviews of popular games. | | --- | --- | | Music, singing, and dance
n Learning to play a musical instrument can test selective attention and self-monitoring. In addition to the physical skill required, this activity challenges working memory to hold the music in mind. There is also some evidence that the practice of two-handed coordination supports better executive function.
n Whether or not children learn an instrument, participat

FAQs

How do card and board games support executive function in ages 7 to 12?

Card and board games practice working memory, planning, and mental flexibility. Games that involve monitoring and fast responses also strengthen attention and quick decision-making.

Why are physical activities linked to improvements in executive function?

Organized sports and coordinated physical activities require children to hold rules and strategies in mind, monitor actions, make quick decisions, and respond flexibly. The text also notes evidence that coordination-focused activity can improve executive function.

What kinds of brain teasers are recommended to train working memory and flexibility?

The document recommends puzzles that require holding and manipulating information in working memory, including crossword puzzles, Sudoku, spatial puzzles like Rubik’s Cube, and computer-based challenges such as Cogmed and Lumosity.

Oct 3, 2026

Uploaded by Liam