How To Improve Situational Awareness AND Beat Boredom
Hey friends, I hope you’re doing well and staying healthy! With everything that’s going on, the world seems a little crazy right now. My state is under a “stay at home” order for a while, so I decided to wait it out at my parents’ house to have some non-digital interaction with other people. While the virus has been an interruption in our normal routine, I’m trying to see it as an opportunity and use the freed-up time in useful ways. I hope you can too.
The other night, I challenged my parents, to a memory game!
As a kid, I knew this as “The Tray Game,” and loved playing it every year at my friend’s birthday party. It is also known as “Kim’s Game,” and can be used to improve situational awareness, memory. Want to give it a try?
Instructions:
(Don’t look at the next picture until you’ve read the following instructions)
Have someone select several items from around the house and organize them on a tray. Items should not overlap, unless you want to increase the difficulty. To start the game, the organizer lets players view the items on the tray for 30 seconds. Afterward, the tray is taken away and players write down as many items as they can remember. The person with the most correct items, wins!
*Pro tip: Make sure to move your field of vision in and out. Look at the entire picture as a whole and also focus on each individual item.
Let’s play!
Look at the picture below for 30 seconds, then hide your screen and see how many items you recall. There are 13 items.
*Bonus points if you can write specific details such as color, brand name, etc.
My experience is that players are pretty consistent from round to round so it may take several games to improve.
For more of a challenge:
Add more items.
Overlap items.
Reduce the amount of time players view the tray.
After the allotted time, take the tray away and remove 1-3 items. Bring the tray back and have players identify which objects have been removed.
In the picture below, three items have been removed.
Without looking at the picture above, can you list the missing items?
I hope you enjoyed the game! Keep improving your observation and memory skills.
How did you do? Make sure to comment below!
“Chime-In”
How many did you get correct?
What were the most difficult things to remember?
